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Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman) Biography: Age, Career, Family and

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated October 5, 2026 • 3 min read

Quick Info

Date of birth1962

Age56 Years (as in 2018)

BirthplaceCoimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

ProfessionSocial Entrepreneur

NationalityIndian

Marital statusMarried

SpouseShanthi

FamilyDaughter - Preeti; Father - S. Arunachalam; Mother - A. Vanita; Sisters - 3

Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman) Biography

Arunachalam Muruganantham, widely known as Padman, is an Indian social entrepreneur who developed a low-cost sanitary pad machine and built a movement to普w

Early life and background

Arunachalam Muruganantham was born in 1962 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, into a family of hand-loom weavers. His father, S. Arunachalam, worked as a weaver; his mother, A. Vanita, supported the family through farm labour after his father’s death. Muruganantham left school at age 14 and did a variety of odd jobs to make ends meet, including working as a farm labourer, machine tool operator and welder.

Career

Muruganantham became known for creating an affordable method to produce sanitary napkins and for founding Jayaashree Industries to manufacture and distribute low-cost machines for rural use. His interest in menstrual hygiene began after noticing how his wife, Shanthi, and other women in his community used newspapers and rags during their menstrual cycles. That observation prompted him to experiment with absorbent materials and to build prototypes for sanitary pads.

Unable to find volunteers to test his early prototypes, Muruganantham devised self-tests using an artificial “uterus” made from a football bladder and goat’s blood to measure absorption. Those experiments led to social ostracism in his village; people misunderstood his work and he was shunned for a period. Undeterred, he tracked down the materials used in commercial pads and spent several years developing an affordable process and machinery to produce them.

After around four and a half years of experimentation he produced a working low-cost machine. IIT Madras entered his wooden first model in a national innovation competition, where it won the top prize among hundreds of entries. That recognition helped bring wider attention to his work and led to greater acceptance in his life and community.

Jayaashree Industries went on to supply manual and semi-automated sanitary pad machines, primarily to women’s self-help groups and NGOs in underdeveloped regions of India. A manual machine can employ about ten people and manufacture roughly 200–250 pads per day, with each machine helping to convert thousands of women to pad usage. Muruganantham built hundreds of machines quickly and targeted states with the greatest need; his work aimed not only to make pads affordable but also to create employment opportunities for rural women.

Muruganantham set an ambitious early goal of creating one million jobs and later expanded that aim to ten million jobs worldwide. His machines and training efforts have reached many parts of India and have begun to spread internationally to countries including Mauritius, Kenya, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

Public profile

Muruganantham’s work has been honoured with national and international recognition. In 2006 he received a National Innovation Award presented by the President of India. Time magazine included him on its list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 2016. In 2019 Fortune magazine named him among the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.

His story has inspired documentary and feature films. The documentary Menstrual Man chronicles his work, and the Bollywood film Padman (2018) was based on his life, with actor Akshay Kumar portraying a character inspired by him. His work also influenced a short documentary, Period. End of Sentence, which reached the Oscar shortlist in the Documentary Short Subject category. He has delivered talks at major institutions such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIT Bombay and Harvard, and has appeared on the TED stage.

Personal life

Muruganantham married Shanthi in 1998. They have one daughter, Preeti. He lives with his family in a modest apartment and has emphasized that personal wealth was never his primary objective.

Latest updates

By the late 2010s Muruganantham’s efforts had expanded internationally and continued to attract attention in media, film and development circles. He remained focused on breaking menstrual taboos, creating local manufacturing capacity and generating livelihoods for rural women, while continuing to promote affordable menstrual hygiene solutions worldwide.

Editorial Review and Sources

This F4U profile is written from publicly available career and profile information, then reviewed for clarity before publication. If you spot an outdated detail about Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman), send the page URL and a reliable correction source to f4udotin@gmail.com.

Reference context: StarsUnfolded
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Recent Work

Padman (film)

A 2018 Bollywood feature film based on Muruganantham’s life; actor Akshay Kumar played a character inspired by him.

2018
Menstrual Man (documentary)

A prize-winning documentary by Amit Virmani that follows Muruganantham’s work on menstrual hygiene.

Period. End of Sentence (short documentary)

A short documentary inspired by Muruganantham’s work that made the Oscar shortlist in the Documentary Short Subject category.

2018
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Career Highlights

  1. Developed a low-cost sanitary pad production method and machine after years of hands-on experimentation
  2. Founded Jayaashree Industries to manufacture and distribute pad-making machines to rural women’s groups
  3. Won a National Innovation Award; later received the Padma Shri and was named among Time’s 100 Most Influential People
  4. Inspired the films Menstrual Man and Padman and has spoken at major academic institutions and TED
Reviewed by F4U Editorial Desk

F4U profile pages are prepared from public career information, checked for readability, and updated when reliable correction sources are shared with the editorial team.

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Frequently Asked Questions

When was Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman) born?

Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman) was born on 1962.

What is Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman) known for?

Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman) is known for social Entrepreneur.

What is Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman)’s marital status?

Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman)'s marital status is listed as Married.

Who is Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman) married to?

Arunachalam Muruganantham (Padman) is publicly listed as married to Shanthi.