Bindi-Tilak controversy sinks Lenskart Lanka! 4500 crores lost in one stroke, created an uproar on social media

Business Desk: The past few times have been quite stressful for the country’s leading eyewear company Lenskart. A controversy related to Bindi and Tilak weighed so heavily on the company that it lost its footing in the stock market on Monday. Due to this controversy, there has been a huge decline of about Rs 4,500 crore in the market valuation of Lenskart.

Old rules spoil the game

The root of this entire controversy was an old ‘Internal Grooming Policy’ of the company, which suddenly went viral on social media. In this document that went viral, employees were allegedly prohibited from wearing religious symbols like bindi and tilak during work. As soon as this became public, ‘Boycott Lenskart’ started trending on social media. People expressed strong displeasure by accusing the company of religious discrimination.

There was panic in the stock market

The direct impact of the dispute was seen on the financial health of the company. Lenskart shares fell by nearly 5% during trading on BSE and touched a low of Rs 508.70. However, there was a slight recovery by the end of the day and it closed around Rs 533.70. At the peak of the decline, the company’s market value fell directly from Rs 92,872 crore to Rs 88,331 crore, causing investors to suffer losses of about Rs 4,540 crore in a single session.

Piyush Bansal apologized

Seeing the matter escalating, the company’s founder Piyush Bansal took charge and presented clarification. He clarified that the document going viral on social media is quite old and is not a part of the company’s current policies. Bansal stressed that Lenskart has no restrictions on any religion or dress. He has also publicly apologized for this misunderstanding, so that the trust of the customers can be won back.