Perhaps, one of the most useful and important frugal inventions has been the low-cost sanitary napkin making machine, by Coimbatore based Arunachalam Muruganatham.

When the social entrepreneur realised that his wife had to choose between buying hygienic sanitary napkins, and her provisions because of the lack of affordable sanitary napkins, he went to buy his wife a sanitary napkin. He saw that his wife was using dirty rags instead, and so he went and bought a packet of sanitary napkins himself. It was when he held the napkin in his hand for the first time, that he started wondering why a simple piece of cotton should be priced so high. After much research, and being ostracised by his family, he set up his own sanitary napkin making machine.

He has taken his machine into the poorest regions of the country, to try and bring forth awareness on the need for menstrual hygiene. Most of his clients are NGOs and self-help group, who use the machine to make sanitary napkins, brand them, and sell them.

Source: Yahoo News India