We all might have grown-up now, but one can’t forget his/her childhood days, those days when we used to fight with our brothers or sisters over Hot Wheels cars and Barbie dolls respectively. In order to get that era back when toys were child’s best friend, Kids India organised a conference on 15 September at Taj Palace, Colaba, for its up-coming Toys exhibition to be held from 18 to 20 September 2014, at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre, Goregaon (E).
“We are very excited to showcase Indian made toys. India currently spends about $3 per child on toys in a month. We are hoping it goes to $6 at least. In US, people spend on an average $357 per child on toys; we really need to boost up this industry,” said The All India Toy Manufacture’s Association (TAITMA) president Vivek Jhangiani.
Speaking about how e-commerce has boosted sales Vivek added: “The fight between Amazon and Flipkart is helping us a lot, we being from the toy industry, just love it.”
A total of 153 exhibitors from 13 countries (USA, Korea, China and Singapore being a few of them) will be representing their products at the toy fair that is around 40 per cent more exhibitors than last year. With its international trade fair programme World of Toys; SpielwarenmesseeG is bringing 25 exhibitors from all over the world to Kids India this year.
“Many exhibitors who already exhibited at Kids India are taking part in this year’s event again. This confidence in our trade fair and our work makes me and my team immensely proud,” expounded SpielwarenmesseG, CEO Ernst Kick.
Indian toy industry is estimated to grow at 16 per cent by 2012-2015. According to Vivek this industry is also heavy in terms of labour, which will help in the production of toys for around 13 million kids (0-14 years) by 2016.
“We are, I think, on a very good wicket. We are very glad, especially with our own partners in India. We have nani’s, daadi’s and grannies in this country, who also buy toys for the kids,” said Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC), director general Bernhard Steinruecke.
60 per cent of toys available in India are from China and the remaining 40 per cent are developed in India. TAITMA and IGCC are planning to manufacture more toys in India itself, and wish to make imports duty free soon.
“It’s a big challenge for us, in today’s world. That time when we grew up, toys were all about fantasy, growing imagination and it played a big role in our lives like ‘chor-police’, ‘hide and seek’, etc. but now the problem is that it has become reality on screen for the child. Digitisation has stolen that tradition from these kids. It’s a sad fact that parents are so busy these days that they straight away just hand over laptops or mobiles to their child just to make them quite. So, we and other individuals are trying our level best to get that era or that tradition back, 0-3 year old infant toys has gone up in the country already, also the quality of toys is much safer than it was earlier, brands have come up with more variety, so yes we are definitely trying and hoping to overcome these challenges,” ended Vivek.