Toy Manufacturing: India’s Deficit-to-Surplus Story

Download as PDF

In 2017, India bought far more toys from abroad than it sold. By 2026, that flipped completely, from a $213 million deficit to a $152 million surplus.

mcqquestion.com

Indian Economy · IndEco0197

Toy Manufacturing in India

From Import Dependence to a Trade Surplus

2020

National Action Plan for Toys launches. The Quality Control Order makes BIS certification compulsory; import duty rises to 60%.

2021

Toycathon launches, a hackathon for students and start-ups to design India-inspired toys.

2023

Import duty on toys rises further, from 60% to 70%.

2025-26

India records a $152 million toy trade surplus, exports up over 151% since 2017-18.

A $365 Million Swing

In 2017-18, India ran a $213 million toy trade deficit. By 2025-26, it had a $152 million surplus — a total swing of roughly $365 million, in under a decade.

📑 Contents

1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Test Yourself
4Great to Know
5Current Affairs

Must Know

India’s toy exports rose from $152.7 million in 2017-18, to $384.7 million in 2025-26. That is growth of over 151%.
Over the same period, India’s toy trade flipped from a $213 million deficit to a $152 million surplus.
This turnaround followed the National Action Plan for Toys (NAPT), launched in 2020. It aimed to build domestic manufacturing and restrict low-quality imports.
A central tool was the Quality Control Order (QCO) for Toys, 2020. It made Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification compulsory, for both domestic and imported toys.
Import duties on toys rose sharply too: from 20% to 60% in 2020, then to 70% in 2023.

Good to Know

Imports of traditional and educational toys fell by 66%, over the same period, as domestic manufacturing filled the gap.
Employment in the toy sector more than doubled. It rose from 8,685 workers in 2018-19, to 17,693 in 2023-24, under NIC Code 324 (Games and Toys).
The United States is India’s largest toy export market. Exports there more than quadrupled, from $26.7 million to about $111.9 million, over the same period.
GST on toys was cut, from 12% to 5%, making them cheaper for domestic buyers.
Free Trade Agreements with the UAE, Australia, the UK, and others give Indian toys zero-duty access to those markets.

Test Yourself

Great to Know

Toycathon, launched in 2021, is a hackathon-style initiative. Students, designers, and start-ups design new toys inspired by Indian culture and folklore.
In 2025, the government held the first Electronic Toy Hackathon (e-Toycathon), focused specifically on electronic and educational toys.
The e-Toys Lab, run by MeitY at C-DAC, Noida, trains young engineers in electronic toy design. This includes candidates from SC/ST and North-Eastern backgrounds.
Several traditional toys carry Geographical Indication (GI) tags, including Channapatna Toys, Thanjavur Dolls, and Indore’s Leather Toys. GI-tagged toys are exempt from the mandatory BIS certification.
The One District One Product (ODOP) initiative has identified more than 10 districts with strong toy and doll export potential.

Current Affairs

27 July 2026: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal announced a dedicated Toy Sector Task Force, targeting a 5% share of the global toy market by 2032.
- The task force will work on 6 areas: global value chain integration, manufacturing capability, value-chain bottlenecks, workforce skilling, design and innovation, and ease of doing business.
- Goyal also launched the Toy Sector Playbook, a roadmap for manufacturers, startups, MSMEs, and investors, covering quality standards, IP, and export opportunities.
- DPIIT said India’s toy ecosystem now has over 21,000 MSMEs, 770+ DPIIT-recognised toy startups, nearly 50 toy clusters, and 1,800+ BIS licensees.
(Source: DD India).
7 July 2026: PIB published a detailed backgrounder on India’s toy industry. It confirmed the sector’s $152 million trade surplus for 2025-26, up from a $213 million deficit in 2017-18. (Source: PIB)
4 to 7 July 2026: The Toy Biz International B2B Exhibition, one of India’s largest toy trade fairs, was held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. (Source: PIB)
April 2026: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) held a “Manak Manthan” session, on IS 9873 (Part 1):2025, covering the mechanical and physical safety of toys. (Source: PIB)