How hard is the Indian toy industry working?

                                                                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                              


With the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020, the slow flow of international freight transportation has intensified overseas reflection on the high dependence on Chinese manufacturing. In August of that year, Prime Minister Modi called for "rebranding the Indian Toy Story" in a speech. Beginning with the discussion, the government began to take a series of measures to encourage the domestic toy manufacturing industry, such as the construction of the domestic toy industry cluster investment review (above), encouraging local toy design talented person raise, also a special emphasis on: by local toys to the children spread Indian values and wisdom, and to become the world's toy manufacturing center. Of course, these two measures may radically improve the level of toy manufacturing in India, but they will not be quick. Because of the low level of make in India at that time. According to data, the size of India's toy market is about $1 billion, about 70 percent of which depends on imports from China, while the proportion of locally made toys only accounts for 0.5 percent. The gap is huge. So the government took the easy way out: it raised tariffs sharply, raising the bar on imports.

The first step was to raise the basic tariff on toys (HS Code 9503) from 20 percent to 60 percent without warning in February 2020, causing a stir in the industry. Indian import dealers, in particular, have voiced strong complaints that the government is making their operations more burdensome (review above).

The Indian government then went a step further, with the Commerce Ministry issuing a Toy (Quality Control) Order 2020, which requires toys sold in India to obtain a mandatory certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), With effect from January 1, 2021.

According to data released in July, India's toy imports have fallen 70 percent in the last three years, while exports have soared 61.38 percent.

It is learned that the number of related toy products imported into India with customs codes 9503, 9504, and 9505 decreased by up to 70.35 percent from $371 million in FY2018-19 to $110 million in FY2021-22. Of these, imports of toys with customs code 9503 fell even more sharply, from $304 million in 2018-19 to $36 million in 2021-22.

In the future, India plans to expand the number of toy clusters to 35 and 15 national ministries will help manufacturers in all aspects to improve the production and marketing of toys at highly competitive prices while meeting all safety standards as a highlight of "Made in India".