Lok Sabha Question No. 114 (STARRED), answered on 2022-12-14
Subject: Promotion of Indigenous Toys
Ministry: COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
Asked by: Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Girish Bhalchandra Bapat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL TRADE

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 114.

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, THE 14 TH   DECEMBER, 2022.

## PROMOTION OF INDIGENOUS TOYS

## *114.  SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU: SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT:

Will the Minister of COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY be pleased to state: वाणिज्य एवं उद्योग मंत्री

- (a) whether it is a fact that the Toy Industry in India has historically been import dependent, if so, the facts thereof;
- (b) whether lack of raw material, technology, design capability, etc. has led to huge import of toys and its components, if so, the facts in this regard;
- (c) whether the quality of imported toys is very low and hazardous which affects the health of children in India;
- (d) if so, whether there is an urgent need to implement quality control order and mandatory sample testing of imported toys;
- (e) if so, the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (f) the other steps taken by the Union Government to promote indigenous toys to encourage innovation and new age design to suit global requirements?

## ANSWER वाणिज्य  एवं उद्योग मंत्री (श्री पीयूष गोयल) THE MINISTER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (f) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  No.  114  FOR  ANSWER  ON  WEDNESDAY,  THE  14 TH DECEMBER, 2022.

- (a) & (b): 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 (HSN Codes 9503, 9504, 9505) to India has decreased from USD 332.55 million in 201415  to  USD  109.72  million  in  2021-22,  a  decrease  of  approximately  67%. Exports of Toys (HSN code 9503, 9504, 9505) from India have increased from  USD 96.17 million in 2014-15 to USD 326.63 million in 2021-22, an increase of approximately 240%.
- (c): Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade engaged  Quality Council of India (QCI), which is an autonomous organization under 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, it was found that:
- (i) As  many  as  30%  of  plastic  toys  failed  to  meet  the  safety standards of admissible levels of phthalates, heavy metals etc.
- (ii) 80% of plastic  toys failed  on  mechanical  and  physical  safety properties.
- (iii) 45% soft toys failed on the admissible levels of phthalates.
- (iv) In case of electric toys, failure was 75%.
- (v) Overall, only 33.10% toys passed all tests while failure rate was 66.90%.
- (d) & (e): 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 (HS Code-9503) was increased from 20% to 60% in February, 2020.
3. A  Quality  Control  Order  for  Toys  was  issued  on  25/02/2020, through which toys have been brought under compulsory certification from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with effect from 01/01/2021.  As  per  the  Order,  every  toy  in  the  market  must conform to the requirements of relevant Indian Standard and bear the Standard Mark under a license from BIS as per Scheme-I of BIS  (Conformity  Assessment)  Regulations,  2018.  This  order  is applicable to domestic manufacturers as well as foreign manufacturers who intend to export their toys to India.
- 3.1 QCO  on  Toys  was  amended  on  11.12.2020  to  exempt goods  and  articles  manufactured  and  sold  by  artisans registered  with  Development  Commissioner  Ministry  of Textiles and by registered proprietor and authorized users of a product registered as Geographical Indication by the Office  of  Controller  General  of  Patents,  Designs  and Trademarks.
- 3.2 Special provisions were notified by 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.
- 3.3 BIS have granted 1001 licenses  to domestic manufacturers and 28 licenses to foreign manufacturers for manufacture of toys with BIS standard Marks.
- 3.4 To test the quality of toys now available in the market, BIS drew 2077 samples of toys in the year 2022 for testing. Out of  these,  82%  of  samples  passed  all  tests  as  per  the relevant standards.
4. There has been a substantial improvement in the quality of the toys from 2019 to 2022 due to various steps taken by the Government.
- (f): Government has taken several steps to promote indigenous toys in India  to  encourage  innovation  and  new  age  design  to  suit  global requirements. Some of these steps are enumerated at Annexure-A.

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## ANNEXURE-A

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (f)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 114 FOR ANSWER ON 14.12.2022.

