PadBank brings period education and free, safe menstrual products, including sanitary pads, to girls and women where help is hardest to find.
Sources: review of 138 Indian studies, BMJ Open, 2016 (girls) · NFHS-6, 2023-24 (villages) · NFHS-5, 2019-21 (poorest homes). Rounded: 1 in 2 stands for 48% and 46%; 1 in 4 for 24% (school).
When no one talks about periods, girls learn nothing before their first one. They are told to hide it, stay quiet and make do with unclean cloth or whatever is at hand. Silence and unsafe products go together.
Education breaks that cycle. When girls and women understand their bodies, they know which products are safe, where to find them at a price they can afford, and when to seek help. When mothers, fathers, brothers and boys understand too, a girl is supported at home, not hidden. Teach one generation well, and the next grows up without the silence.
Young women in India who use a safe, hygienic method during their period
Women aged 15 to 24. Source: National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4, 5 and 6), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Progress is real, but the gap is widest in villages and in the poorest homes.
A PadBank session is short and practical. Girls and women leave with answers and with safe products.
Simple sessions on what a period is, how the body changes and how to manage it.
Open talk about the myths and taboos that keep girls and women quiet.
Sessions for boys and parents, so mothers, fathers and brothers support girls at home.
Sanitary pads, reusable cloth pads, cups or period panties, given free and chosen to suit each community.
How to change, clean up and dispose of products safely.
Where to find safe products at a price a family can afford.
Camps and events where women gather, in villages and settlements.
Working with schools and local groups who know the community.
In every session we show girls and women all the safe ways to manage a period, and talk openly about each one. Then she chooses what suits her body, her budget and her life.
Easy to use, and the most familiar. We teach how to use them safely and dispose of them properly.
Washed, dried in the sun and used again for many months.
Last a long time when looked after well. We explain how to use and clean them.
Washable underwear that holds the flow. Many women and girls find them comfortable.
We also explain options we do not give out, such as tampons, so she can decide with all the facts.
Khyati Gupta, our Founder, shows a menstrual cup during a session.
Every session teaches how to wrap, bin and dispose of used products safely. In schools we install lidded bins, and incinerators where they are needed.
Where reusable products suit her life, we encourage them. They last for months, cost less over time and leave far less waste behind.
Not everyone can come to a session. So we take the conversation to streets, walls and phones.
Short films, open conversation and a private counselling corner, taken from one neighbourhood to the next.
Bright murals on a busy Gurugram underpass and in schools across Delhi. One says: It's just a period, set her free.
Nukkad nataks that draw a crowd and get a whole village talking.
So there is a menstrual helpline that answers at any hour. Girls and women can call about periods, pain, hygiene or anything they could not ask in front of others. Confidential and free.
Call 85888 70999A sample of the programmes we have run, not the full list. Most were funded by companies and foundations, and a few through giving platforms such as Give. Nari Samman and Shakti Shala, at the end, are our school programmes, funded by company partners.
Street plays and free pads for about 40,000 girls across four districts.
Period education and free pads for schoolgirls and women in villages of Greater Noida.
Period education and reusable pad kits for schoolgirls, with a study before and after to see what changed.
Period education and hygiene kits for adolescent girls.
Reusable menstrual kits for women in communities, and local women trained as menstrual health educators.
Period education and reusable cloth pad kits for women and girls in villages and city settlements, with surveys before and after.
Sessions in schools, communities and workplaces, an awareness van with a private counselling corner, murals, a menstrual helpline, and training for ASHA and Anganwadi workers.
Menstrual health education and hygiene kits for adolescent girls and women in schools and city settlements.
Menstrual health workshops and hygiene kits for women and girls in underserved communities.
Menstrual hygiene education and awareness workshops for adolescent girls.
Reusable pad kits, sessions for mothers and daughters together, the menstrual helpline, health camps and training for ASHA and Anganwadi workers.
Innerwear from Uniqlo and sanitary pads from Unicharm, handed over with menstrual health sessions for women and girls, working with partner non-profits.
Menstrual health sessions in schools and communities, alongside work on cleanliness and sanitation in the same neighbourhoods. Started in September 2026.
Period education for schoolgirls, with hygiene kits of reusable pads, period panties, sanitiser and other essentials.
Female hygiene kits for women and girls, handed over with menstrual awareness sessions.
Old cloth collected and turned into cloth pads, then given to women in communities along with menstrual health education.
