Bollywood star Akshay Kumar’s recent award-winning Hindi film Padman , inspired by Tamil Nadu’s Arunachalam Muruganatham, who pioneered low-cost sanitary napkins for women, has prompted an Uttar Pradesh-based company to invest ₹80 crore and more than double production capacity.

“We have signed an MoU with the Uttar Pradesh government at its recent Investors’ Summit to invest ₹80 crore in our Gorakhpur plant to enhance its monthly manufacturing capacity from 30 lakh packets of affordable sanitary pads to 80 lakh packets by the end of 2018,” Amar Tulsiyan, Founder of Niine Pads, told BusinessLine on Friday.

Shudh Plus Hygiene Products Pvt Ltd, which makes Niine Pads and started the Niine Movement initiative, was incorporated in UP in 2016. It will fund its expansion plans with own accruals and bank debt, he said. The Niine Movement is a journey for change to increase the number of sanitary napkin users in India from 18 per cent to 82 per cent, he said

Akshay Kumar, attending the Niine Menstrual Awareness Conclave held in New Delhi on May 28, had lauded the awareness campaign. “We are not spending much on advertising our products. Instead, we are spending money on creating awareness about the taboos and stigmas associated with menstrual heath and hygiene,” he said.

Tulsiyani said India’s current market size in this sector is about ₹4,000 crore per annum which, with increasing awareness, is expected to go up to ₹70,000 crore in the next five to ten years, given the 25 per cent year-on-year growth. Proctor&Gamble and Johnson & Johnson are the current market leaders with 50 per cent and 35 per cent market share. “With growing awareness and our sanitary pads being cheaper by 7-8 per cent, we hope to popularise its use multi-fold.”

Commencing production in May 2018, the company’s products are currently available in two variants in fluff type and an ultra-thin product is set to be launched soon. It is the only player in this sector that launched disposable bags for sanitary napkins. “Reuseable sanitary napkins have not been much popular anywhere in the world and women like to use a fresh pad each time they change.”

Recently, Niine donated 30 manual vending machines to the Delhi University after tying up with its student union. It is also in talks with FOGSI, Rotary Club and various other NGOs in UP on installing sanitary pads vending machines.

The Niine Movement, he said, is finding traction from academics, policy makers, government officials, activists, business persons and others.

According to estimates and surveys, of the nearly 36 crore menstruating women in India, only 6 to 7 crore have access to sanitary pads. 71 per cent of them have no knowledge of menstruation before their first blood and 82 per cent use alternatives such as rags, old cloth, hay, sand or ash. About 6.30 crore adolescent girls live in houses without toilet facilities, and 88 per cent adolescent girls are unaware of the health implications that could occur due to poor menstrual hygiene.

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