India has become a large exporter of toys, phones: President Murmu
1 min read 31 Jan 2023, 12:25 PM ISTThe Economic Survey of 2022-23 is set to be tabled soon after the President’s address. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on 1 February.
PremiumNew Delhi: India has been able to ramp up exports of toys and electronic goods because of its efforts to push manufacturing in the country, President Droupadi Murmu said on Tuesday in her first address to the joint sitting of Parliament as the Budget session began.
The Economic Survey of 2022-23 is set to be tabled soon after the President’s address. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on 1 February.
“India’s manufacturing capacity is on the rise. The country is making efforts towards manufacturing semiconductor chips to air planes. Due to such efforts, India’s exports are rising. Until a few years back India used to have high volumes of mobile phones. But now India is a big large exporter of mobile phones. Toy imports have plummeted by 70% while exports have jumped by over 60%," Murmu said.
India exported toys worth $326.63 million in financial year 2021-22, up from $96.17 million in 2014-15, Union minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma had said earlier.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the minister had said that import of toys to India fell to $109.72 million in 2021-22 from $332.55 million in 2014-15.
Mint had reported that the Union government is planning a ₹3,500 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for toys that comply with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms to cut imports of unsafe toys from China and build domestic manufacturing capabilities.
A government survey in 2019 found that only 33% of a massive influx of toys from China were safe. Following this, several steps were taken, including issuing a quality control order and imposing higher customs duty on toys to prevent unsafe toys from entering the country.
