KOLKATA: Search and seizure operations at toy stores in malls by quality control agency Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in the past couple of days has spread panic among toy retailers in the city.
Retailers in New Market, Gariahat, Fariapukur and other parts of the city on Wednesday went on a “clean-up” drive to remove toys without ISI mark from their shelves before being caught out. Confiscation of non-ISI-certified toys from a retail store can lead to stringent action, that of a minimum penalty of Rs 1 lakh that can go up to five-times the value of the “illegal toys” seized, in addition to imprisonment.
BIS Kolkata branch office 1 head Atindra Chatterjee said a large number of toys without ISI mark were seized from some of the largest branded stores at South City and Mani Square. BIS Kolkata branch office 2 head AK Purohit, too, confirmed similar contraventions at toy stores in City Centre. “All toys sold in India are BIS compliant to ensure they are safe for children. For instance, they should not have sharp edges, they should be made from virgin plastic and there should be no toxic material. The law came into force in October 2020. In January 2021, a notification was issued, making sales of toys without ISI mark an offence. In between, there have been awareness drives. We have only now, after a year, started raids,” Chatterjee said.
While acknowledging they were aware of the rule, retailers cited poor sales during the pandemic for the high stock of non-ISI toys in their stores. “Sales of toys are down 80%. So, 70% of the stocks with most retailers still do not have the ISI mark. We need more time to exhaust the current stock,” said a retailer at a mall.
Another retailer pointed out sales had also been impacted after the high-demand, battery-operated made-in-China toys disappeared from the market following the BIS regulation. A wholesale dealer of toys on Canning Street said the watchdog agency should penalize manufacturers that were still making toys without BIS certification. In Bengal, only two toy manufacturers have taken the BIS certification.
Shiv Daswani, owner of a retail chain that sells children’s products including toys, admitted he was lucky as toys comprised only 10% of his offerings and around 10% of them were non-ISI ones that had not yet been sold due to the slump in the market. “Toys sell when children are around. In this pandemic, sales of toys are among the worst hit,” he said. Rajesh Lahoti, owner of Maxwell India that manufactures toy parts, said many retailers were also to blame for the current situation as they had hedged their bet on non-ISI toys at a lower price. “There is always resistance to change. But once this happens, parents of children will breathe easy,” he said.
