India News Network | June 24
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for new models of innovation and financing to make Indian toys competitive at the global level.
“There is a need for new ideas to be incubated, new start-ups promoted, taking new technology to traditional toy makers and creating new market demand. This is the inspiration behind events like Toyacathon, the Prime Minister said in his remarks at Toycathon-2021.
The Prime Minister said that the global toy market is about $ 100 billion and India has only 1.5 percent of this market.
“India imports almost 80 per cent of its toys, he informed. “This means that crores of rupees are being drained out of the country,” Modi regretted adding that this needs to change.
Modi underlined that, beyond numbers, this sector has the capacity to bring progress and growth to the neediest segments of society.
Toy industry has its own small-scale industry, artisans comprising rural population, dalits, poor people and tribal population.
The Prime Minister singled out the contribution of women in the sector. In order to take the benefits to these segments, we need to be vocal for local toys.
Prime Minister Modi referred to the cheap data and growth of internet led rural connectivity and called for exploration of possibilities in virtual, digital and online gaming in India.
The Prime Minister rued the fact that most of the online and digital games available in the market are not based on Indian concepts and many such games promote violence and cause mental stress.
The Prime Minister highlighted that the world wants to learn about India’s capabilities, art and culture and society.
“Toys can play a big role in that. India has ample content and competence for digital gaming. Shri Modi called upon the young innovators and start ups to be mindful of their responsibility of projecting the true picture of India’s capabilities and ideas to the world,” he said.
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