in Odisha, there is a beautiful 3 to 4-day festival called Raja, held in mid-June before the rainy season starts
Dr. Goutam Saha
Taboo related to menstruation still hovers around India, even after steady government campaigns for menstrual hygiene and the huge promotion and moderate box office success of Akshay Kumar’s movie Padman related to menstrual hygiene. The cultural and social influences appear to be a hurdle for the advancement of knowledge of menstrual hygiene.
However, in Odisha, the country’s best-kept secret, there is a beautiful 3- to 4-day festival called Raja, held in mid-June before the rainy season starts, which marks a steady departure from menstrual taboos in India. Raja, in Sanskrit, means menstruation. This festival celebrates menstruation as a sign of fertility. In popular belief, these three days of the festival are considered to be a menstruating period of Mother Earth.
Significantly, it is a festival for unmarried girls, the potential mothers. During all three consecutive days, they are seen in the best of dresses and cosmetics, eating delicious homemade cakes and good foods, making merry with friends, relatives, and neighbors, with swings in their courtyards and songs in their leaps. It gives enough pride to celebrate menstruation instead of the shame it usually brings. The pride and strength come to the Odiya girls who are compared with Mother Earth.
This festival has enough potential to be celebrated at the national level as a vessel to cure some stigma associated with menstruation, opportunities to develop menstrual hygiene in the nation and address the market gaps for environment-friendly, low-cost menstrual hygiene products through community-led local production and local employment generation. Let us understand the opportunity of the Indian menstrual hygiene market, which can have a huge potential to create wealth at the bottom of the pyramid if we focus it on a Vikshit Bharat agenda.
A recent survey states nearly 50 percent of young women still report they have used cloth at some point during their menstruation. So, there is a huge opportunity for the menstrual hygiene market in India, expected to generate $4.52 per capita in 2024, presently dominated by sanitary napkins. According to Market Research Future, the Indian sanitary napkin market size was valued at USD 0.95 billion in 2024.
The sanitary napkin market industry is projected to grow from USD 1.05 billion in 2025 to USD 2.59 billion by 2034, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6% during the forecast period (2025-2034). With the proliferation of different distribution channels, government interventions, and subsidies, more disposable income, and the growing awareness of menstrual health and hygiene, India can attain this growth. However, two challenges are to be addressed in this growth story.
Research says the sanitary napkin market is dominated by three multinational players- Johnson and Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever combined, enjoying 85% of the market share with their four brands: Whisper, Stayfree, Carefree & Cotex. These multinational brands have premium pricing; and do not have enough motivation to enter the low-cost menstrual hygiene market. However, there is a big market untapped for low-cost sanitary napkins for people from low-income groups despite the sporadic efforts of the state and central governments and NGOs.
It affects the menstrual hygiene of the nation 97% of the sanitary napkins produced in India are not biodegradable. These are composed of nearly 90% plastic and are bleached with harmful chlorine chemicals. In India, one of the major reasons for plastic pollution is disposable sanitary napkins.
To address these issues, a few innovations, followed by government-supported community-led entrepreneurship, can provide us with a future road map. The first innovation was brought by Arunachalam Muruganantham, who invented a low-cost, simple machine to manufacture sanitary napkins. The cost of his machine was Rs. 65000.
The cost of the imported machine, which was generally used at that time for producing sanitary napkins, was Rs. 3.5 cr. He received the patent but did not sell the patent to big corporations. Rather, he founded Jayshree Industries, which produces low-cost sanitary pad-making machines for local women and cooperatives. He aims to create employment for 1 million women and provide them with economic independence.
Banks are also willing to provide loans for buying these machines. Local women with minor training can produce sanitary napkins at 1/4 price of the branded sanitary napkin. Local women can sell it to local communities and earn Rs. 3000 to Rs. 5000 through making a profit of Rs. 0.5 Rs. 1.00 per piece of sanitary napkin.
But Murugan’s model of sanitary napkin production is not environmentally friendly. There is a brand, Sathi, which manufactures sanitary napkins from bamboo and banana fibres. We have sanitary napkin brands like Anandi, Carmesi, and Heyday, which are biodegradable. But the price points of those brands are higher than those of normal sanitary napkins.
We have another brand called Eco Femme, a women-led social enterprise, that produces and sells reusable and washable cloth pads. Indian traditional knowledge mixed with a scientific approach and design interventions made the cloth pads of Eco Femme famous. Eco Femme also promotes a community-led decentralized production system. The initial price point of the cloth pad is high. However, it leads to providing economic value to the consumers as cloth pads are reusable and washable.
Probably the best solution for menstrual hygiene lies in menstrual cups. Though the initial price of the menstrual cup is high, Rs. 500.00 to Rs. 2000.00 but it can be used for 5 to 10 years. So it is one of the most economical and environmentally friendly options for menstrual hygiene.
In Kerala, an interesting campaign, Cup of Life, was organized by the Ernakulam district administration, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kochi, Hibi Eden, MP, and Muthoot Finance. They made history by donating one lakh menstruation cups in 24 hours. Its goal is to raise awareness of menstruation hygiene and the availability of affordable, eco-friendly, sustainable, and consumer-friendly menstrual cups.
IMA, Kochi-trained volunteers answered questions at the locations and provided instructions on how to use the menstrual cup. With an empirical study, we have found many young girls in that locality successfully using menstrual cups after the campaign.
We need multipronged initiatives to address the menstrual hygiene issue with the help of innovators, community enterprises, Governments, and corporations so that as a nation, we can provide low-cost, environment-friendly menstrual hygiene solutions to the Indian masses and create wealth in low-income group communities.
Let Raja, a celebration of menstruation, can be a game changer for the Indian menstrual hygiene sector if it is promoted nationally for menstrual health, shared prosperity, and environmental protection.
