Indian Govt To Invest Rs 3,500 cr In Country's Toy Industry To Cut Down Import Of Unsafe Toys From China

With an aim to make domestic manufacturing of toys globally competitive and cut down the import of unsafe toys from China, the Indian government is working to extend Rs 3,500 crore worth of production-linked incentive benefits to the toy industry.

The toys would be compliant with the norms of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

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For the uninitiated, BIS is the national standards body of India. It develops and publishes Indian standards, implements conformity assessment schemes, recognises and runs laboratories for conformity assessment, implements hallmarking, and conducts capacity-building programmes on quality assurance, as per PTI.

Drop In Toy Import & Jump In Export

Toy imports have already dropped 70% in the past three years, from $371 million in FY19 to $110 million in FY22. During the same period, imports of toys from China dropped 80% to $59 million. Meanwhile, toy exports increased 61.4% in the past three years to $326 million by FY22.

A government official said that the measures announced by the government for the toys industry, like the introduction of quality control orders and increasing customs duties from 20% to 60% have helped in cutting down sub-standard imports and promoting domestic manufacturing in the country.

"Now we are working to extend PLI (production linked incentive) benefits for toys, but it will be given to BIS-compliant toys only. PLI benefits can be given according to different investment slabs which can range from Rs 25 crore to Rs 50 crore or Rs 100-200 crore," the official said, as per Business Standard.

The official added that all big toy-making multinationals, such as Hasbro, Lego, Beetle, and even Ikea, are looking at expanding their local sourcing from India.

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The proposal is to give the incentives on the full product and not on components as the industry still needs to import certain components which are key to making toys and are not manufactured in India.

India-made toys are not only supplied to global brands but they are also creating their own place in the global markets.

Besides toys, the government is also reportedly looking at extending PLI scheme benefits to other sectors such as bicycles, footwear, some vaccine materials, shipping containers, and certain telecom products.

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China¡¯s Unsafe Toys

Last year, a consignment of made-in-China toys, which are highly popular among children in India, was seized in the US after they were found to be coated with dangerous chemicals, according to officials.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), ahead of the holiday shopping season, warned consumers to be extra diligent while shopping online for children's toys after the recent seizure of toys that were coated in unsafe levels of lead, cadmium and barium.

The shipment of seven boxes, which had arrived from China, had included 295 packages of Lagori 7 Stones, a popular children's game in India where children throw a ball at seven stacked square stones.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained the shipment last year and submitted nine samples to a lab for analysis, which revealed that the toys were coated in lead, cadmium and barium that exceeded safe levels for consumer products.

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