Much talked about Lenskart IPO opens in loss at Rs395 per share, against issue price of Rs402

Mumbai: Much talked about, Lenskart solutions made a weak debut on Monday, listing at a discount of 1.74% to the issue price.

The stock opened at Rs395 per share on the exchanges, against the IPO issue price of Rs402, resulting in a loss of Rs 7 per share for IPO investors on listing.

Soon after listing the share to Rs 356, down approximately 10%.

Oversubscribed

The company's public issue was subscribed 28.3 times, led by strong participation from institutional investors (18.2x), followed by Qualified Institutional Buyers (23.79x) and retail investors (7.5x).

Despite the robust subscription numbers, the IPO had faced criticism from market participants over high valuation concerns, which appears to have weighed on investor sentiment during its market debut.

Expansio

Earlier in an exclusive conversation with ANI, Lenskart founder Peyush Bansal highlighted three major areas where the funds from the public issue would be directed: store expansion, technology advancement, and brand building across global markets.

"The current objects of offer are largely for penetrating. We have 2,600 stores, we want to open more stores," he said, noting that Lenskart aims to deepen its reach across cities and towns.

He added that technology would continue to be a central focus for the company.

"In technology, we have invested heavily, whether it is supply chain, technology etc., especially with smart glasses coming up, we will continuously invest in it," Bansal stated.

Household name

The company, which has become a household name in India's eyewear market, now seeks to build its global identity. "For our company, which is a well-known brand in India, we want to make it well known in the world as well, so we will invest in it," he said.

Bansal also mentioned that Lenskart is increasing its manufacturing capacity to meet future demand.

"With regard to our current manufacturing capacity, we are now at 50-55 per cent capacity utilisation but we are now setting up another factory which will increase the capacity, but it will take some time to be built," he said.