e-Toys lab inaugurated during convocation of 2nd batch of young engineers trained under MeitY

New Delhi [India], November 30 : The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has inaugurated a one-of-a-kind electronic toys Lab at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Noida, advancing efforts to build an inclusive and robust indigenous electronic toy industry ecosystem.

MeitY, C-DAC, Indian Toy Industries and LEGO Group celebrated the convocation ceremony of the second batch of engineering graduates who have spent a year training under the project 'Development of Electronics and IT-based Control and Automation Solutions for Consumer Electronic Goods (Toy Industry)'.

According to MeitY, the project is a tailor-made initiative of R&D group of the Ministry to foster the growth of the Indian electronic toys industry by developing prototypes and equipping young engineers, including from under-represented communities, with the skills needed to design such toys.

Under this MeitY initiative, young engineers were selected from across India from SC/ST and Northeast region (NER) background and engaged in R&D activities for a year, gaining hands-on experience in designing and developing electronic toys for first six months working and learning in the e-toys lab at C-DAC-Noida followed by a six-month training in the industry to create toys prototype based on industry needs.

The participants were provided with a monthly stipend of Rs 25,000 for one year, the Ministry said.

Amitesh Kumar Sinha, Additional Secretary, MeitY inaugurated the Electronic Toys Lab set-up at the C-DAC, Noida.

Speaking on the occasion, he said, "India is a growing market of electronic toys and to build the Indian toys industry ecosystem Electronics and IT can play a crucial role. I am very happy that the building blocks for it are getting created and the next generation of engineers are working towards it. This program can be formalized in a bigger way to cater more students and more impact in overall promotion of the Toy industries.

"The CoE setup at CDAC-Noida for e-Toys will onboard NIELIT and MSH and other institutes with electronic Toys in focus. It will help in creating the entrepreneurship/startup. I wish the graduating students all the very best for their future," Sinha added.

The convocation ceremony, held on Saturday at MeitY was attended by Amitesh Kumar Sinha, Addl. Secretary, MeitY, Sunita Verma, GC R&D in MeitY, Vivek Khaneja, ED, C-DAC, Noida, Anirban Gupta, Toys Association of India, Director, GPA, LEGO Group in India, besides the members from electronics toys industry.

As part of the Make in India initiative, India is making a strong course correction in the toy manufacturing ecosystem. The country's massive toy demand was till recent years met mainly through imports.

Policy interventions, such as raising import duty to discourage cheap imports, emphasis on quality and incentives have created an ambient atmosphere for the firms in this largely unorganized space.

Pushed by the self-reliant India initiative and renewed focus on enhancing domestic manufacturing post-Covid, a large number of small and big players have forayed into this area once perceived as not so lucrative proposition.

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