Toy Story: Indian Manufacturers Say Halt on Chinese Products, Govt's Local Push Made Industry Major Player

In a significant boost to local manufacturing in India, the imports of toys have declined by 70 per cent while exports have increased 61 per cent over the last three years, data shared by the commerce and industry ministry stated.

According to the government statement, for HS codes 9503 (tricycles, scooters, pedal cars), 9504 (video game consoles and machines), and 9505 (festival, carnival, or other entertainment articles), the import of toys to India has reduced from $371 million in financial year 2018-19 to $110 million in FY 2021-22, thus showing a decrease of 70.35 per cent.

For HS Code 9503, toy imports have decreased even faster, from $304 million in FY 2018-19 to $36 million in FY 2021-22 for HS Code 9503.

PM’s push

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also given a boost to the toy manufacturing sector by highlighting the industry and promoting local toys in his monthly radio programme ‘Mann ki Baat’ where he talked about local entrepreneurs making “toys for the world” and highlighted the country’s ability to become a “toy hub”.

“The global toy industry is about 7 lakh crore but India’s share is very small… India has a rich tradition of local toys — from Karnataka to Kondapalli in Andhra Pradesh to Dhubri in Assam… I appeal to my start-up friends…come, let’s team up for toys,” PM Modi had said in August 2020.

“Recently, we encouraged the development of apps with Indian innovation. Several apps have come up now. These small steps will eventually create India’s identity,” he added.

Toy manufacturers say that the government’s push towards local production and the Prime Minister’s encouragement of the sector has significantly helped the industry grow.

“The government has taken a major and good decision to halt Chinese products. We had seen the phase of the market where we were just a few local manufacturers and it was wholly Chinese- dominated. But now, the competition within local manufacturers has increased and, apart from Delhi, even states like Gujarat and southern India are also taking the lead,” 34-year-old Anubhav Jain of United Agencies Distributors LLP, which manufactures high-quality plastic toys, said.

“The Prime Minister’s statement on the toy industry has made a huge difference in recent years. Earlier there used to be a handful of manufacturers in Delhi, today there are even regional manufacturers,” he added.

Jain also said that post-Covid, the production and revenue of his company have grown by over 15-25%.

Policies to boost exports

Manufacturers and trade associations say that some of the recent policies of the government helped in the sudden boom of the industry.

“Firstly, increasing the import duty on Chinese toys by 300 per cent and secondly making the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) tag mandatory for toys helped the industry a lot,” said Naresh Kumar Gautam, vice president of Toy Association of India and owner of Little Genius Toys.

The government increased the Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on Toys-HS Code-9503 from 20 per cent to 60 per cent in February 2020.

According to Gautam, when the BIS certification was made mandatory for toys, local manufacturers started making toys and the quality was so fine that it began to be exported.

“I have been making wooden toys for the last 32 years. We have been making toys as per the demands from countries like the US or Europe,” he said.

In order to give a platform to showcase their works, the government recently organised the 13th edition of Toy Biz B2B (Business to Business) International Exhibition at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from July 2-5 where toy manufacturers from across the country participated.

“After the exhibition, we have got so many orders that we have advance orders for the next six months. We even had the paucity of space in our factory to meet the current demand, so the government has decided to allot us industrial space near Jewar airport in Greater Noida,” Gautam added.

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