Our Purpose


Empowering underprivileged women in rural areas

Women the world over want the best for their family – they aspire to send their children to the
best school, to wear nice clothes, and to have a refrigerator to keep their food fresh. Panchee
strives to bridge the gap of inequality and bring more focus to the lives of disadvantaged
women and help them achieve their dreams. Panchee aims to bring to the forefront the
challenges that women with less privilege face and show how a small, consistent monthly
contribution made by our members can empower and impact a woman’s life and family
significantly.

When women work together towards a goal, incredible things happen!

Panchee was formed by a group of passionate women with a mission to empower less privileged women. Guided by the belief that every living being in this universe is connected to each other by an invisible force, Panchee was born!

Panchee Foundation was registered as a Public Charitable Trust in Karnataka in 2019. Panchee was born from our founders’ passion to transform the lives of rural women through financial freedom. Panchee is a diverse community of women who have come together to make an impact. What started as a group of 25 women in Bangalore has grown into 3 Chapters, 2 in Bangalore and 1 in Lucknow with 86 members as of January 2024.

Panchee works with grass root partners who help identify prospective borrowers and help in disbursing the loan and managing repayments. Since we lend at the grassroot level, we are able to witness first-hand how a woman’s financial independence has a ripple effect in her family, changing her standard of living and giving her a larger voice in the community.

How does Panchee do this?

Our community is made up of our members, our grass root partners as well as women borrowers.

Panchee is a diverse community of women who have come together to make an impact.

Members meet monthly, on a set day that works for the chapter. The hostesses plan the get-together which includes a guest speaker. These speakers are from different walks of life and make an impact on society in their own way. 

Each get together has a theme and the members are encouraged to dress in ethnic wear, with sarees as the preferable choice as that in turn helps build awareness for a particular Indian weave or fabric. 

Chapters are led by a Chapter lead, who invites women to join her group. Each member makes a quarterly contribution in advance which is pooled in to provide loans through Panchee’s lending partners. These donations are only used to fund the borrower’s request and not for any of the foundation’s group activities.Donations are eligible for tax exemption under Section 80G of Income Tax Act.

Trustees and Office Bearers

The core Panchee team is made up of women from various walks of life, bound together with the sole objective of helping the women in rural India prosper.

Anita Singh
Secretary

Anita has spent several years in the Advertising and Marketing industry. Her most recent stint was with the Mphasis, an IT Services Co,. She has global exposure during time spent in the UK and North America.

Anuradha Sarin
Trustee and co-founder

Anuradha has over two decades experience in banking in the US and India, Anuradha pursued her passion for women empowerment through ventures in micro-lending. Anu was associated with Micrograam, a peer-to-peer lending platform that raises money for livelihood loans.

Dr. Minati Misra Ambarish
Trustee and co-founder

Minati has over 20 years’ experience in global financial markets and is a recipient of several awards and honors including being recognized as one of “The Top 50 Women in Finance in the World” by Euromoney in 1997. Minati has worked for IFC and several hedge funds in the USA and is now the Chief mentor in a Business School.

Jyoti Rao
Trustee and co-founder

Jyoti is a Chartered Accountant with IT experience. She has been a banker for over 30 years, lives in Australia, and works with National Australia Bank. She has also lived and worked in India, Europe and Hong Kong.

Pratibha Pant
Trustee and co-founder

Pratibha is a veteran in the direct sales industry with over 23 years of experience as Trainer and then Regional Sales Head. Pratibha has founded and runs The Huda Bar, makers of healthy conscious food.

Viraja Shankar
Trustee

A physiotherapist and counselor by profession, Viraja found her forte in service, quite early in her career. She has worked with Human Resources development to help youth become more employable. She managed Cancervive, a charitable trust in Mangalore, which raised treatment of
children with cancer.