In a bid to give a big fillip to domestic manufacturing of toys in line with its call for the building of an Atmanirbhar Bharat, the Government is likely to announce the formulation of a dedicated policy in the Budget on 1 February, reports Economic Times.
The policy push would likely aim to attract startups in the sector and to create a strong ecosystem for the toy-making industry in the nation. This gains significance as India's total toy exports in the present day is just about $100 million, which accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of global demand.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that the Piyush Goyal led Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry has already taken several steps to energise the sector and promote domestic manufacturing. It includes the establishment of quality control order and the imposition of import duties on toy imports.
The Indian toymaking industry is largely unorganized comprising of about 4,000 small and medium enterprises. Also, the nation imports about 85 per cent of toys, with the maximum coming in from China, followed by nations like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Germany, Hong Kong and the United States (US).