In the beginning, it seemed a great business idea when some women self-help groups zeroed in on making sanitary napkins in Kancheepuram.
However, after sometime they found themselves in a quandary as they lacked the much-needed support to stabilise their enterprise.
Directed
Enquiries reveal that the idea was conceived by government officials a decade ago and a few women SHGs functioning on the outskirts of Chennai were directed to get trained in the economic activity.
Subsequently, subsidy and loan assistance were extended to them to start the industry and one of the initial entrepreneur groups – Annai Theresa WSHG, Gerugembakkam near Porur, took up manufacture.
Customers
This group started the business initially with members of WSHGs functioning in their neighbourhood and their friends and relatives as their customers.
Then, it slowly expanded its customer base by supplying sanitary napkins to students of select colleges in Chennai.
Enthused by the progress shown by Annai Theresa WSHG, the officials encouraged the WSHGs in rural areas to take up the economic activity with hospitals, particularly primary health centres.
Marketing opportunity
They viewed the spurt in personal hygiene consciousness among rural women due to Total Sanitation Campaign also as a vital marketing opportunity.
To begin with, these groups, which congregated as panchayat-level federations, started manufacturing belt-type napkins and supplied it to the PHCs and hospitals after a quality test conducted by Health Department officials.
Co-ordinator
Till three or four years ago, the supply was made through a co-ordinator appointed by the Health department who would be collecting the products and storing them at a common place at Kancheepuram for disbursement among hospitals.
However, over the last three years, their products started failing the quality test.
Hence, the federations were directed to handover their products to a WSHG, which is involved in the manufacturing of sanitary napkins.
Financial burden
The federations found themselves on a sticky wicket and were unable to bear the financial burden.
Further, their attempts to procure the required raw materials at affordable cost turned futile as other WSHGs involved in this trade acted as agents and sold the raw materials at a premium.
Raw materials
Efforts to attract the attention of the officials to help procure raw materials from Tirupur have also failed, as the officialdom had not shown any interest, the sources added.
Official sources, however, claimed that 12,965 sanitary napkins per month were being procured from three women SHGs – the Annai Theresa WSHG,
Gerugambakkam in Kundrathur Panchayat Union, Vengadu Panchayat-level WSHG Federation in Sriperumpudur Panchayat Union and Akshaya Sanitary Napkin WSHG in Tiruporur Panchayat Union – at the rate of Rs.15.60 a piece and are being supplied to hospitals.
Women groups had
to give up the business of sanitary napkins as
their products
started failing
quality test
