India's toy manufacturers aim for global market

Acting upon the clarion call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "Rebranding the Indian toy story", India's imports reduced from USD371 million in 2018-19 to USD110 million in 2021-22, witnessing a decline of 70.35 per cent.

In a big boost, Indian toy exports jumped by 61.38 per cent during the same period.

The change was visible at a recently held 13th Toy Biz International B2B Exhibition in New Delhi.

In India, where over 158 million children are in the age group of 0-6, there is a huge market for the toy industry (as of the Census 2011).

India used to import a large percentage of toys until August 2020, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the clarion call.

He emphasized the need for the right kind of toys for children, using toys as a learning resource, and designing toys based on the Indian value system, Indian history, and culture in order to strengthen domestic design and position India as a global manufacturing hub for toys.

The government devised a comprehensive action plan to boost local manufacturing and make India the global toy hub by incentivising the manufacturers. Establishing toy clusters across the country followed... R&D infrastructure for toys and games was strengthened. Subjects like Maths, Science and History were integrated into toy product development and production.

Sharad Kapoor, General Secretary of Toy Association of India said, "The Toy fair was first organised in 2009 where 116 stalls were put up in which 90 per cent of the stalls were of imported toys. This year, 96 stalls are put up and 100 per cent of them are selling Made in India' toys. The Toy Industry, in reality, has acknowledged the Prime Minister's call for "Rebranding the Indian toy story".

As per the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency, the Indian toy industry is estimated to be valued at approximately 1.5 billion USD making up 0.5 per cent of the global market share.

The sector is fragmented, however, with 90 per cent of the market lacking organization and 4,000 toy industry units from the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sectors.

Observers say that the Indian toy industry has the potential to grow to 2-3 billion USD by 2024. The industry leaders are optimistic about the growth and are looking forward to making India the global export hub of toys.

Amitabh Kharbanda, Executive Director of Sunlord Toys said, "Because of the QCO, the Indian Industry has realized that they can do a lot more products than they thought they were even capable of. And in the future, I think they are going to grow much more than this".

A huge investment potential lies in India's toy industry, as the sector becomes increasingly organized.

As the domestic toy demand is forecasted to grow at 10-15 per cent against the global average of 5 per cent, the industry is expected to grow further in the future.

( With inputs from ANI )

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