From all the evidence available, direct and indirect, an annual performance of around 100,000 corneal transplants would have a salutary effect on the problem of reversible corneal blindness in India. Going by the experience of the eye banking systems worldwide, meeting this demand would require double that number of corneas to be harvested, i.e., 200,000 annually. Each Eye Bank with adequate infrastructure and trained manpower can comfortably process 4000 corneas per year, which translates to 50 eye banks for the entire country. In a country like India, where the basic infrastructure and manpower exist, this should not be a problem-theoretically. Each of these eye banks should be an autonomous organisation, ideally with its own Board and governance structure representing all the stakeholders in the community. All the major functions of an eye bank should be carried out, including public awareness, tissue harvesting, tissue evaluation (including serology and microbiology), tissue preservation and tissue distribution. Equitable distribution is key to long term success, since this builds credibility in the community with all its subsequent benefits. The goal is to make safe and high quality corneal tissue accessible to everyone who needs corneal transplantation in the community in an equitable manner.