A city of toy

The toy industry has flourished in India despite lack of any concrete move on the part of the government to promote it till recently. But th...

The toy industry has flourished in India despite lack of any concrete move on the part of the government to promote it till recently. But the Toy Association of India, with the help of the government, has chalked out a number of plans. First, among them is a toy city in Greater Noida.

"The motive behind the toy city is to promote the industry by providing R&D facilities under one roof," says Raj Kumar, president of the association. The toy city, scheduled to come up by the end of the financial year, will have a common tool room with latest hi-tech machinery to benefit even a tiny manufacturer. Besides, associated facilities like a testing laboratory, convention hall, etc.Till now, there were no concerted moves for designing new toys.

D C Jain, a manufacturer of Masoom Playmates brand of soft dolls and vice-president of the association, says candidly: "We basically copy two or three designs from imported dolls. Then, we just change their size, clothing and hair styling.

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"To fill this gap of designing, the association is planning a number of seminars on the issue. "Besides, we have also approached institutes like the National School of Designing, Ahmedabad, to launch a course in toy designing," adds Kumar. International shows and fairs also go a long way in clinching orders for the manufacturers.

"After being affiliated to the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council, we took 15 participants to the Nurnburg Fair in Germany which is the biggest toy show in the world. We have plans to go to South Africa and Germany again," points out Kumar.