India's eyewear giant Lenskart has been on a strong growth trajectory, expanding stores and strengthening its brand across the country.
But this week, the company found itself at the center of a cultural and social media storm over a workplace grooming policy that many users said treated religious symbols unequally.
The controversy originally began after writer Shefali Vaidya shared images on X (formerly Twitter) that she said were from Lenskart's internal employee style guide.
'I have no way of confirming this, but I checked with two diff AI platforms and they think these appear to be authentic and are from the Lenskart academic style guide.'
The document, which is publicly available on scribd, shows that while hijabs and turbans were permitted under certain conditions, items like 'religious tikka/tilak and Bindi/Sticker' and kalawa threads were listed as 'not allowed.' The same section said that if worn, hijabs should be black and must not cover the company logo.
Vaidya later claimed she had verified the document, stating, 'So I confirmed, this is genuine. This is what Peyush Bansal tells his employees, hijab is okay, but bindi/tilak/Kalawa is not.'
She also tagged the company and its founder Peyush Bansal to seek the clarification.
The post quickly went viral. Several users called for a boycott, sharing posts that alleged discrimination against Hindu employees.
'Hindu employees are being denied the right to wear kumkum or bindi on their foreheads, while allowing the wearing of hijab,' a user wrote.
'If other religion can express their identity freely, Then why your forced policy cum mentality stoped Hindu employees not to wear a Tilak or Bindi in corporate offices?' another wrote.
'Good point. If Hijab, turban are identities, so are kalawa, bindi, mangalsutra. Forcing anyone to remove these is religious bigotry and discrimination. Need a PIL a legal recognition of these things,' a third expressed.
While many people raised concerns, some said the document could be outdated or misinterpreted.
Peyush Bansal responds
As the controversy began to get big, CEO Peyush Bansal, who is also a Shark Tank India judge, responded publicly, stating the viral document does not reflect the company's current policies.
'I've been seeing an inaccurate policy document going viral about Lenskart. I want to speak directly that this document does not reflect our present guidelines,'
'Our policy has no restrictions on any form of religious expression, including bindi and tilak, and we continue to review our guidelines regularly,' he added.
Bansal also acknowledged that the company's grooming policies have evolved over time and said older documents may no longer be relevant.
'Outdated versions do not represent who we are today. We apologize for the confusion and concern this situation has caused,' he said.
'We have thousands of team members across Bharat who wear their faith and culture proudly every day at our stores. They are Lenskart,' he said.
'Lenskart was built in Bharat, by Indians, for Indians. Every symbol and every tradition our people carry is a part of who we are as a company. I will never let that be compromised,' Bansal added.