WEDNESDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2026

Retail

Reliance Brands acquires LensCrafters India from DLF

Second Luxottica buy after Sunglass Hut hands Reliance premium optical stores in key NCR malls and squeezes independents on high-street rents.

, Retail correspondent··4 min read

Empty optical display counters and frame racks under mall lighting
Empty optical display counters and frame racks under mall lighting

Reliance Brands has acquired the India operations of LensCrafters from DLF Brands, taking over the prescription eyewear chain’s outlets including those at DLF Mall of India in Noida and DLF Avenue in Saket. The deal, reported on 9 September 2026, marks the second Luxottica brand pickup after Sunglass Hut in 2022 and deepens Reliance’s hold on premium optical retail.

Reliance Brands now owns the LensCrafters-branded stores previously run under DLF’s franchise. The chain entered India in 2020 with high-end frames from Ray-Ban, Oakley, Versace and others. No financial terms were disclosed in the 9 September reports.

Shop-floor impact shows at the till: a Noida mall optical counter can now route premium lens upgrades and insurance claims through Reliance’s larger inventory and loyalty stack instead of a standalone franchise. Dark-store riders nearby lose little, but kirana opticians face sharper price discovery on mid-tier frames.

Reliance Brands now owns the LensCrafters-branded stores previously run under DLF’s franchise.

The move helps Reliance Retail’s fashion and lifestyle basket while pressuring pure-play optical chains and remaining DLF-linked formats. Lenskart’s own network stays the volume rival; this deal targets the higher ASP customer.

Watch the next quarterly filing for store count integration and any Tira or AJIO cross-sell pilots before Diwali window opens.

Filed under Retail·Meera Iyer

Readers' mark

Be the first to mark this story.

Ask the desk

What does this mean for the shop floor?

Signed-in readers can put a question to the desk. We file a short take on this story — not a press release.

Also in this book