The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study revealed that condoms designed to meet international sizes are too big for most Indian men.
ICMR said its initial findings showed 60 per cent of Indian men are between three and five centimetres shorter than the international size specifications used to manufacture condoms.
Researchers surveyed about 1,400 men visiting family planning centres in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi as well as in rural areas. The men were a cross-section of urban and rural dwellers ranging in age from 18 to 50.
The ICMR is expected to recommend condoms that are the right size so as to reduce the rate of failure in the country, which has the world’s highest HIV positive caseload.
The ICMR is expected to publish its findings in early 2007.