The $10.3-billion-revenue Swiss-American company will deepen investments in innovation, surgeon training, partnerships with eye care hospitals and its global capability centre, senior vice president Rajkumar Narayanan told ET’s Rica Bhattacharyya in an interview.
It’s open to manufacturing in India in the future, he said. Rising eye care needs among younger Indians, with increasing myopia and dry eye disease among Gen Z and Gen Alpha amid prolonged screen exposure is a key growth driver for the company that focuses on ophthalmic surgical devices and vision care products, Narayanan said. Edited excerpts:
How important is India in Alcon’s growth strategy?
India is one of our most important markets globally and is by far the biggest of all our emerging markets. If you include China, then I would say China and India are our two biggest emerging markets and strategically very important for us in terms of driving growth, not just for today but for the longer term.
Beyond commercial operations, India is central to our training and education efforts through initiatives like the Phaco Development Program, which trains young cataract surgeons. Through India, we are supporting some of the neighbouring countries, like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. We have also built our global capability centre here, making India our second-largest employee base outside the US among non-manufacturing locations. In India, we have our Centres of Excellence with Aravind, both for cataract and vitreoretinal. These are the only such centres that we have globally.
What role will India play in Alcon’s next phase of growth?
India will remain a growth market because the unmet need for eye care is enormous. Manufacturing is something we continuously evaluate as part of our global footprint. As part of that assessment, we look at many countries, and India is one of them. India is one of the earliest markets where we introduce innovation. Our GCC has also evolved beyond shared services into specialised functions including R&D, software development and quality. We will keep expanding our GCC by adding more global functions.
In India, we operate through two franchises—surgical and vision care. Vision care includes contact lenses and dry eye products. Surgical is the larger business and covers cataract, refractive, retina and glaucoma. Across these segments, we provide diagnostics, surgical equipment, consumables and intraocular lenses, giving surgeons one of the broadest ophthalmic portfolios available.We aim to enable access to advanced cataract care for up to 6 million people in India by 2030 through innovation, education and partnerships.
Are eye disorders increasingly affecting Gen Z and Gen Alpha?
Yes, lifestyle is playing a much bigger role. We are seeing rising myopia among children because they spend less time outdoors and more time on screens. We are also seeing more dry eye disease among people aged 20 to 50 because prolonged screen use reduces blinking. Data suggests that about 23% of school children in India are estimated to be myopic, while dry eye prevalence estimates in India range between 25% and 58%.
Global estimates suggest that by 2050, nearly half the world’s population could be myopic. India, with its large population, will naturally account for a significant share. It underlines why awareness and preventive eye care are becoming increasingly important.
How do you compare the ophthalmology markets in India and China?
The number of cataract surgeries in India is much higher than in China. More people who need cataract surgery are getting operated in India. There is also higher awareness of eye care. Every year, an estimated 7.5-8.0 million cataract surgeries are performed, growing at 4.4%, making India the biggest cataract market.
India also has a significant advantage in English-speaking talent. But the care model is different: India is mainly private care, while China relies on the public system, where governments seek to control costs. We can introduce innovation in India faster because regulatory approvals are quicker. China, however, is still lower penetrated and therefore probably has more room for growth.
Could eye care eventually become more predictive and personalised?
That’s where the industry is headed. We are looking at digital platforms that bring together patient data and provide personalised recommendations like, for example, warning patients about dry eye risks while travelling or seasonal allergies. Many systemic diseases also show early signs in the eye, which is why regular eye examinations are becoming increasingly important.