## Steps taken to Promote Indigenous Toys

1.  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;  using  toys  as  a  learning  resource;  organizing  hackathons  and  grand challenges  for  toy  designing  and  manufacturing;  monitoring  quality  of  toys, restricting  imports  of  sub-standard  and  unsafe  toys;  promoting  indigenous  toy clusters; boost local manufacturing and incentivize toy manufacturers to promote Made in India toys.
2.  The National Education Policy 2020 formulated by Ministry of Education focuses on play and activity-based learning. A handbook on 'Toy Based Pedagogy' has been published by NCERT with the objective of ensuring that the learning process for children is enjoyable and fun. It prescribes toys, especially based on India's rich wealth of indigenous toys and games to be used at different stages to help develop many competencies in young children.
3.  The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) has approved 19 toy clusters covering 11749 artisans  with  GoI assistance of Rs. 55.65 crore under the Scheme of  Fund  for  Regeneration  of  Traditional  Industries  (SFURTI)  as under:
4.  Ministry of Textiles has identified 13 toy clusters across the country for the overall development of toy artisans as under:
5.   Ministry of Education organized Toycathon 21, a unique effort by 6 Ministries & Departments to crowd-source solutions to problems faced by toy industry. Over 1.2  lakh  registered for  the  event  and  submitted  over  17,000  ideas  and 13,900 teams were formed to win a large number of prizes up to Rs. 50 lakh.
6.   A Virtual Toy Fair was organized from 27 th  February to 04 th  March 2021. About 1074 exhibitors from 30 states and UTs covering 68 clusters were on boarded onto the virtual platform. 11 States participated as 'Partner States'. More than 25 lakhs  visitors  participated  in  the  fair.  103  eminent  speakers  across  the  globe attended 41 sessions/webinars.
7.   DPIIT organized 'Toy Business League' on 4 th  -5 th  January 2022 for enabling a meaningful dialogue between innovators and toys manufacturers with a view to creating collaboration opportunities for Toycathon 2021 winners and realizing the vision of designing toys based on Indian values, culture and history.
8. Government of India has signed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement(CEPA) with United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under this agreement UAE provides zero duty market access for exports of Indian Toys. CEPA has come into effects from 1 st  May 2022.
9. Government of India has signed Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) with Australia. Under this agreement, Australia provides zero duty market access for exports of Indian Toys. ECTA will enter into force from 29 th  December 2022.

|   S. No. | Toy Cluster Name                     | State          | District   | Type of Toy manufactured                      |   Total Artisans |   GoI Assistance (in lakh Rs.) |
|----------|--------------------------------------|----------------|------------|-----------------------------------------------|------------------|--------------------------------|
|        1 | Kondapalli Wooden Toy Cluster        | Andhra Pradesh | Krishna    | Wooden Toys                                   |              231 |                         132.85 |
|        2 | Sagara Woodcrafts Cluster            | Karnataka      | Shivamogga | Wooden Toys                                   |              580 |                         229.48 |
|        3 | Channapat na Lacware Toys Cluster    | Karnataka      | Ramanagara | Wooden Toys                                   |              250 |                         239.12 |
|        4 | Soft Toys and Sportswear Cluster     | Madhya Pradesh | Shajapur   | Soft toys, uniforms, sportswear, bags, shirts |              755 |                         380.6  |
|        5 | Bamboo based Indigenous Toys Cluster | Madhya Pradesh | Balaghat   | Bamboo Toys                                   |              760 |                         303.36 |
|        6 | Toy Cluster Budni                    | MADHYA PRADESH | SEHORE     | Wooden Toys, Utility Products, Home decor etc |              374 |                         250    |

