What should the world’s most populous country, with more than a fifth of its people aged below 10 have? A huge toy market. But despite a large customer base and deals like Reliance’s purchase of toy giant Hamley’s, we are still a hundredth of the global toy market. Two reasons: unorganised players account for most of the market and the organised players have always sold mostly imported toys. The government is trying to change this by stifling imports, especially from world no. 2 China, and incentivising local toy makers. Schools are encouraging toys in their curriculum, parents are looking for more educational toys and startups are rushing to fill that demand. Host Shabori Das explores the current landscape and future prospects with Ashwini Kumar of Smartivity Labs, Disha Katharani of Imagimake, and Jeswant R of Funskool India in this episode of The Morning Brief podcast. Tune in! 

If you like this episode from Shabori Das, check out her other interesting episodes on The Karobar of a Bar, What cheap fast fashion actually costs, Beauty Battles: Who will be crowned the retail royalty? And more! 

Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on ET Play, The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts. 

What should the world’s most populous country, with more than a fifth of its people aged below 10 have? A huge toy market. But despite a large customer base and deals like Reliance’s purchase of toy giant Hamley’s, we are still a hundredth of the global toy market. Two reasons: unorganised players account for most of the market and the organised players have always sold mostly imported toys. The government is trying to change this by stifling imports, especially from world no. 2 China, and incentivising local toy makers. Schools are encouraging toys in their curriculum, parents are looking for more educational toys and startups are rushing to fill that demand. Host <a href="https://m.economictimes.com/etreporter/author-shabori-das-479251632.cms">Shabori Das</a> explores the current landscape and future prospects with <a href="https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fashwini-kumar-3452174b&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cc-sumit.pande%40timesgroup.com%7C33aea31f28fc422388b508dbb4f2e4a4%7C31171dd7fc014090a8517f1bbcd7e048%7C1%7C0%7C638302727527487688%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=xJJkRMLvTjaerwPe7itD3fuBaGICBRLIzBvsUBWRaR4%3D&amp;reserved=0">Ashwini Kumar</a> of <a href="https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fsmartivitytoys%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cc-sumit.pande%40timesgroup.com%7C33aea31f28fc422388b508dbb4f2e4a4%7C31171dd7fc014090a8517f1bbcd7e048%7C1%7C0%7C638302727527487688%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=C2ZkJVeCbXkFL8TO5DgXyVB1JANJdxpX73MCFlh3Hd0%3D&amp;reserved=0">Smartivity Labs</a>, <a href="https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fdisha-katharani-33548625&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cc-sumit.pande%40timesgroup.com%7C33aea31f28fc422388b508dbb4f2e4a4%7C31171dd7fc014090a8517f1bbcd7e048%7C1%7C0%7C638302727527487688%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=99k4F7KAS%2FhfLd2X8CaeDRoArACrBghbVI610lEE1vM%3D&amp;reserved=0">Disha Katharani</a> of <a href="https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fimagimake%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cc-sumit.pande%40timesgroup.com%7C33aea31f28fc422388b508dbb4f2e4a4%7C31171dd7fc014090a8517f1bbcd7e048%7C1%7C0%7C638302727527643912%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=wxdXUCr8VXNQ%2BVrOQHlU3rM3CEEnzg3unmNjsA6DQp4%3D&amp;reserved=0">Imagimake</a>, and <a href="https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fjeswant-r-1267901ab&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cc-sumit.pande%40timesgroup.com%7C33aea31f28fc422388b508dbb4f2e4a4%7C31171dd7fc014090a8517f1bbcd7e048%7C1%7C0%7C638302727527643912%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=z6fJtQIDzN3nJyJa4Yf2uVqGtEADOtlmcrR8xT8TobM%3D&amp;reserved=0">Jeswant R</a> of <a href="https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Ffunskool_official%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cc-sumit.pande%40timesgroup.com%7C33aea31f28fc422388b508dbb4f2e4a4%7C31171dd7fc014090a8517f1bbcd7e048%7C1%7C0%7C638302727527643912%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=nmNnKpCKSSV90b21cRNRXALXHDS%2FQjI9zODUvV84S4Q%3D&amp;reserved=0">Funskool India</a> in this episode of The Morning Brief podcast. Tune in! 
If you like this episode from Shabori Das, check out her other interesting episodes on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-morning-brief/id1568661777?i=1000623385628">The Karobar of a Bar</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-morning-brief/id1568661777?i=1000618006192">What cheap fast fashion actually costs</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-morning-brief/id1568661777?i=1000612217616">Beauty Battles: Who will be crowned the retail royalty?</a> And <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-morning-brief/id1568661777">more</a>!  Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on<a href="https://www.etplay.com/etplay"> ET Play</a>,<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/podcast?from=mdr"> The Economic Times Online</a>,<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6PL5kfPbwURBEu6fHCVTOL?si=26ec0fbfa7134fea"> Spotify</a>,<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-morning-brief/id1568661777"> Apple Podcasts</a>,<a href="https://www.jiosaavn.com/shows/the-morning-brief/1/GNPiFQD2xpY_"> JioSaavn</a>,<a href="https://music.amazon.in/podcasts/f378141f-9afb-495d-83da-9b08ec5047ac/the-morning-brief"> Amazon Music</a> and<a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub21ueWNvbnRlbnQuY29tL2QvcGxheWxpc3QvNjBiMmU5MjYtZTVmOC00YjkwLWE0NjUtYWVmOTAxMTYzMDAxLzk1ZmQ3YzU5LTc5MGQtNDk2ZS1iYmRlLWFlZjkwMTE2N2ZlNC84YWU1NDc2My05OTI1LTQwY2EtOGMzZC1hZWY5MDExNjdmZmIvcG9kY2FzdC5yc3M?sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi2gOG4la36AhUvjtgFHcdWDU8Q9sEGegQIARAC"> Google Podcasts</a>.

To make sense of the week’s hottest stories in business, economy, politics and markets, journalists from the Economic Times chat with reporters and industry leaders in this thrice-weekly (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) podcast.