Unrestricted support that we used for free pads and menstrual health sessions in communities across India.
A grant chosen by Adobe's employees paid for education sessions, pad vending machines in schools and reusable cloth pad kits.
A monthly giving mission started by our Founder, Khyati Gupta. Supporters give every month, which keeps the work steady through the year.
An open fundraiser on Give, where anyone can help a girl or woman get through her period safely.
Support for our menstrual health work through PhonePe's brand partnership with Give.
Employees at many companies choose to give to Pinkishe through Give's employee giving programmes.
210 government schools in five districts, with pad vending machines, sessions and School Sakhis, reaching nearly 68,000 girls.
Our district model for government schools. In Dholpur, Rajasthan: 35 schools, each with a pad vending machine, a year of pads and a trained Saarthi.
About Shakti Shala →What changed for girls and women after PadBank came to their community.
A schoolgirl stopped going to school during her period after an old cloth leaked and her classmates teased her. A reusable cloth pad that does not leak gave her the confidence to return. She no longer has to choose between her period and her education.
A young girl hid in a village pond to wash away the stain of her first period. She was so afraid of being found out. A Pinkishe workshop, with free pads, opened a conversation about periods that the village had never had.
Women here shared old rags and lived with itching and infections. A Pinkishe session showed them how to use, wash and sun-dry reusable cloth pads. A girl who had just had her first period left with knowledge her mother never had the chance to give her.
Photos are from Pinkishe sessions and do not show the people in these stories.
It started in 2017. In its early years, women across India came together to hand out pads and talk openly about periods, supported by individual donors from the start.
Today PadBank is run by Pinkishe's trained team, with around 100 volunteers across India who still help when needed.
Our team works in schools and communities where girls and women cannot easily get period education or safe products.
Pinkishe delivers the sessions and products itself, with its own trained team. Money never goes to the person who asked for help.
Stories from the field appear on this page, and our newsletter brings them to you.
Stories
Three stories from communities where we work, told in full.
Urban communities
Closing gaps in menstrual hygiene for women and girls in Trilokpuri, Delhi.
Read the story →
Tribal communities
In Betul, Madhya Pradesh, tribal women were using ash and rags during their periods.
Read the story →
Breaking taboos
In Haldwani, Priya was made to sleep on the floor during her periods.
Read the story →
Give sanitary pads in kind, and we take them to girls and women who need them.
Donate padsAsk friends and family to give on your birthday or another special day.
Start a fundraiserDonations are eligible under section 80G. Your receipt shows the details.
Giving from outside India? Use our international page.
For families and individuals who want to do more. Let's talk.
From ₹2.2 lakh a school a year: machine, pads, sessions, a trained teacher, student champions, disposal and monitoring.
Visit a school or community where we work, with our team, before or after you give.
A personal conversation with Arun Gupta about what you would like to fund. Donations are eligible for deduction under Section 80G.
Education creates lasting change. Safe products meet the need today. Together, they help girls and women manage their periods with dignity.
By 2047, as India turns 100, we aim to have supported 1 crore girls and women with menstrual health, in step with the vision of a Viksit Bharat. Across all our programmes and partners, we have supported over 8 lakh girls and women since 2017.
To period education and free, safe menstrual products for girls and women, brought by our own team where help is hardest to find.
We work hard to keep administration under 5 per cent of our expenses. In FY 2025-26, it was 4.28 per cent. Our accounts have been audited every year since FY 2017-18, and you can read them on our Governance page.
After you give, we send you our newsletter by email, with stories and updates from the field. You can unsubscribe at any time with one click.
Yes, Pinkishe is registered under 80G. Your receipt shows the details; your tax adviser can tell you how it applies to you.
Yes. Use our international page. Gifts from outside India come only into our FCRA account.
Pinkishe Foundation is a public charitable trust, set up in 2017. We hold 12AB, 80G, CSR-1 and FCRA registrations, and we are registered on the NSE Social Stock Exchange. Our Governance page shows our audited accounts and lists all our bank accounts in full.
Your gift goes where the need is greatest. We are building a way for you to choose a specific need to fund, and will share it with our donors when it is ready.
Yes. Donate sanitary pads, and we take them to girls and women who need them.
Yes. Partner with us and we will design one with you.
Your gift brings period education and safe menstrual products to girls and women who need them, through our own team.
Donate nowRequest support for a communityOr write to info@pinkishe.org
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