India’s toy industry is minuscule. Yet, it figures prominently in the policy discourse — be it the bygone era of the “permit license raj”, or the ongoing ‘Make in India’ regime. Between 2014-15 and 2022-23, toy exports increased by 239% and imports declined by 52%, turning India into a net exporter, as reported in a recent official press release. An unpublished case study by the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM-L), sponsored by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), reportedly credits the export success to various promotional efforts under the aegis of ‘Make in India’, initiated since October 2014. We examine the official statistics to analyse the possible reasons for the reported success, as the case study is unavailable in the public domain.
The table (columns 2 and 3) shows net exports (exports minus imports) of toys under HS code 9503 and total toys (HS codes 9503+9504+9505) respectively. The trade balance was negative ₹1,500 crore in 2014-15, which turned positive from 2020-21 after a gap of 23 years. The turnaround in the labour-intensive industry, at a time when such industries are not doing too well, is indeed credible.