|   S. No. | Toy Cluster Name                                                                    | State          | District       | Type of Toy manufactured                                                              |   Total Artisans |   GoI Assistance (in lakh Rs.) |
|----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------|----------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------|--------------------------------|
|        7 | Wood Based Toys Cluster                                                             | MADHYA PRADESH | NIWARI         | Wooden Educational Toys                                                               |              703 |                        335     |
|        8 | Traditional Indian Bamboo and Wood based toys cluster                               | Madhya Pradesh | Mandla         | Bamboo and Wood Toys                                                                  |              776 |                        363.35  |
|        9 | Wood based traditional Indian Toys and Associated Fabric Based Accessorie s Cluster | Madhya Pradesh | Sehore         | Wooden Toys, Board Games, Pedagogical Toys                                            |              812 |                        299.23  |
|       10 | Bamboo Craft and Bamboo Toys Cluster                                                | Madhya Pradesh | Ratlam         | Bamboo ornaments, bottles, furnitures, decorative items made from bamboo              |              701 |                        347.702 |
|       11 | Soft Toys Cluster                                                                   | Madhya Pradesh | Barwani        | Soft Toys                                                                             |             1005 |                        352.04  |
|       12 | Indore Mahila Garment Leather Toys And Jute Product Cluster                         | Madhya Pradesh | Indore         | Zari-Zardozi Embroidery Garments, Leather Toys and Jute Fibre based Gift Items        |              332 |                        195.24  |
|       13 | Plush Toys Cluster                                                                  | Maharashtra    | Parbhani       | Plush Toys                                                                            |             1050 |                        387.73  |
|       14 | Traditional Indian Fabric based Toys Cluster                                        | Rajasthan      | Sri Ganganagar | Fabric based toys/ accessories for babies                                             |              819 |                        291.66  |
|       15 | Deep Hast Shilp Wooden Toys Cluster                                                 | Rajasthan      | Udaipur        | Wooden toy, wooden accessories, wooden kitchen, utensils, and wooden decorative items |              250 |                        150.017 |
|       16 | Wood Craft Cluster                                                                  | Rajasthan      | Jodhpur        | Gift articles, toys, etc                                                              |              889 |                        395.23  |
|       17 | Palm Leaves Toys and                                                                | Tamil Nadu     | Vellore        | Palm leave toys, decorative items, hand                                               |              460 |                        232     |

| S. No.   | Toy Cluster Name                | State         | District   | Type of Toy manufactured                   | Total Artisans   | GoI Assistance (in lakh Rs.)   |
|----------|---------------------------------|---------------|------------|--------------------------------------------|------------------|--------------------------------|
|          | Leather Products Cluster        |               |            | bags, utility products, Leather products   |                  |                                |
| 18.      | Wooden Toys and Carving Cluster | Uttar Pradesh | Chitrakoot | Wooden Toys and Carving                    | 752              | 451.11                         |
| 19.      | Lucknow Soft Toys Cluster       | Uttar Pradesh | Lucknow    | Different types, shapes and design of toys | 250              | 229.7                          |

|   S. No. | State          | District & Cluster Location (Village & Block)   | Craft                           | Classification          |
|----------|----------------|-------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|-------------------------|
|        1 | Karnataka      | Channapatna, Ramanagaram                        | Lacquer Toys                    | Registered under GI     |
|        2 | Karnataka      | Kinhal,Koppal                                   | Kinhal Toys                     | Registered under GI     |
|        3 | Andhra Pradesh | Kondapalli,Krishna                              | Kondapalli Toys                 | Registered under GI     |
|        4 | Andhra Pradesh | Etikopakka, Kallashapatnam, Vishakhapatnam      | Etikopakka Toys                 | Registered under GI.    |
|        5 | Telengana      | Nirmal                                          | Nirmal Toys                     | Registered under GI     |
|        6 | Tamil Nadu     | Mariammankoil, Tanjore                          | Tanjore Dolls                   | Registered under GI     |
|        7 | Andhra Pradesh | Cuddapah, Laxmigaripalle                        | Raja Rani Dolls                 | Not Registered under GI |
|        8 | Uttar Pradesh  | Varanasi                                        | Wooden Toys                     | Registered under GI     |
|        9 | Uttar Pradesh  | Chitrakoot                                      | Wooden Toys                     | Not Registered under GI |
|       10 | Rajasthan      | Jaipur                                          | Puppet / Kathputli              | Registered under GI     |
|       11 | Assam          | Dhubri, Asharikandi                             | Terracotta Toys                 | Not Registered under GI |
|       12 | Manipur        | Keibull Sagram, Leikai, Bishnupur               | Toys(Paper machie & Terracotta) | Not Registered under GI |
|       13 | Madhya Pradesh | Indore                                          | Leather Toys                    | Registered under GI     |

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