₹100CR Income Uplift for
Bharat's Nano-Entrepreneurs!

Through the Istri Project, 8,000+ ironing vendors across 5 cities have grown stronger, greener, and more self-reliant, powering the 90% economy.

Every neighbourhood has that one ironing vendor who keeps our clothes crisp and our days sorted. Yet, behind every neatly pressed shirt lies an old coal iron box — heavy, smoky, and time-consuming. It not only releases harmful CO₂ but also eats up over 2 hours daily for the Ironing vendors, before work can even begin.
When everything around us is evolving, why should they be left behind?

The Challenges

19th century solution to cater to modern day business demands

Heating coal iron box takes up to 2 hour daily

Reduced productivity Stagnation and efficiency in business

Rise in Coal Prices

The Solution

Most ironing vendors operate from streetside pushcarts to cater to their customers across different parts of the city. Due to the mobile nature of their work, they do not have access to a permanent electricity supply for their business. An LPG Iron box, connected to a commercial cylinder, changes how an ironing vendor operates their business.

Why LPG Iron Box

Systematic Approach to ensure Sustainability of Impact

To ensure each ironing vendor is able to adopt and sustain the use of the new LPG Ironbox, the
transition process addresses the awareness, affordability, accessibility barriers and creates a post
sale ecosystem to bring in sustainable impact.

The current approach addresses the
affordability, accessibility, and awareness barriers
to bring in sustainable ecosystem change

Accelerate
Demand
Work with:
1.Sanghas, Last-mile to build product awareness
2.CSRs for incentivizing adoption through subsidies
3.Implementation Partners - for driving conversion
Transform
Market
Work with:
1.Manufacturers to produce more, improve Quality
2.Retailers to stock more
3.Financers for subsidy & loans
4.Marketing Channels to enhance awareness
5.After-Sales service points
Transform
Sustenance
Work with:
1.Strengthen After-Sales service
2.Measure Organic adoption of the new product
3.Create awareness of results
Accelerate
Demand
Work with:
1.Sanghas, Last-mile to build product awareness
2.CSRs for incentivizing adoption through subsidies
3.Implementation Partners - for driving conversion
Transform
Market
Work with:
1.Manufacturers to produce more, improve Quality
2.Retailers to stock more
3.Financers for subsidy & loans
4.Marketing Channels to enhance awareness
5.After-Sales service points
Transform
Sustenance
Work with:
1.Strengthen After-Sales service
2.Measure Organic adoption of the new product
3.Create awareness of results

Impact So Far

8,348

Vyapaaris
Impacted

Rs. 400.70M

Annual
Income Uplift

27%

Income
Uplift

6,353

Tons CO2
Eliminated Yearly

635K

Trees Freed
Up Yearly

Our Reach

Bengaluru

Chennai

Hyderabad

Jaipur

Delhi

Impact Validated: Independent Assessment
by Azim Premji University

A detailed third-party impact study revealed how Chennai’s ironing vendors are transforming their livelihoods. By switching from coal to LPG-based ironing boxes, they’ve achieved a 28% rise in monthly income while cutting fuel costs by nearly half.
Read the full report

Stakeholders

Manufacturers
and Distributers

Istri
Vyapaaris

Gas
Suppliers

Partner
and Funders

Way Ahead

There are an estimated 25000+ Coal-based Istri Vyapaaris in top 100 cities in India

Our vision is to make India Coal
Iron box Free within the next decade.

Partner with Us

Stories Of Impact

Venkatesh used a coal ironing box and earned INR 400-500 daily, but his income increased 1.4 times after transitioning to LPG ironing boxes as now he can iron more clothes. Finishing is perfect in the LPG iron box. He says, “Customers used to be unhappy with us whenever their clothes got burnt due to coal. Now we do not have any such problems. Further, coal has to be changed 4-5 times a day. This time can be saved if you use an LPG iron box. The best part of this iron box is that we can adjust the heat based on the type of clothes we are ironing.”

