Working Since: 2000 | Registration Number: DIT(E)/12A/Vol.I/A-857/2001-02

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation headquartered in Bengaluru, India. The organisation strives to eliminate classroom hunger by implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme in the government schools and government-aided schools. Alongside, Akshaya Patra also aims at countering malnutrition and supporting the right to education of socio-economically disadvantaged children.

Since 2000, Akshaya Patra has been concerting all its efforts towards providing fresh and nutritious meals to children on every single school day. We are continuously leveraging technology to multiply our reach. The state-of-the-art kitchens have become a subject of study and have attracted curious visitors from around the world.

Our partnership with the Government of India and various State Governments, along with the persistent support from corporates, individual donors, and well-wishers have helped us to grow from serving just 1,500 children in 5 schools in 2000 to serving 1.7 million children.

Today, Akshaya Patra is the world’s largest (not-for-profit run) Mid-Day Meal Programme serving wholesome food every school day to over 1.7 million children from 14,314 schools across 12 states in India.

The Growth of The Akshaya Patra Foundation – A Quick Overview

On 28 November 2001, the Supreme Court of India passed a mandate, "Cooked mid-day meal is to be provided in all the Government and Government-aided primary schools in all the states." And, Akshaya Patra was also called upon to provide testimonies to the Supreme Court.

By the time the Ministry of Human Resource Development - Department of School Health and Education extended its support to the initiative in 2003, Akshaya Patra was already reaching out to 23,000 children.

Today, Akshaya Patra has 38 kitchens spread across 12 states in India, a result of the successful partnership with the Government of India, various State Governments and generous supporters.

Hunger and Illiteracy are India’s two major challenges. There is a serious malnutrition case in India with the World Bank’ estimate of 60 million children in India, being underweight. Hunger is an obstacle to child’s health, education and survival.

A recent UNICEF report states that more than 80 million children drop out before completing 8 years of age and over 8 million children are out of school.

Akshaya Patra is focused on eliminating classroom hunger and attracting more children (enrolment) to schools and ensure to keep them in school (reduce dropout rate) by feeding a filling, nutritious mid-day meal, every school day. This is in partnership with the Government of India and all the various State Governments.