Lok Sabha Question No. 3476 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-22
Subject: Import of Sub-standard Toys
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Bhola Singh, Rajveer (Raju Bhaiya) Singh, Raja Amareshwara Naik, Vinod Kumar Sonkar, Jayanta Kumar Roy, Sukanta Majumdar, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3476 TO BE ANSWERED ON 22 nd  MARCH,2023

## IMPORT OF SUB-STANDARD TOYS

## 3476.   SHRI BHOLA SINGH:

SHRI RAJVEER SINGH (RAJU BHAIYA):

SHRI RAJA AMARESHWARA NAIK:

SHRI VINOD KUMAR SONKAR:

DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR:

SHRIMATI SANGEETA KUMARI SINGH DEO:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE & INDUSTRY ( वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री ) be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has taken many proactive steps to restrict import of sub-standard and unsafe toys and to promote domestic toy industry;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Toy Industry in India is import dependent from many years;
- (d) if so, the details thereof including the Government's reaction thereto;
- (e) whether the quality of imported toys is very low and hazardous which affects the health of children in India;
- (f) if so, the corrective steps being taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (g) the other steps taken by the Government to promote indigenous toys to encourage innovation and new age design to suit global requirements?

## ANSWER

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## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SMT. ANUPRIYA PATEL)

(a) to (d): Government has taken proactive steps to restrict import of sub-standard and unsafe toys and to promote domestic toy industry. As a result of various steps taken by the Government, the volume of import of toys into the Indian market has shown a consistently decreasing trend. The import of Toys (under HSN Codes 9503, 9504, 9505) to India have decreased from USD 332.55 million in 2014-2015 to USD 109.72 million in 2021-22, a decrease of approximately 67%.

(e): Quality Council of India (QCI), which is an autonomous organization, was engaged by  Department  of  Promotion  of  Policy  and  Internal  Trade  (DPIIT),  to  conduct  mystery shopping and testing of toys to assess quality of toys in the market. This exercise was done during September to November, 2019. 121 different varieties of toys were procured and submitted to NABL accredited laboratories to perform tests. As per the report submitted by QCI, many toys failed safety standards following which Quality Control Order on toys was notified.

## (f) & (g):  A series of steps were initiated by the government to address these issues:

- (1) Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), vide Notification No.33/2015-2020 dated  02.12.2019,  mandated  sample  testing  of  each  import  consignment  and  no permission for sale unless the quality testing is successful. In case of failure, the consignment is either sent back or destroyed at the cost of the importer.
- (2) Basic  Custom  Duty  (BCD)  on  Toys  has  been  increased  from  22%  to  66%  in Budget 2020-21 and has been further increased to 70% in Budget 2023-24.
- (3) A  comprehensive  National  Action  Plan  for  Toys  has  been  formulated  by  the Government to promote designing of toys based on Indian values, culture and history. It also comprises organizing competitions for toy designing, promoting domestic toy clusters and boosting local manufacturing of toys.
- (4) Quality Control Order (QCO) has been effective since 01-01-2021 which has brought toys under compulsory certification from Bureau of Indian standards (BIS), so that every toy in the market must conform to relevant IS and bear the standard mark under a license from BIS.

(4)(a)  The  above  QCO  is  applicable  to  both  domestic  and  foreign  manufacturers  with exemption  for  products  manufactured  &  sold  by  artisans  registered  with  Development Commissioner  (DC)  Handicraft  and  by  registered  proprietor  and  authorized  user  of Geographical Indicators (GI) products.

(4)(b) Special provisions were notified by the BIS on 17.12.2020 so as to grant license to micro  scale  units  manufacturing  toys  without  testing  facility  for  one  year  and  without establishing in-house testing facility.

(4)(c) The BIS has granted total 1114 licenses to domestic manufacturers and 35 licenses to foreign manufacturers for manufacture of toys with BIS Marks.

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