Venkatesh
Vyapaari

Rajesh didn’t just switch from a coal iron to an LPG iron box-he became a voice for safer and cleaner work practices. He sees this change as “the next step towards progress” for himself and his community. By choosing an LPG iron, he’s not only improving his own livelihood but also inspiring others in the trade to adopt better, healthier tools.

Rajesh
Vyapaari

The transition to an LPG iron box has significantly changed how I work. Working with coal used to leave my hands black, often staining the white clothes. The LPG iron box has eliminated this challenge. My customers are now happy and satisfied. Additionally, it heats up within just 5 minutes, saving me valuable time and ensuring customer satisfaction.

Saathesh
Bangalore based Vyapaari

“Within a few months, I noticed the astounding impact of using the LPG iron box, so I decided to buy a second one for my husband, who is also an ironing vyaapaari. The number of clothes we could iron per day increased from 150 to 300, leading to a significant upliftment in our income. Personally, I experienced a surge in confidence as I could now iron delicate clothes without the constant worry of burning them with cinder.

Satya
Bangalore based Vyaapaari

Kamlesh switched from a coal iron to an LPG iron box, giving her more control over her daily routine. Now, she decides when to eat, when to return home, how many clothes to iron, and how long to work. The LPG iron not only reduced her effort but also gave her back her time and independence.

Kamlesh
Vyapaari

Donate Now

Shankar Maruwada is the Co-Founder and CEO of EkStep Foundation, a philanthropic mission he co-founded in 2015 along with Nandan Nilekani and Rohini Nilekani, to improve basic education for 200 million children in India. The Foundation has co-created an open-source free to use digital infrastructure called Sunbird (www.sunbird.org) which works towards achieving this purpose. DIKSHA, the national school education platform, is one of multiple national initiatives that leverage Sunbird to provide access to digital content for learners and for capacity building of teachers. He has more than 25 years of experience across corporate, entrepreneurial, nonprofit and government sectors. This allows him to bring the best of thinking from different lenses, which he has used in shaping EkStep’s mission and its strategic choices of achieving population scale impact for learning, using technology. Shankar is deeply passionate about leveraging technology for large scale transformation in society. He was part of the startup team at Aadhaar; in fact, he was responsible for naming it. He also set up one of India’s first data analytics companies – Marketics. This cross-sectorial experience and interdisciplinary approach has been a driving force in pursuing scale solutions, innovations and collaborations for EkStep’s education mission. He also mentors startups, social entrepreneurs and not-for-profits. Shankar is a member of the National Steering Committee tasked with developing the National Curriculum Frameworks based on the National Education Policy, 2020. He also been on multiple Government committees and task forces, including DIKSHA, NDEAR (National Digital Education Architecture), iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training). His alma mater IIT Kharagpur’s motto of ‘yogah karmasu kaushalam’ (Yoga is excellence at work) and its message of ‘Dedicated to the service of the nation’ is also his chosen path in life. He is also an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

R. Natarajan, fondly called Nats, co-founded Foundation partners in July 2018 advising companies on scaling, governance and profitability. Prior to this he was Chief Operating officer at UC RNT Fund, managing USD 400 Mn and Managing Director at Helion ventures, a VC firm with Asset under management of over USD 1 Bn for 10 years, and in various leadership roles in Tavant Technologies Inc., US, and Wipro for 13 years. He is a qualified finance professional and a certified black belt in Six sigma by Motorola University. He is on the Board of studies at Christ University and in the Advisory board of Shasun College for Women in Chennai, Bethany High school Bangalore and Byramjee Jeejeebhoy School and College at Mumbai. He also serves on the Board of PHFI (Public Health Foundation India) and also a trustee of Youth For Seva, a large NGO focusing on self-reliant communities powered by selfless individuals for the last 13 years, currently whose volunteers cross 1 lac and beneficiaries cross 10 Cr across 14 states.

