Larsen & Toubro, a leading engineering company, announced a paying menstrual leave of a day for its employees, benefiting around 5,000 women at its head office.
The announcement was made by President and Managing Director SN Subrahmanyan during a striking event in the International Women’s Day. The details on the implementation of the policy are still being finalized by the management of the company, according to the report.
The leave policy applies only to employees of the parent company, L&T, and does not extend to its subsidiaries in the financial services or technology sectors. The workforce of 60,000 people, with women representing 9% of its total employees. This decision aligns L&T with companies like Swiggy and Zomato, which have implemented similar policies in India.
The decision comes in the wake of previous controversial remarks of Subrahmanyan. At the beginning of 2025, he pleaded for a 90 -hour work week and expressed his regret for not being able to make the employees work on Sunday. His statements, which also included a controversial comment on “Looking at your wife”, aroused many criticisms and debates on the balance between professional and private life.
In addition to the debate on the 90 -hour work week, Subrahmanyan had recently warned that the reluctance of workers to move for jobs poses an important challenge for businesses and the country’s growth. He had attributed the reluctance of workers to work on the government’s well-being regimes. The declaration was criticized as “deceptive, insulting and demoralizing” in the working labor of India.
Meanwhile, menstrual leave policies have gained ground across India. Odisha became the first state in August 2024 to introduce a day’s menstrual leave policy for women in the government and private sectors. Karnataka also plans a bill which offers six days of menstrual leave paid per year for women in the public and private sectors, as well as free menstrual health products.
