Emphasizing the importance of toys, PM Modi has reiterated the focus should be on developing toys and games that represent the Indianness in interesting and interactive ways.
June 28, 2021
Urging people to be “vocal for local toys”, PM Shri Narendra Modi said that about 80 percent of the toys were being imported by India with crores of rupees going abroad and thus, asserted that it is very important to change this situation. He also said that India’s share is only about 1.5 billion dollars in the global toy market of approximately 100 billion dollars.
Prime Minister Modi made the remarks after interacting with participants of Toycathon-2021 via video conferencing.
“Today, we import around 80 percent of our toys from abroad. Which means crores of rupees of the country are going abroad on them. It is very important to change this situation,” Modi said.
Emphasizing the importance of toys, he said if the child’s first school is his or her family, then the first book and the first friends are toys.
“Our focus should be on developing toys, games that present every aspect of Indianness in interesting, interactive ways,” Modi said.
Also Read: Toycathon: Research Bodies and Toy Manufacturers to Make Sustainable Toys
Toycathon-2021 was jointly launched by the ministry of education, WCD ministry, MSME ministry, DPIIT, textile ministry, I&B ministry, and AICTE on January 5, 2021, to crowd-source innovative toys and games ideas, the PMO noted.
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, which was held from June 22 to June 24.