“Every human being deserves a dignified life out of poverty, and it’s well in our collective means to achieve that goal.”After 17 years of starting, scaling and turning around various businesses in some of the largest and most respected organisations globally, Atul started The/Nudge Foundation to do poverty alleviation work. Atul is now serving both The/Nudge and Givelndia as their CEO. Over his 5-year stint at InMobi as its Chief Business Officer, Atul helped scale the organisation to a global leader in mobile advertising, with operations in 20+ countries. Atul also served on the Board of Mobile Marketing Association. Prior to InMobi, Atul was the Head of Mobile Business for Japan & Asia-Pacific at Google. Atul has also done various general management, business development and sales roles across technology companies, including Adobe, Samsung and Infosys. Atul also served EndPoverty, a non-profit, as Chairperson for two years, working on various aspects of poverty, including water, sanitation, education, skill development, sustainability and women empowerment, and continues to serve as their Board Member. Atul has been named in the #40underForty list by The Economic Times in 2017. Atul holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Indian School of Business and a B-Tech from the National Institute of Technology.

Binny Bansal is an Indian internet entrepreneur, who co-founded Flipkart, the leading e-commerce marketplace in the country. At Flipkart, he donned several hats including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive Officer, Group CEO, and Chairman. Post his graduation in Computer Science & Engineering from IIT Delhi, Binny worked at various companies, including a stint at Amazon India. In October 2007, along with his Amazon colleague, he co-founded Flipkart, an online book store based out of Bengaluru. In 2018, Binny steered Flipkart to close the largest global M&A deal in e-commerce, when Walmart acquired a majority stake in the company at an enterprise valuation of $22 billion. Binny is currently an entrepreneur-investor and mentor in the startup ecosystem. He has invested in several early stage startups, including Stellaps, Ather, Increff, Inshorts, Tracxn and Goodera. Growth stage startups include Acko, Cure.fit, Rupeek and GreyOrange, to name a few. Binny also co-founded xtolOx Technologies, offering technology tools, learning platforms and consultancy services to enable growth stage startups scale 10x. In December 2019, Binny relocated to Singapore with his family. Binny was ranked 26th among India’s 50 Most Powerful People in 2017 by India Today, and was awarded the 2016 “Asian of the Year” award by Straits Times of Singapore.

Narayan Ramachandran is an accomplished investment professional and social entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in global finance and developmental economics. He previously served as the Country Head of Morgan Stanley India and was the lead portfolio manager of its Global Emerging Markets and Global Asset Allocation teams, managing assets worth over $25 billion. Narayan is currently the Chairman and CEO of KludeIn I Acquisition Corporation and co-Chairman of Unitus Capital, India’s largest social enterprise bank. He is also actively involved in social impact through InKlude Labs, which scales interventions in education and public health, and serves on several boards including Vivriti Asset Management and Caspian Debt. Narayan holds a B.Tech. in chemical engineering from IIT Bombay and an MBA from the University of Michigan. He is known for connecting ideas, people, and capital to drive impactful change in areas such as social enterprise, environment, and global finance.

linkedin.com/in/narayan-ramachandran-a6b2941b8

Abhishek Poddar is a prominent Indian industrialist, art collector, and patron of the arts. He is the Founder-Trustee of the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru, to which he has donated a substantial portion of his family’s art collection and the initial leadership gift. As Managing Director of Matheson Bosanquet, an 80-year-old company specializing in tea production, trading, and export, and Director at Sua Explosives & Accessories, a leading manufacturer of mining explosives in India, Poddar balances business leadership with cultural philanthropy. He also serves on advisory committees of several esteemed organizations including the India-Europe Foundation for New Dialogues and the Lincoln Centre Global Advisory Council. Recognized among Asia’s 2018 Heroes of Philanthropy by Forbes, he is deeply committed to promoting India’s rich artistic heritage.
He was born in Kolkata, attended Lamartiniere for Boys and The Doon School, and graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.

linkedin.com/in/abhishek-poddar-map

Ireena Vittal is a leading adviser on sustainable growth, digital transformation, and organizational scale-up. She serves on the boards of Asian Paints, Godrej Consumer, Diageo PLC, and Compass PLC, and advises nonprofits in education, legal reform, rural livelihoods, water, and urbanization. A former McKinsey partner for 16 years, she worked with global companies and co-authored influential reports on economic growth, agriculture, and urbanization. She holds a degree in Electronics from Osmania University and a PGDBM from IIM Calcutta.

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