Arunachalam Muruganantham (born 12 October 1961) also known as Padman is a social entrepreneur from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India.

He is the inventor of a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine and is credited for innovating grassroots mechanisms for generating awareness about traditional unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural India.

[5] He supplied food to factory workers and took up various jobs as a machine tool operator, yam-selling agent, farm laborer, and welder, to support his family.

[6] Shortly after, Muruganantham discovered his wife collecting filthy rags and newspapers to use during her menstrual cycle, as sanitary napkins made by multinational corporations were expensive.

[14] He sourced the processed pine wood pulp from a supplier in Mumbai, and the machines would grind, de-fibrate, press and sterilize the pads under ultraviolet light[15] before packaging them for sale.

[11] Despite offers from several corporate entities to commercialize his venture, he has refused, and continues to provide these machines to self-help groups run by women.

[20] In addition to his own outreach, Muruganantham's work has also inspired many other entrepreneurs to enter this area,[21] including some who propose to use waste banana fibre or bamboo for the purpose.

[13] Muruganantham's story was the subject of a prize-winning documentary by Amit Virmani, Menstrual Man,[25][26] and the film Phullu (2017) directed by Abhishek Saxena.

Director R. Balki cast Indian actor Akshay Kumar as Laxmikant Chauhan in a film based on Muruganantham's life, titled Pad Man.