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Of tender touch and hard selling
Jyoti Mukul
The soft toy market comes next only to electronic and plastic in terms of the total demand. However, in India, till a few years back, soft toys meant only a gift from a well-off relative abroad. "Handle with care," is what most moms told their kids for the precious and that time unique present.Things have changed since then. Soft toys are not only a major component of the toy industry, commanding approximately 15 per cent of the Rs 300-crore toy market in the country, but are also being exported. Hanung Toys (India) Ltd, launched in 1990, has a collaboration with a South Korean company. With exports worth $3 million, it claims to be the largest exporter of toys and a pioneer in soft toys export. Ashish Gulati of the Eldico group, which has distributorship and trading as its major stake, is into manufacturing of all types of toys. With a knowledge of all the segments, he feels that soft toy manufacturing requires least investment for a start and that is the reason it is facing competition from the
handicrafts sector. The soft toy sector should come under the handicrafts sector, feels Jagdish Ahuja of Hello Toy. "As soft toys are produced by hand and generate employment on the same scale as handicraft units, it should get the same facilities." Ahuja agrees with Gulati that the line requires low investment. "A sum of Rs 20,000 is enough to start a business." Ajay Gupta of Hanung, however, says that investment cannot be generalised. "One has to look at the long-term objectives to be successful in this business. It also depends on whether one wants to export or cater to the domestic market. Besides, it also depends on the volumes one is wanting to generate." The major challenge for this sector, however, comes on the raw material front. "The acrylic fur needed by us is not easily available in India, though our competitor China is able to produce it domestically."
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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