Hind Latex launches female condom

Hindustan Latex Ltd (HLL), the state-owned manufacturer of condoms and other contraceptives on Saturday launched the Confidom passion rings, India's first female condom.

The condoms are imported from the UK-based The Female Health Company Plc (FHC) and sold here. Priced at Rs 250 for a pack of two, Confidom is positioned as a high-end lifestyle product. The company is targetting the high-end upwardly mobile consumers to sell the product, HLL chairman and managing director M Ayyappan told reporters here.

"We are launching the condom after two years of research and test marketing. The product is not meant for the mass market and will be sold in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra," he said.

Though the condom is imported from the British firm at Rs 90 for a pack of two, HLL has decided to price it at Rs 250 per pack to partly cover the cost of packaging, branding and marketing-cum-promotional charges, he said.

"This year we will import 5 lakh Confidoms and next year we aim to import 2 million under agreement with FHC, the only female-controlled pregnancy prevention technology firm, whose condoms are certified by the US FDA and approved by the WHO," Ayyappan said.

Confidoms will also be available to sex workers and the lower strata of society at Rs 5 each through government agencies and non-government organisations.

The Centre is also importing about 5 lakh female condoms this year from FHC and subsidising them by Rs 40 for each piece to promote safe sex and prevent unwanted pregnancy as one of the measures to check population growth, Ayyappan said.

The Rs 213 crore HLL is also working on plans to set up a manufacturing plant for Confidoms in Thiruvananthapuram by end of this year at an initial investment of Rs 10 crore. "Once we set up the local manufacturing plant, we will be able to bring down the cost of Confidoms by at least 30 to per cent, he said.

"We are also in talks with FHC for transfer of technology to indigenise the production of the female condoms in the country," Ayyappan said.

To popularise the product, HLL is presently in the process of drawing up a publicity campaign which includes advertisements in the print medium and websites. An advertisement is being shot at an exotic location in South Africa, M R Rajeev Kumar, product manager (consumer business division) said.

HLL has drawn up a comprehensive plan to expand its portfolio in the area of healthcare and contraceptives to achieve through this process a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore by 2010.