The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Gandhi Ashram’s soap production capacity goes up

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Thursday, Oct 04, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Gandhi Ashram’s soap production capacity goes up

Karthik Madhavan

Indian Army, Railways and a few other Central Government organisations place orders

Photo: M. Govarthan

Gandhian concept: Gandhi Ashram’s soap manufacturing unit at Zamin Ellampalli. —.

TIRUCHENGODE: Gandhi Ashram’s soap manufacturing unit established by Rajaji at Zamin Ellampalli, about 15 km from here, has increased its production capacity.

Started in 1967 on the land donated by Raja Gurunathan Chettiar, the area’s zamindar, the aim of the unit was to augment the ashram’s revenue. “The then ashram managers thought that the ashram’s income should be from non-khadi means, that is from village industries as well, and the soap unit was one such measure,” says S. Aravamudhan, honorary treasurer of the ashram. Again in tune with Gandhiji’s principle, the ashram used locally available raw material - in this case neem seeds. “Being a dry belt, neem trees were in plenty and seeds from it were put to good use,” he explains. The initial planned production capacity was just Rs. 16,000.

The ashram crushes the seeds, extracts oil, mixes the oil with castor oil, rice bran oil, rubber oil, silk cotton seed oil, and caustic soda and silicate to manufacture the soap. As far as the toilet soap is concerned, it does not add rubber oil and silicate but adds coconut oil. The entire process, with eight workers, takes about five days. With the passage of time the ashram increased the production capacity, which now stands at products worth Rs. 50 lakh a year. “The increase in production capacity was primarily because of the overwhelming orders, which had to do with quality,” says Mr. Aravamudhan.

So good was the quality of the toilet soap that the Indian Army, railways and a few other Central Government organisations placed orders with the ashram. On the washing soap front too, the Gandhian institution bagged orders from the BHEL, Tiruchi, and the thermal power plants in Ennore and Mettur.

The sale of washing soap is around Rs. 4 lakh a month. The toilet soap, however, fares poorly with the annual equalling the monthly sale of the washing soap. “We do not advertise and that could be one of the reasons,” he surmises. The only problem the ashram has is that availability of the raw material - neem seed - is limited to three months a year. The ashram buys its annual requirement during those three months but the credit for the purchase is limited to three months’ quantity.

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