Shaadi.com founder and CEO Anupam Mittal has announced a mandatory weekly work-from-home day for the company’s employees, linking the decision to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent appeal for reduced fuel consumption amid rising global oil prices.
Under the new arrangement, employees at Shaadi.com will work remotely every Wednesday. In a LinkedIn post announcing the move, Mittal said the initiative could reduce office commute fuel consumption by nearly 20% for participating employees. According to internal company estimates, the policy could save around 30,000 litres of petrol annually and cut roughly six lakh kilometres of commuting across a workforce of about 500 employees.
“Yesterday, the PM asked India to import less & consume less imports. Fair ask. So at Shaadi.com, we’re starting with one simple move,” Mittal wrote in his LinkedIn post. He added, “Nation-building is not always a grand sacrifice. Sometimes it is just fewer cars on the road on a weekday.”
The decision follows PM Modi’s address in Hyderabad over the weekend, where he urged citizens and businesses to revive COVID-era practices such as work-from-home, virtual meetings, and increased use of public transport to ease pressure on India’s fuel imports and foreign exchange reserves. The appeal came against the backdrop of the West Asia conflict and rising global crude prices.
Mittal’s LinkedIn post reportedly attracted reactions reflecting broader divisions around the future of work in corporate India. Some users praised the move as a practical and realistic step. Others questioned why the policy was limited to one day a week. One commenter wrote, “If your team can WFH one day, why not all days and amplify the support and lead the industry by example.”
The Shaadi.com announcement arrives at a time when many Indian employers have been tightening return-to-office mandates after years of pandemic-driven flexibility, framing in-office work as essential for productivity and collaboration. Mittal’s move is among the first visible corporate responses linking workplace policy directly to the Prime Minister’s appeal.
