During Toycathon 2021, Textile and Women & Child Development Minister Smt. Smriti Irani urged research bodies and toy manufacturers to work towards developing sustainable toys as envisioned by PM Shri Narendra Modi and support the endeavour of making India a global toy manufacturing hub.
June 24, 2021
Union Cabinet Minister for Textiles and Women & Child Development Smt. Smriti Irani has invited research bodies and toy manufacturers to make sustainable toys as about 85 percent of these products are imported and predominantly made of plastic. She also urged the research bodies working under the aegis of the Ministry of Education to look into the prospects of sustainable toys.
Smriti Irani and Minister of State for Education Mr. Sanjay Dhotre have virtually inaugurated the Toycathon 2021 grand finale. Toycathon 2021 was jointly launched by the ministries of education, women and child development, MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises), textiles, information and broadcasting as well as DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) and AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) on January 5, 2021, to crowd-source innovative toys and games ideas.
Around 1.2 lakh participants from across India registered and submitted more than 17,000 ideas for the Toycathon 2021, out of which 1,567 ideas have been shortlisted for the three-day online Toycathon Grand Finale, being held from June 22 to 24th.
Also Read: India Toy Fair: The Virtual Toy Fair Inaugurated by PM Modi
“Minister invited research bodies and toy manufacturers to make sustainable toys. She also advised that India is known for its engineering potential and our technologists should equip the toy sector with adequate and innovative technologies for electronic toys,” an official statement said.
She expressed concern that 85 percent of toys that children are playing in India with are imported and is predominantly made of plastic. The Indian toy market stands at around USD 1.5 billion. The global toy market is estimated to be more than USD 100 billion in size.
