SLASHING CHINESE IMPORTS

WITH TOYS, ELECTRONICS AND FERTILISERS, INDIA HAS SHOWN THE PATH TO SELF-RELIANCE AND REDUCING DEPENDENCE ON CHINA. HERE'S HOW IT'S PLAYING OUT IN THIS ARDUOUS JOURNEY

- Joe C. Mathew

WITH OVER 250 INDIAN toy makers reserving space already, the 14th business-to-business exhibition of Toy Association of India (TAI), scheduled at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from July 8, will be the largest ever. A record number of foreign buyers, including about 100 from African countries (as against 12 in 2022) and West Asia, have also confirmed attendance.

The surge in number of made-in-India puzzles, board games, cycles, traditional toys and educational toys/games at the exhibition signals the revival of the Indian toy industry that had been almost wiped out by low-cost imports from China. Indian companies exported $422 million worth of toys in FY22 as against $291.8 million in FY21. Toy imports from China, meanwhile, have been declining. In value terms, they are half of what they were five years ago. Here are the figures. In FY23, India’s total toy imports were $380.1 million. China accounted for $218.9 million. In FY19, India had imported $645.6 million worth of toys. China’s share was $451.7 million.

Toys are a small part of imports (0.06% of goods imports worth $656 billion in FY23) but reduction in Chinese toy imports is a result of concerted efforts to reduce dependence on China, even though it continues to be India’s biggest source of imports with bilateral trade deficit peaking at $77 billion in FY23.