When a company known for selling spectacles starts to look blurry on the balance sheet, it’s time investors put on their financial lenses and look closer. Lenskart – India’s poster child for eyewear innovation – is now the talk of Dalal Street with its ₹7,278 crore IPO hitting the market on October 31. But behind the glare of fancy numbers and glossy investor decks lies a simple question: Is the Lenskart IPO a visionary play or just a valuation bubble waiting to pop?
Let’s start with the facts. Lenskart’s IPO comprises a ₹2,150 crore fresh issue and a ₹5,128 crore offer for sale (OFS), valuing the company at a staggering ₹70,000 crore. The price band? ₹382–₹402 per share, with a lot size of 37 shares. The hype? Immense. The story being sold? “India’s first tech-led eyewear unicorn transforming how we see the world.”
But the truth – like most IPOs – lies in the fine print. Lenskart’s numbers reveal both promise and peril. The company finally turned profitable in FY25 with a ₹297.3 crore profit after two years of losses – ₹64 crore in FY23 and ₹10 crore in FY24. The turnaround is being flaunted as the company’s defining moment. But before investors start cheering, it’s worth asking: Is this profit sustainable or engineered through accounting optics?
Let’s dissect this newfound profitability. A closer look at Lenskart’s FY25 statement shows something eye-popping – a significant portion of the profit came not from operations, but from “other income.”
The company reported ₹356 crore under other income in FY25, nearly double the ₹182 crore recorded in FY24. And what’s driving this? A fair value gain of ₹167 crore on deferred consideration from its 2022 acquisition of Owndays, a Japanese eyewear brand. In plain English – Lenskart revalued its future payment obligations for Owndays and booked the gain as income. It’s an accounting maneuver, not cash in the bank.
Add another ₹72.6 crore gain from mutual fund redemptions, and suddenly, the profit picture starts to look less like a business turnaround and more like a financial touch-up. Remove this “other income,” and Lenskart’s operational profitability becomes hazy – a red flag for serious investors.
Now, let’s talk valuation. Lenskart is being offered to the public at a jaw-dropping 234x P/E ratio. To put that in perspective – even the hottest consumer tech stocks struggle to justify such multiples. The company is also valued at 70x EV/EBITDA, meaning investors are paying ₹70 for every ₹1 of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
That’s not a valuation – that’s optimism priced to perfection.
The argument from bullish analysts is that Lenskart operates in a high-growth, under-penetrated segment. India’s eyewear market, valued at over ₹30,000 crore, is still largely unorganized, and Lenskart’s digital-first model gives it a long runway. Fair point. But even if we assume steady 30% growth, it will take years – not quarters – for earnings to justify these valuations.
And let’s not forget: market sentiment doesn’t stay bullish forever. When reality meets overvaluation, the correction is often swift and brutal.
Another warning sign blinking in bold: low promoter holding.
Before the IPO, the promoter group holds just 19.9%. Post-IPO, this will drop further to 17.5%. That’s unusually low for a founder-driven company still in its growth phase. Peyush Bansal, the charismatic face of Lenskart, has been instrumental in building the brand, but when promoters start diluting aggressively, it raises a legitimate question – if the story is so promising, why not stay invested longer?
The answer may lie in the OFS structure. Apart from the promoter group, heavyweight investors like SoftBank, Temasek, Kedaara Capital, Schroders Capital, and Alpha Wave Ventures are all offloading shares. When the big guys are heading for the exit, retail investors must ask themselves – are they walking into the trade just as the insiders are walking out?
To be fair, Lenskart’s business model has undeniable strengths. From design and manufacturing to omnichannel retailing, it’s a well-integrated brand. Its combination of online convenience and physical presence across India gives it a powerful reach. The company’s “try-at-home” feature, smart lens technology, and data-backed recommendations have made it a tech darling.
Moreover, the eyewear market is structurally poised for expansion – India’s young demographics, increasing screen exposure, and rising disposable income create tailwinds for growth. Lenskart has also ventured globally, with strong footholds in Singapore and the Middle East through the Owndays acquisition.
But scaling profitably in retail – especially with global ambitions – is no walk in the park. Logistics, marketing costs, and competitive pricing pressure margins. And unlike software businesses, eyewear doesn’t scale infinitely at zero marginal cost. There’s inventory, there’s fashion risk, and there’s customer churn.
Lenskart’s next growth leap will depend less on selling more glasses and more on managing these operational complexities without burning cash.
India’s IPO market has been on a sugar high – from Zomato to Mamaearth, from Nykaa to MapMyIndia. Many of these “new-age” companies were once worshipped for their innovation and punished later for their valuations.
Zomato listed at a ₹60,000 crore valuation – it took two years of bruising to prove it wasn’t just hype. Nykaa’s stock still trades below its IPO peak. Mama-Earth, despite all the influencer buzz, saw muted post-listing movement.
The lesson? Public markets are far less forgiving than private investors. Once the IPO glitter fades, the balance sheet speaks louder than the brand story.
Lenskart’s ₹70,000 crore valuation puts it in the same bracket as established giants in FMCG and retail – companies with decades of profitability and dividends behind them. For a firm that’s just turned profitable (and partly through accounting revaluation), that’s a tall order to live up to.
So, should you subscribe to the Lenskart IPO?
If you’re looking for short-term listing gains driven by hype and scarcity premium – maybe. But if you’re investing as a long-term believer in fundamentals, it’s worth squinting a little harder.
Ask yourself: Is this a company priced for growth or perfection? Is its profitability organic or optical? And most importantly – when global investors are cashing out, should retail investors be cashing in?
Lenskart deserves credit for redefining how India buys eyewear. It brought fashion, technology, and accessibility into a single frame – and built a beloved consumer brand in the process.
But as it steps into the public market, it must do more than sell spectacles. It must convince investors that its profits are sustainable, its growth is real, and its valuation isn’t inflated by narrative.
Because in the world of IPOs, vision without value is just another illusion – and when that illusion breaks, even the clearest glasses can’t fix the blur.
Lenskart may have vision, but at ₹70,000 crore, investors must decide whether they’re buying into clarity – or just another valuation bubble waiting to burst.
