NEW DELHI, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Hindustan Latex Ltd (HLL), an Indian state-owned condom manufacturing firm, Saturday launched Confidom passion rings, the first female condom for practicing safe sex and preventing unwanted pregnancy in India.

    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," Indo-Asian News Service quoted HLL chairman and managing director M. Ayyappan as saying.

    Though the condom is bought from the British firm at 90 Rupees per pack of two, HLL has decided to price it at 250 Rupees per pack to partly cover the cost of packaging, branding and marketing-cum-promotional charges.

    The company was 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 U.S. FDA and approved by the WHO, Ayyappan said.

    Confidoms will also be available to sex workers and lower strata of society at 5 Rupees each through government agencies and non-government organizations.

    The Indian government was also importing about 500,000 female condoms this year from FHC and subsidizing them by 40 Rupees for each piece to promote safe sex and prevent unwanted pregnancy as one of the measures to check population growth, Ayyappan said. Enditem