Taboo related to menstruation still hovers around India, even after steady government campaigns for menstrual hygiene and the huge promotion and moderate box office success of Akshay Kumar’s movie Padman related to menstrual hygiene. The cultural and social influences appear to be a hurdle for the advancement of knowledge of menstrual hygiene.
However, in Odisha, the country’s best-kept secret, there is a beautiful 3- to 4-day festival called Raja, held in mid-June before the rainy season starts, which marks a steady departure from menstrual taboos in India. Raja, in Sanskrit, means menstruation. This festival celebrates menstruation as a sign of fertility. In popular belief, these three days of the festival are considered to be a menstruating period of Mother Earth.
Significantly, it is a festival for unmarried girls, the potential mothers. During all three consecutive days, they are seen in the best of dresses and cosmetics, eating delicious homemade cakes and good foods, making merry with friends, relatives, and neighbors, with swings in their courtyards and songs in their leaps. It gives enough pride to celebrate menstruation instead of the shame it usually brings. The pride and strength come to the Odiya girls who are compared with Mother Earth.
This festival has enough potential to be celebrated at the national level as a vessel to cure some stigma associated with menstruation, opportunities to develop menstrual hygiene in the nation, and address the market gaps for environment-friendly, low-cost menstrual hygiene products through community-led local production and local employment generation. Let us understand the opportunity of the Indian menstrual hygiene market, which can have a huge potential to create wealth at the bottom of the pyramid if we focus on a Viksit Bharat agenda.
A recent survey states nearly 50 percent of young women still report they have used cloth at some point during their menstruation. So, there is a huge opportunity for the menstrual hygiene market in India, expected to generate $4.52 per capita in 2024, presently dominated by sanitary napkins. According to Market Research Future, the Indian sanitary napkin market size was valued at USD 0.95 billion in 2024.
The sanitary napkin market industry is projected to grow from USD 1.05 billion in 2025 to USD 2.59 billion by 2034, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6% during the forecast period (2025-2034). With the proliferation of different distribution channels, government interventions, and subsidies, more disposable income, and the growing awareness of menstrual health and hygiene, India can attain this growth. However, two challenges are to be addressed in this growth story.
Research says the sanitary napkin market is dominated by three multinational players- Johnson and Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, and Unilever combined, enjoying 85% of the market share with their four brands, Whisper, Stayfree, Carefree & Cotex. These multinational brands have premium pricing and do not have enough motivation to enter the low-cost menstrual hygiene market. However, there is a big market untapped for low-cost sanitary napkins for people of low-income groups despite the sporadic efforts of the state and central governments and NGOs.
It affects the menstrual hygiene of the nation 97% of the sanitary napkins produced in India are not biodegradable. These are composed of nearly 90% plastic and are bleached with harmful chlorine chemicals. In India, one of the major reasons for plastic pollution is disposable sanitary napkins.
To address these issues, a few innovations followed by government-supported community-led entrepreneurship, can provide us with a future road map. The first innovation was brought by Arunachalam Muruganantham, who invented a low-cost simple machine to manufacture sanitary napkins. The cost of his machine was Rs. 65000.
The cost of the imported machine, which was generally used at that time for producing sanitary napkins was Rs. 3.5 cr. He received the patent but did not sell the patent to big corporations. Rather, he founded Jayshree Industries, which produces low-cost sanitary pad-making machines for local women and cooperatives. He aims to create employment for 1 million women and provide them with economic independence.
Banks are also willing to provide loans for buying these machines. Local women with minor training can produce sanitary napkins at 1/4 price of the branded sanitary napkin. Local women can sell it to local communities and earn Rs. 3000 to Rs. 5000 through making a profit of Rs. 0.5 Rs. 1.00 per piece of sanitary napkin.
But Murugan’s model of sanitary napkin production is not environmentally friendly. There is a brand, Sathi, which manufactures sanitary napkins from bamboo and banana fibres. We have sanitary napkin brands like Anandi, Carmesi, and Heyday which are biodegradable. But the price points of those brands are higher than those of normal sanitary napkins.
We have another brand called Eco Femme, a women-led social enterprise, that produces and sells reusable and washable cloth pads. Indian traditional knowledge mixed with a scientific approach and design interventions made the cloth pads of Eco Femme famous. Eco Femme also promotes a community-led decentralized production system. The initial price point of the cloth pad is high. However, it leads to providing economic value to the consumers as cloth pads are reusable and washable.
Probably the best solution for menstrual hygiene lies in menstrual cups. Though the initial price of the menstrual cup is high Rs. 500.00 to Rs. 2000.00, but it can be used for 5 to 10 years. So it is one of the most economical and environmentally friendly options for menstrual hygiene.
In Kerala, an interesting campaign Cup of Life was organized by the Ernakulam district administration, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kochi, Hibi Eden, MP, and Muthoot Finance. They made history by donating one lakh menstruation cups in 24 hours. . Its goal is to raise awareness of menstruation hygiene and the availability of affordable, eco-friendly, sustainable, and consumer-friendly menstrual cups.
IMA, Kochi-trained volunteers answered questions at the locations and provided instructions on how to use the menstrual cup. With an empirical study, we have found many young girls in that locality successfully using menstrual cups after the campaign.
We need multipronged initiatives to address the menstrual hygiene issue with the help of innovators, community enterprises, Governments, and corporations so that as a nation we can provide low-cost environment-friendly menstrual hygiene solutions to Indian masses and create wealth in low-income group communities.
Let Raja, a celebration of menstruation, can be a game changer for the Indian menstrual hygiene sector if it is promoted nationally for menstrual health, shared prosperity, and environmental protection.
(Dr. Goutam Saha is an Associate Professor, teaches entrepreneurship and sustainability in National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bhubaneswar. Views are personal.)
