1. OVERVIEW

2. International Toy Industry have a substantial impact on global economy. The global toys and games market generated total revenues to the tune of $ 96.6 billion in 2008, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.1% for the period spanning 2004 2008. (By the study initiated by DIPP). US and Europe collectively account for over 70% of the world toys and games market. (Estimated by Global Industry Analysts Inc.). The growth of entire toys market depend upon the sectors, which provides high degree of innovation and superior technological features. International Toy Industry 3. Use of toys for educational purposes increasing. Significant development in the growth and popularity of interactive and intelligent toys. Today child is more interested in playing with trendier and smarter toys and games. Toys and games have no age limit, as they carry an element of excitement and fun. ChangingInterests 4. Traditionally a Labour Intensive Industry, providing employment to over 3 million workers of which women constitute about 70 %. Use of Multiple Technologies and varied Raw Materials. Predominantly in Micro and Small Sectors. There are 1500 units in the organised sector and many more in unorganised sector. Indian Toy Industry manufactures Toys worth Rs. 2500 Cr (approx) & the Industry is growing at the rate of 15 % per year. Annual growth rate in demand is 25%. Indian manufacturers fulfil about 30% of Domestic Toy Demand. Indian Toy Industry 5. Current Population of India is (1.22 billion) 20% population is under the age of 12 years; Huge demand of Toys under literacy program such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan run by Government. Free & Compulsory Education. Growing middle class with higher disposable income. Emphasis on play way methods for education and learning being practiced widely. Increased consumer awareness about the developmental toys. MNCs have Social Responsibility Budget towards CHILD DEVELOPMENT. 6. Large and Growing Domestic Market. Increase in demand due to rise in the disposable income of domestic consumer. Emergence of India on the Global Toy Scene. Huge pool of low cost Labor. Business acumen of the Entrepreneurs. Capacity to compete under adverse conditions. 7. Many toy manufacturing units are tiny in size hence low volume of production. Poor -Availability of quality raw material for different toy categories. Poor process capability because of inadequate technical capabilities and outdated technology, Use of general-purpose machines for specialized jobs due to high cost of special purpose Machines/ Very high cost of foreign technologies. Low availability of trained management and labour component (skilled and semi skilled) 8. Higher production cost due to lack of economies of scale. Lack of innovative and new ideas. Low availability of Toy Specific Designers. Minimal expenditure on branding and advertising. Lack of research and development facilities. Lack of Common Facility Centres. 9. Market Scope: Estimated Indian Toy manufacturing is worth around Rs. 2500 cr. & growing at the rate of 15% per annum. Growing domestic market due to increasing in buying capacity. Liberalized economy, Make or Buy decisions easier. Low cost manufacturing base enabling strategic alliances/Potential cooperation with customers and multinationals. Multiple usage of toys though different channels such as promotion, gifting, educational. etc. 10. Advantage of Information Technology and Communication. Spread of Play way education through toys Huge demand of toys in teaching process under government schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan. Chinas Internal Issues: China is unable to fulfil the global toy demand due to the problem of high labour cost, shifting to high end products and fluctuating of currency.. World especially western countries search for alternative manufacturing hub in South East Asia. 11. About 70 % demand of toys in Indian market is met by imports from China; Most of the imported Toys are not according to the needs of Indian children; A large amount of foreign exchange is being spent on Toy imports. 12. Taxes (VAT): VAT on Electronic toys is high as compared to other toy products. Importing raw materials & capital goods is expensive due to high import duty . Availability of all kinds of quality raw material at reasonable cost is area of concern. Technology related issues: No design/training / technology development institute/centre dedicated to Toys. Availability and quality of basic infrastructure such as power, water, road, rail, etc in India is poor. Depreciation of Indian Currency against International Currencies. 13. Governing Body and various Committees of the Manufacturing Wing of TAI considered the matter very seriously and have drawn and recommended a two way strategy with holistic development approach. a. Long Term Strategy b. Short Term Strategy 14. 1. Adequate space & Infrastructure 2. Raw Material 3. Technology 4. Training 5. Pedagogy 6. Design development 7. Research 8.Market development 9. Taxes & duties 10. Export issues 11. Testing 12. Packaging Recommendations for Sectoral Development 15. Make a provision to shift the units which are in non- confirming areas to a closest proposed Toy Parks where they can have enough space according to their needs and proper infrastructure. Therefore, A Toy Park should comprise proper infrastructure with Common Facility Centre in Cluster Mode, power back-up, E-commerce facility, transport facility and facilities required for auxiliary industry with the involvement of concerned Ministries/Departments. 16. The quality raw materials such as fabric, wood, hardboard, non-toxic paints and inks are not available locally. Therefore, Easy and common availability of standardized raw material. Create a Common Storage and distribution Hub for imported raw material through agencies like NSIC. Registration should be mandatory for all toy manufacturers. Registered Manufacturers should be allowed to import free of excise duty against the Actual User Certificate. 17. Create awareness and promote technical capabilities on latest technology and provide its knowledge to small and medium units. Strengthen the capability of manufacturers with the use of foreign technology and purpose specific machines for special tasks. Use of high cost big machines like injection molding, blow molding, CNC, box making machines, etc. should be installed in common locations/Toy Parks under the Cluster Scheme, to create availability of these machines for all. Tooling facilities need to be made for all toy categories. 