Enthused with its success, a Mumbai-based startup , which came up with mosquito-repellent blankets last year, now plans to launch specialised clothes and designer home linen in the same category by next year.
Nidra Home Pvt Ltd, started by the Poddar sisters, will launch nightwear, outerwear, kidswear, sportswear, uniforms, mattress covers and sleeping bags that could potentially challenge the existing mosquito-repellent market comprising coils, sprays, electric plug-ins, creams and mosquito nets. Many people using these repellents suffer respiratory diseases, allergies, skin rashes, and often get little respite from mosquito bites.
“The market size of vaporising mosquito-repellent category in India is about ₹500 crore”, 27-year-old Kasturi Poddar, Director of Nidra, told
The brainchild of fashion designer Kasturi the Mos-Quit-O blanket is travel-friendly. It is embedded with a special formulation, called Permethrin, a chemical compound which when inhaled by the mosquito affects its nervous system and repels it.
“Permethrin is known to be used as a treatment on American army uniforms for decades to repel insects on the battlefields. Our research and trials have been able to safely adapt this technique for domestic use,” she said.
Twenty-five-year-old Shreya Poddar, the co-creator of Nidra, said that premium quality cotton fibres are knit together to form the base of Mos-Quit-O blanket. The fabric is then treated with mosquito-repellent formulation, which makes the blanket usable for up to 50 washings. It is odourless, harmless and safe for children and pregnant women as well, she said, adding the product is also affordable and environment-friendly.
The company, set up with an investment of ₹50 lakh, has outsourced production to a firm based in Madhya Pradesh. Nidra manages packaging and marketing. In the first year of operation, the company’s turnover was ₹30 lakh.
The patent for this product, compliant with the standards of World Health Organisation (WHO), is pending, the sisters said.
The company has so far appointed nearly 40 distributors and sold nearly 5,000 blankets, priced ₹1,999 apiece. Nidra has also sold 800 baby blankets, launched in June, priced at ₹999. About half of these were sold at chemists’ shops!
The mosquito repellent market in India is worth more than ₹3,200 crore and the urban share is around 70 per cent.