India's toy exports rose 240% in the period from 2014 to 2023, imports dipped 52%: DPIIT

Amid the ongoing 14th edition of the India Toy Biz International Expo - one of the largest toy fairs in the country, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Invest India along with the Toy Association of India organized a roundtable interaction on “Exploring the India Toy Story,” on Saturday in New Delhi.

Speaking at the session, the DPIIT Secretary highlighted India's remarkable progress in fortifying the "toyconomy", with the sector poised to grow exponentially over the coming years.

Singh said that bolstered by a population of approximately 350 million under the age of 15, the potential for the toy industry and manufacturers in the country is huge.

He lauded the expanding scale, size and technical expertise of local manufacturing that is quickly establishing India as a hub for toy production.

Joint Secretary DPIIT reminded the audience to embrace the vision of "Vocal for Local Toys" as emphasized by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while also stressing on the urgency and availability of safe, high-quality toys domestically.

He invited the global and local companies to formulate strategies that aided in decisively taking the industry forward, and hoped that the insights gained during the event served to unlock the potential that India offers in this key sector.

During the session’s tangible discussions between the attending business and government stakeholders, the industry pointed out their own growth stories and the challenges overcome to increasingly expand their domestic operations.

Manu Gupta, Chairman of the Toy Association of India, highlighted the achievements of the industry in the last few years, especially on the back of more than 9600 registered MSME toy manufacturing units, and 8 GI toy clusters in the country.

Overall, the event saw participation from over 50 attendees, including major domestic manufacturers such as Playgro, Sunlord, Micro-Plastics, Aequs, Funskool, Dream-Plast, among others, that have been at the forefront of the manufacturing revolution in this sector.

The vision shared by the speakers allowed the audience to understand the far-reaching developments in the sector till now, as well as experience the momentum that the industry has gained as it quickly enters its next phase of integration into the global toy supply chains.