18. Toy category wise training of labor on different skills Managerial and supervisory level training to manage the quality production and operation. Diploma level courses in gaining knowledge of raw material, alternative raw materials for different toy categories usage of that material in making of different toy categories to enhance the production capacity and quality. 19. A regular interaction of the industry with child specialists, teachers, parents and children to know the childs need through direct and in-direct source of communications. Intervention of different Class Room Projects of different age group to collect the feedback on existing products, their usage and requirement under the Design Clinic Scheme. A Concept Bank should be formulated with involvement of different subject experts and professional experts e.g. phsycologists, engineers, scientists so they can work on new concepts as per the expressed requirements and curriculum with visionary approach for the future needs. A mechanism should be developed to do the sample testing of new concepts developed and facility of copyright and its benefits under the proposed Toy Institute. 20. Setting up of toy Design and Development Institute be expedited. A few foreign designers can be appointed in the institute. Through the institute a Design Bank should be created and final design can be given as royalty to the manufacturers. An Indian character should be developed and publicized and can be used by different manufacturers by paying royalty. Until the Institute will be operational, the work should be started from hired places specially in Delhi, Noida, and Mumbai. 21. The manufacturers are taking assistance of private international testing labs to test their products. A provision of handy testing kit should be made available, so they can test their products at the initial stage before to go for the final testing of the product to obtain testing report certificate. MSME Testing Centre at Okhla should be upgraded to International standards. A Joint Committee should be formed to make maximum use of the lab according to the need of Exporters. 22. Generate Research and Development facilities to address the core issues and to resolve the problems related to raw material, machinery or design. Initially, help of agencies like CSIR, National Innovation Council, etc. can be sought in : Making of Non-phthalate plasticizers Non-toxic paints, though few are available in the market but there applications are not applicable on different category of toys due to odd reasons. Creation of Hot Dot Ink Tremendous research and intervention is required in terms of electronic toys. Intervention in scientific and educational toys. To create new grade of plastic having high density and low weight with all other qualities remaining same. 23. There should not be any bifurcation between Electronic or Non-electronic Toys. Reduce the VAT on Electronic toys at par with other Toys and rename all kinds of Toys as Toys. Toy comes under Bangkok Agreement attracting concessional rate of basic import duty. We propose toy components and raw materials be allowed to import under the same scheme by producing Actual User Certificate. 24. Duty free import of capital goods, raw material and components are offered only to fully Export Oriented Units (EOUs). It should be common for all manufacturing units against Actual User Certificate. Its difficult to set up input-output norms for toy industry where different kind of raw materials are used in single product. Therefore, duty draw backs should be increased. To enhance export a comprehensive program for the next 5 years be framed for manufacturing need base toys for focus countries, under MAI scheme of the ministry of Commerce. International Toy Show be organized & promoted through extensive publicity and our Foreign Missions. 25. Most of the industry comprises of tiny and micro enterprises and do not have enough budget to invest on marketing. It is requested to the government to promote Indian Toys at national and international level though: Adopting various advertising modes to do branding and image development of the Indian toy industry; Promote regional toy shows; Promote Indian toy characters. Promote Made in India Tag. Dedicated website for Indian Toys. 26. The Toy Industry requires knowing the modern techniques of packaging and training on it. Such as flexible and rigid packaging, bulk packaging, packaging machinery, etc. Therefore, National Packaging Institute can be approached to help the industry in this regard. 27. Holistic development approach Industry TAI Government Support CSIR (Scientific Research) Toy Institute (Innovation) 28. LONG TERMSTRATEGY SHORT TERMSTRATEGY Creation of Toy Zones in Mumbai & NCR on the basis of Cluster Scheme. Restarting of second phase of National Program for the Development of Toy Industry (NPDTI). Setting up the proposed Toy Design & Development Institute at Greater Noida. Design Scheme to be modified according to the needs of the Toy industry. The institute can be started in some hired space or in some Govt. Institute. A few foreign designers can be appointed in the areas of our strength in which work can be started such as: a. Designing b. Pedagogy c. Training 29. Enhanced Production in India will: Fulfill development needs of our children. Will Save a lot of Foreign Exchange. Generate employment. An additional push to the Industry will see tremendous growth and show buoyancy in Export 30. A Special Status be granted to the Toy Industry by creating a Statutory Body THE TOY BOARD 31. A Task force or a Committee under the chairmanship of one of the secretary/ Joint secretary should be formed. Others members of the committee: Representatives of the Ministries/ Department of Commerce, MSME, DIPP, DGFT, NMCC, NSIC, CSIR, NATIONAL PACKAGING INSTITUTES. Design Institutes : NID, NIFT. INDUSTRY: Representative from The Toy Association Of India (TAITAMA). The committee may plan a phased performance based program for the next five years. 32. The Industry shall work wholeheartedly to achieve the above objectives. 33. From The Toy Association of India, E: association.toy@gmail.com, W: www.tai-India.org