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Bangalore, May 6 - Hindustan Latex Ltd (HLL), the state-owned condom manufacturing firm, Saturday launched Confidom passion rings, the first female condom for practising safe sex and preventing unwanted pregnancy.
Positioned as a high-end lifestyle product, the condoms are imported from the Britain-based The Female Health Company Plc (FHC).
'The female condom is being introduced in India for the first time after two years of research and test marketing. As a brand, Confidom is primarily targeted at the upwards mobile consumers,' HLL chairman and managing director M. Ayyappan told reporters here at a preview of the premium product.
Though the condom is bought from the British firm at Rs.90 per 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.
'We are importing 500,000 Confidoms during the current fiscal (2005-06) under an agreement with FHC, the only female-controlled prevention technology firm, whose female condoms are certified by the US FDA and approved by the WHO,' Ayyappan said.
Confidoms will also be available to sex workers and lower strata of society at Rs.5 each through government agencies and non-government organisations.
'The Indian government is also importing about 500,000 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.
Based on response and demand, Rs.210-million HLL plans to import 1.5-2 million pieces of Confidoms in the next fiscal (2007-08).
'We are also in talks with FHC for transfer of technology to indigenise the production of female condoms in the country and bring down its retail price in the near future,' Ayyappan said.
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