Zeiss Group plans to invest Rs 2,500 crore in new plant in Karnataka

Global optical lens maker Zeiss Group will invest around Rs 2,500 crore in India in a new factory in Karnataka, mainly to increase its eyewear manufacturing capacity, according to a senior company official.

Carl Zeiss India, the group’s arm in the country, expects to hire around 5,000 people when the new plant becomes fully operational.

The company, which has completed 25 years of operations in India, aims to achieve sales of Rs 5,000 crore by 2027.

“One of the big things that will come out in the Indian market is the new plant that we have acquired, in partnership with Invest in Karnataka.

“We have bought 34 acres of land near (Bengaluru) airport and are ready to hopefully acquire another nine acres, with an investment of approximately Rs 2,500 crore on this,” Carl Zeiss India and CFO Shreyas Kumar told PTI. in an interview.

He added that the factory will employ approximately 800 people initially and will reach 5,000 people when it reaches its full capacity.

“This will be Zeiss’s largest eyeglass lens manufacturing plant, but it is probably one of the largest lens factories in the world in general,” Kumar said.

He said construction work on the plant is expected to start by the middle of this month, adding, “We should start manufacturing at least on parallel lines by October 2024.”

When asked about the production capacity of the new factory, he said, “So, currently, glass manufacturing which is glass pieces, we do about 30,000 per day, that’s the capacity we have. This will go up to about 2 lakhs per day.”

Moreover, Kumar said, “For prescription lenses, the capacity we currently have is around 10,000 per day, and it will go up to around 60,000 per day.”

It has four production facilities in India at present for different products.

On the significance of the new plant, he said that it would enable the Indian arm to play a crucial role in the global supply chain of the Zeiss group with the potential to allocate about 60 percent of the production for export.

“The amazing thing about how this factory has set up the supply chain is that we can have deliveries back to Europe within 72 hours, back to the optometrist who ordered it, whether it’s in Europe or in Germany or in Italy,” he added.

Elaborating further, Kumar said that when consumers place an order with an optometrist in Germany, the optometrist will submit the request with the group’s German operations.

“Then Germany (operations) will put it in for us and we will produce it, we will package it and send it to the airport. It will be shipped to Germany and then on to the optician and that cycle has to be less than 72 hours for us to qualify as a global supply hub.”

He said that apart from optical lenses, the new factory will have space for other Zeiss businesses such as medical technology or research microscopy, but the decision to manufacture these products will be decided at the global group level later.

Zeiss’ businesses in India include vision care, manufacturing of eyeglass and prescription lens blanks, medical technology, microscopy solutions for industrial quality and consumer products such as sports optics, binoculars and cinema lenses.

In the field of optical lenses, Carl Zeiss India manufactures blank and prescription lenses with 75 percent exporting to regions such as Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa, and remaining 25 percent used for domestic demand.

When asked about the sales growth forecast, he said, “By 2027 we are looking to reach around €500 million (Rs. 5,000 crore)”.

He further said, “We aim to close the 22-23 financial year at more than Rs 1,800 crore. The annual turnover has doubled in the last six years.”

Zeiss follows the fiscal year from October to September.