Friday, 12 Sep, 2025
The industry has benefitted from a number of interventions by the government and the results show the success of the Make-in-India programme
There are 472 million children in India under the age of 18 years, representing 39% of the country's total population. Yet, its toy industry remained stagnated. India’s share in the global toy market was less than 1%. Soon after starting his second term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called upon start-up entrepreneurs to explore the toy sector. After his clarion call, the government introduced several schemes to uplift the industry. A year down the line, government's efforts seemed to have borne fruit.
According to the latest figures released by the Commerce Ministry, toy exports in the country has increased by a whopping 61 percent in the last three years. For HS Codes 9503, 9504, and 9505, the export of toys has increased from USD 202 Mn in FY 2018-19 to USD 326 Mn in FY 2021-22, up by 61.39 percent. For HS Code 9503, exports of Toys have increased from USD 109 Mn in FY 2018-19 to USD 177 Mn in FY 2021-22 (Harmonized System, or HS Codes is a standardized numerical method of classifying traded products).
On the other hand, the import of toys has declined 70 percent in the last three years. For HS Codes, 9503, 9504, and 9505, the value of import of toys in India fell from $371 million in the financial year 2018-19 to $110 million in the financial year 2021-22, showing a decline of 70.35%. For the HS Code 9503, toy imports have decreased even faster, from $304 million in FY 2018-19 to $36 million in FY 2021-22 for HS Code 9503.
The industry has benefitted from a number of interventions by the government and the results show the success of the Make-in-India programme. The interventions taken by the government to promote Make-in-India in toy sector include bringing it under compulsory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification, quality testing and an increase in customs duty.
In February 2020, the government increased basic customs duty on toys from 20% to 60%. Special provision was also made to grant license to micro-scale units manufacturing toys without the testing facility for one year and not to insist on establishing an in-house facility. It recently approved 9 toy manufacturing clusters including one at Koppal, Karnataka, which is also said to be the third-largest market for toys in India. It is estimated to create 40,000 jobs in five years and attract over Rs 5,000 crores in investments.
In January 2021, India had banned the sale of toys that do not meet the requirements laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). This resulted in huge drop in toy imports, particularly from China.
The global toy industry is big at over US$ 90 billion. According to Invest India – the national investment promotion and facilitation agency of India – the toys industry in India is estimated to be USD 1.5-billion, making up 0.5% of global market share. However, almost 60% of this demand is met by imports. This is slowly changing. Government estimates the toy industry to grow to $2-3 bn by 2024. This means a growth of 10-15% against global average of 5%.
The country needs to buckle up if it needs to meet the target. While significant progress has been made, yet lot of loopholes remain. India’s toy sector is fragmented with 90 per cent of the market being unorganized. It also needs have holistic reforms like relaxed labour laws, decentralization of FDI approvals, superior infrastructure and connectivity and focus on technology and quality.
