EAC Lego Division sales manager Harish Yadav told The Financial Express that the launching of this new product in the Indian market would open up a new era of technical creative toys for children.

``Lego, a leader in the construction toys market in India has tied up with EAC Trading, which happens to be the only distributor of the Lego brand of toys in India. There is a vast untapped potential in the Indian market in the upper middle class category where demand for such toys exists,'' said Yadav.

The Danish toy maker has a marked presence in Europe, the US and more recently Asian countries.

The toy industry in India is estimated to be about Rs 350 crore of which Rs 10crore is constituted by construction toys. ``The company, which is a new entrant in the Indian market, has already tied up with 80 retail outlets in the country. This includes big stores in places like Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Indore, Calcutta and others,'' Yadav added. The company plans to expand its retail chains in places like Chandigarh, Allahabad and Lucknow in the next phase.

With big companies like Tatas coming into retailing in a big way, through their outlets like Westside, Lego toys have been able to reach the Indian masses easily. The price range of the Lego brand of toys vary from Rs 62 to Rs 9,000.

``Catering a niche product to the consumer has given a lot of leverage to the company in spite of the presence of other toy companies in India. The Lego brand which covers an age group of 3 to 16 offers to the need and development of children seriously. It is more on aspects of creativity, self-expression and exuberance that we wish to link the Lego name with,'' said Yadav.

It may benoted that Leo and Funskool happen to be the two top toy companies in India apart from a large unorganised sector. Lego which has a turnover of about Rs 6-7 crore has grown by about 64 per cent in the last one year.

According to the sales manager, Lego in order to step up its marketing activities in India has been organising a number of promotional campaigns in a number of schools in places Mumbai, Chennai, Madras and plan to do so in Calcutta as well.

``The `Lego Mindstorm' with the help of a programmable Lego brick--will integrate robotics in the Lego building system, making it possible to build intelligent Lego models. The company will also increase its after sales service for this product. Our vital concern and the basic business concept is to build a very strong brand name worldwide,'' said Yadav.