India targets 5 per cent global toy share

NEW DELHI: The government has identified ten focus countries including the US, UK, Poland and Australia, and products such as dolls, wheeled toys, video-game consoles, and games with screens to capture a 5% share of the global toy market by 2032 from less than 1% now.

In its roadmap to increase the share of the Indian toy sector, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade(DPIIT) has zeroed in on construction toys, stories based on Indian heroes and innovators, traditional themes, AI-assisted toys and smart learning products as the ten emerging areas of growth.

As per the playbook, the market potential for India from promoting exports of toys to the 10 focus countries is around $71 billion. Import of toys into India declined 37.5%, while exports increased 89.1% between FY19 and FY26. India’s key export destinations are the US, UK, Germany and the Netherlands.


Connected toys, companion apps, collectibles, augmented reality and AI-assisted learning toys are some other categories where India can focus to achieve the target.

“In certain toys such as Christmas and carnival articles, India has a tariff advantage over China and Vietnam. This can be leveraged,” said an official.

Karan Narang, Director of KV Toys India Limited said that meeting this target needs a structural shift in how Indian toy manufacturing operates.

Noting that most of the industry is still MSME-led and fragmented, and global buyers won't place large orders with vendors who can't guarantee consistent volume and lead times, he said consolidation, capacity investment, and cluster-based manufacturing need to happen faster.

“Second, compliance and quality can't be an afterthought, and third, this ambition needs genuine design and innovation capability, not just contract manufacturing capacity as brand value and margins sit with whoever owns the product, not whoever assembles it,” Narang added.

The global trade for toys is pegged at $117.5 billion, with the US alone absorbing 25.3% of the global imports, followed by Germany, Japan, the UK and France.

“Besides export-led growth, the focus should be on quality and safety standards and branding, packaging and product design,” the official said.

The government has already announced the setting up of a task force to identify ways to boost domestic toy manufacturing and work towards achieving six objectives: integration with global value chains, strengthening manufacturing capabilities, resolving value chain bottlenecks, creating skilled workforce and employment, enabling design and innovation, and enhancing ease of doing business.

India’s toy ecosystem comprises more than 21,000 MSMEs, over 770 DPIIT-recognised toy startups, nearly 50 toy clusters and more than 1,800 BIS licensees.