New Delhi: Co-founder and CEO of Lenskart, Peyush Bansal, has called the “Lenskart Staff Uniform and Grooming Guide” inaccurate after it gained popularity on social media. He dismissed allegations that the company allows employees to wear a hijab and a turban, but not a tilak or a kalawa.
“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,” Bansa posted on X last night.
The “Lenskart Staff Uniform and Grooming Guide” began circulating online on 15 April. The guide for the multinational eyewear chain quickly gained notoriety over alleged religious discrimination, which led to Bansal’s clarification.
The style guide purportedly issued by Lenskart stated that its store employees are not allowed to wear bindis (decorative sticker), tilak (religious mark applied on the forehead) or a kalawa (sacred cotton thread). But the same guide let Muslim women wear a black-coloured hijab (headscarf) and black turbans for Sikhs.
The document gained momentum across social media platforms, with some users questioning why the company is discriminating against Hindus.
Bansal posted on X that the viral document is “inaccurate”.
He said that the document does not reflect the company’s current guidelines for employees while implying that it is “outdated”. He added that staff have full liberty to wear bindis or tilaks.
“Our grooming policy has evolved over the years, and outdated versions do not represent who we are today. We apologise for the confusion and concern this situation has caused,” Bansal wrote.
In a follow-up post, Bansal revealed that the document currently circulating is an outdated internal training document, and not an HR policy.
“It contained an incorrect line about bindi/tilak that should never have been written and does not reflect our values or actual practice,” the entrepreneur admitted.
He tweeted: “When we discovered this on 17 February, well before this became a public conversation, we immediately removed it. But I should have caught this earlier. As founder and CEO, the responsibility for such lapses is mine.”
Bansal further added that Lenskart does not and will never restrict any form of respectful religious expression.
“This includes bindi, tilak, or any such symbols of faith. Our team members have always been, and will always be, free to express their beliefs with pride,” he said.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)