From Hype to Hesitation: Why Lenskart’s GMP Fell 70% Before Listing?

The Grey Market Premium is clearly losing its excitement. However, Lenskart's total bids shocked everyone, with investors oversubscribed by over 28.3 times. So, what's going on?

Adepu Bindu

07 Nov 2025 — 3 min read

From Hype to Hesitation: Why Lenskart’s GMP Fell 70% Before Listing?

Lenskart is going public (IPO) next week, and the grey market premium (GMP) is crashing down. No doubt, the Lenskart IPO is one of the most anticipated; investors were extremely excited earlier. But why is that excitement seeming to cool down by 70% (a significant drop) right now? What caused this fall? Will it still be a good investment for you? For all that, learn more.

The Grey Market Premium (GMP) Crash

After the announcement, Lenskart’s GMP was INR 108, which means that traders were anticipating the stock to be priced about INR 108 higher than its issue price of INR 402.
It's about 27% profit on listing day.
On the contrary, the GMP has fallen to ₹30, meaning the expected listing profit is only 8%.
The excitement is down by almost 70% meaning the investors are being cautious.

Why The Fall?

Several analysts say that:

High valuation – Because Lenskart's stock price is already expensive, there's less room for quick profits for the investors.
Weakness in the overall stock market – Investors are being cautious in general.

However, the demand for the Lenskart IPO was huge.

GMP fell significantly, but the demand remained massive:

Lenskart’s IPO size: INR 7,278 crore.
Total bids received: INR 1 lakh crore plus (28.3 times oversubscribed), which is a substantial number.

Here’s How Different Investors Reacted

Institutional investors (who bring in big funds): 45 times subscription.
Non-institutional investors (meaning the High Net-Worth Individual/rich people): 18 times.
Retail (like you) investors: 7.5 times.
Overall, investors applied for 281 crore shares while only 9.97 crore shares were available. It's evident that people believe in the brand.

Analysts’ View

According to them, Lenskart is a strong company, but short-term gains may be small.
SBI Securities states that Lenskart is a solid company, but it is priced relatively high.

At the upper price band, Lenskart is valued at:

10.1 times its FY25 sales (EV/Sales).
68.7 times its FY25 EBITDA (EV/EBITDA).

Clearly, steep valuations mean short-term listing profits are limited. Given that, the company’s long-term growth looks promising. Reason: well-positioned in India’s fast-growing eyewear market. And strong business performance.

Lenskart Business Performance

Lenskart is improving its business numbers steadily:

Its EBITDA margin (meaning profitability before interest and tax) grew from 7% in FY23 to 14.7% in FY25.
Revenue is INR 6,653 crore (it grew at 32% CAGR over 2 years).
Its EBITDA is INR 971 crore (it's a 3.7x jump).
Its Net profit (PAT) stands at INR 297 crore in FY25 compared to the INR 4 crore loss 2 years ago.

Why Investors Still Like Lenskart?

Strong brand presence – Huge retail network of over 2,700 stores worldwide, including 2,000 in the home country.
Its omnichannel model – Meaning the brand is active online and offline. Its tech-based manufacturing is giving it a cost advantage as well.
International expansion: Lenskart is establishing a strong presence in Singapore, the UAE, and the US markets.

Nirmal Bang (well-known Brokerages) called Lenskart’s business “resilient.” And says that it's a good business built for the long run.