e may have been inundated with news reports and survey findings claiming that promiscuity in India is scaling dizzying heights, that sexual permissiveness is breaching the most orthodox of bastions, and that sex is firmly out of the closet. But the average Indian male, it appears, simply isn�t burning the rubber often enough.

The statistics are downright scary. According to a recent ORG-Marg study, over the past three years, the sales of condoms in India have fallen at an alarming rate: from 530 million pieces in 2001-02 to roughly 475 million in 2003-04, a drop of 10 per cent. What is perhaps more telling is the level of product penetration in the country - a mere 3 per cent of India�s population uses condoms. And that figure has not witnessed any change over the last decade. This, despite continuous awareness drives undertaken by governmental and non-governmental organisations and regular brand building efforts by commercial condom manufacturers. ... more