Even as the disposable hygiene products industry in India is attracting foreign players, there is still a long way to go before rural markets are penetrated and such products become economical for the masses.
Ritika Gupta, Executive Director, Business Co-ordination House (BCH), told The Sunday Guardian, “There are some major challenges in addressing the poor state of hygiene in rural areas and this makes it difficult for companies, too, to promote their products. There are psychological, sociological, and economical taboos—thus, the reluctance to use disposable hygienic products. Why would a woman buy a Re 1 sanitary pad if she also has to invest in a Rs 10 of undergarment for it?”
The Indian disposable hygiene industry consists of baby diapers, adult diapers, underpads, sanitary napkins and wet wipes and is currently valued at a little over $1billion. However, while the urban population pro-actively invests in hygiene products, the picture is opposite in rural areas. Since there are a lot of undiscovered markets to seek, the Indian industry hopes to experience healthy growth in the coming decades.
However, industry players have complained against the alleged lackadaisical attitude of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MEFCC) for not indulging the industry in policy making. Recently, the MEFCC had proposed that manufacturers of sanitary pads should mandatorily include a disposable envelope in which women can throw the used sanitary pad.
The proposal came after the ministry took cognisance of complaints by a rag-pickers’ association that highlighted the unhygienic way in which women dispose used pads. However, manufacturers say that this proposal will do more damage than good.
Kamal Kumar Johari, Managing Director, Nobel Hygiene Pvt. Ltd. that manufactures Friends, a popular brand of adult diapers, said, “The waste pockets or envelopes that the ministry is asking us to include along with sanitary pads, is only going to add more waste. By doing so, we will create another 2-3 tonnes of totally avoidable waste. The raw materials used in sanitary pads today are biodegradable. The pads come with self-disposable solutions that customers need to be made aware of. Such challenges are better sorted out if people who make the policies and stakeholders sit together and communicate.”
Sameer Gupta, managing director, BCH, said, “Both environment and health are connected to the disposable hygiene industry. India is a growing market and needs to develop its local units to facilitate goods across masses at affordable rates. However, this is a heavy-machinery industry that makes it difficult for small-scale manufacturers to survive by themselves.”
Right now, the government scheme of distributing free sanitary napkins to girls in rural areas has proven how non-users can become users. Though free pads have been distributed pan India, their quality was poor which is why people, who had a bad experience, didn’t want to use them again. This is a huge problem when the aim is to upgrade hygiene standards of rural women.
Some industry experts believe that the ministries need to be proactive in encouraging good quality, small scale manufacturing to facilitate regional players that could increase the outreach of disposable hygiene products and help improve hygiene standards of the Indian rural and urban population.