Watch | School dropout makes machine to turn banana waste into useful products

P.M. Murugesan, the farmer from Melakkal near Madurai, was appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat programme for developing machines to convert banana waste into a wide range of products. (Source: The Hindu)

Situated in a nondescript building at Melakkal village in Madurai, the M.S. Rope Production Centre is easy to miss.

This small unit, with an annual turnover of around ₹1 crore, converts banana fibre into ropes which are used to manufacture a wide range of products.

P.M. Murugesan, a farmer and the proprietor of this rope production centre, dropped out of school when he was in class 8, to help his father in agriculture.

He developed a handle rope machine that helped convert banana waste into ropes. Now he has patented three such machines and also owns five rope production units across Madurai, employing around 350 women.