Food delivery company Zomato on Saturday said that it would give menstrual leave up to 10 days per year to its female employees. The move by the Indian food delivering company is an effort to combat the stigma around the issue of menstruation in country.

“There shouldn’t be any shame or stigma attached to applying for a period leave,” Chief Executive of Zomato, Deepinder Goyal, said in an email to staff on Saturday. The leave will be applicable to all women, including transgender people, across the company.

With more than 5,000 employees, Zomato, based in Haryana’s Gurugram, was founded in 2008. 

Millions of women across the country still face discrimination and health issue due to lack of awareness and stigma attached with menstruation.

“You should feel free to tell people on internal groups, or emails that you are on your period leave for the day,” Goyal wrote in the note.

Before this, digital media company Culture Machine and digital agency Gozoop adopted a policy of First Day of Period (FOP) leave in 2017, becoming the first companies in India to do so. Another digital media company, FlyMyBizz, adapted a similar policy in early 2019, giving up to 12 period leaves to its women employees.