Lenskart controversy explained: From boycott calls to policy change

Añadido: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]A document goes viral. A boycott call follows.

[00:00:04]And one of India's biggest eyewear brands is suddenly in damage control mode.

[00:00:08]Here's what happened with Lenskart and why it sparked such a strong reaction.

[00:00:13]Earlier this week, a document purportedly from Lenskart's internal employee grooming policy started circulating on social media.

[00:00:21]The problem? It appeared to restrict employees from wearing religious markers, specifically the bindi and tilak.

[00:00:29]For a company with over 2,400 stores across India, that didn't go down well.

[00:00:34]Netizens were outraged. Boycott calls followed almost immediately. And it wasn't just online.

[00:00:41]Members of the Hindu Utsav Samiti took to the streets, holding protests outside Lenskart showrooms over the alleged ban on bindi and tilak at the workplace.

[00:00:51]Chandrashekhar Tiwari, president of the Hindu Utsav Samiti, was among those who led the demonstrations.

[00:01:28]Lenskart founder and CEO Peyush Bansal was quick to step in. He said the viral document was an outdated internal training document, not an HR policy, and that the offending line had already been removed back in February, well before the controversy became public. But he also took responsibility, saying, "I should have caught this earlier. As founder and CEO, the responsibility for such lapses is mine."

[00:01:53]The company then went a step further.

[00:01:56]On April 18th, Lenskart published a standardized in-store style guide publicly on its website.

[00:02:03]The new policy explicitly welcomes religious and cultural symbols: bindi, tilak, >> [music] >> sindoor, kalava, mangalsutra, kada, hijab, turban, and more.

[00:02:14]"Not as exceptions," the company [music] said, "but as who we are."

[00:02:18]The statement also leaned into Lenskart's identity.

[00:02:21]"Lenskart was built in Bharat, by Indians, for Indians."

[00:02:25]This controversy touches on a tension that many Indian workplaces are navigating. How do you build a standardized professional brand image [music] without asking employees to leave their identity at the door?

[00:02:37]For Lenskart, the answer, at least now, is that you don't. Whether this puts the controversy fully to rest remains to be seen. But the company has made its position public and very official.