PM Modi said, India's toys and games should reflect the country's ethos and culture.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with participants of Toycathon 2021 on Thursday. PM Modi urged all stakeholders of the toy industry to go "vocal for local toys". The Prime Minister said, India imports about 80 per cent of the toys with crores of rupees going out of the country; now its it's essential to turn the situation around. PM Modi said, India's share is only about 1.5 billion dollars in the global toy market of approximately 100 billion dollars. Emphasising on the importance of toys, the Prime Minister said if a child's first school is his or her family, then the first book and the first friends are toys. "Our focus should be on developing toys, games that present every aspect of Indianness in interesting, interactive ways," PM Modi said.
Toycathon 2021: Key quotes of PM Modi
- "Today, the world wants to understand the present potential of India, the art-culture of India, the society of India in a better way. Our toys and gaming industry can play a big role in this": PM Modi
- "Most of the online or digital games available in the market today are not based on Indian concepts. The concepts of many games either promote violence or cause mental stress": PM Modi
- "We need to focus on our Toy-conomy. It will not only help our local manufactures but take our traditional knowledge to a global stage": PM Modi
Toycathon-2021 was jointly launched by the Ministry of Education, Textile, MSME, Information and Broadcasting and a few others on January 5, to crowd-source innovative toys and games ideas. Around 1.2 lakh participants from across India registered and submitted more than 17,000 ideas for the Toycathon 2021.