Acting upon the clarion call made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for coordinated efforts to boost toy manufacturing in India and to improve its global market share in line with the theme of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Get vocal for local’ campaigns, the first ‘India Toy Fair-2021’ is being organised on a virtual platform from 27 February to 2 March 2021.
The website of India Toy Fair-2021 was inaugurated jointly by the Union Education Minister, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Irani and Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal.
Smriti Irani said that Indian toy industry is source of livelihood for many artisans and micro enterprises. MSME sector and handcrafted toys segment will also get benefit through such initiatives.
The website will enable children, parents, teachers, exhibitors, etc., to register themselves to participate in the virtual fair and showcases various facets of the Indian toy ecosphere including soft toys made of textile products.
It is the first ever digitally accessible exhibition platform which will provide an opportunity to not only explore and buy a variety of toys from over 1,000 exhibitors across states and UTs of India, but also participate in insightful webinars, panel discussions and activities and network with various stakeholders of the toy industry.
Piyush Goyal said that about a year back, complaints were received about poor quality of cheap toys being imported into the country, adversely affecting the Indian toy industry.
The matter was examined by a committee which found that 30 per cent of the imported plastic toys were having large amount of chemicals/heavy metals, way beyond the prescribed levels.
Other toys were also found to be deficient in quality. This, he said, led to the issue of quality control order for the toys. He said this initiative will ensure that Indians get access to quality toys.
It was also insisted that the adopting economies of scale will help in production of quality toys at a cheaper price.