Economic Survey 2023-24: Government measures helping toy industry to boost exports, cut imports from China

Economic Survey highlights India's success in boosting toy exports, reducing reliance on Chinese imports, and growing defence exports.

The government's steps such as mandatory quality norms and increase in customs duties have significantly helped the domestic toy players to boost exports and reduce dependence on Chinese imports, Economic Survey said on July 22.

It said that India's emergence as a toy exporting nation can also be attributed to its integration into the global value chain and zero-duty market access for domestically manufactured toys in critical countries such as the UAE and Australia.

Economic Survey 2023-24 LIVE updates

The industry has long faced challenges in the global trade landscape, consistently being a net importer of toys for many years.

"Rising exports, coupled with declining imports, transformed India from a deficit to a surplus nation in the trade of toys," it said.

For over a decade, India was heavily relied on China for around 76 per cent of its toy imports.

"India's import bill for toys from China dropped from USD 214 million in FY'13 to USD 41.6 million in FY'24, leading to a decline in China's share in India's toy imports from 94 per cent in FY'13 to 64 per cent in FY'24, indicating India's competitiveness in the international toy market," the Survey said.