India's surgical strike against Chinese toys: BIS conducts countrywide raids at toy outlets

In a drive against substandard toys, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has conducted countrywide raids at toy outlets at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangaluru and other major airports and malls. Raids will continue this month to check substandard toys.

Pramod Kumar Tiwari, DG, BIS, speaking to ANI about the raids, said that During raids, BIS found substandard toys made in China.

"Preliminary investigation reveals that some elements are involved in smuggling substandard toys from China to India. Not a single Chinese company has a licence to export toys from China to India," he added.

BIS and Toys

BIS is the national standards body of India. It develops and publishes Indian standards, implements conformity assessment schemes, recognises and runs laboratories for conformity assessment, implements hallmarking, and conducts capacity-building programmes on quality assurance.

Government policies such as increasing customs duties on imported toys and mandating BIS certification requirement for imports not only boosted domestic manufacturing but also helped the industry to explore global markets and enhance exports.

From January 2021, the government has mandated all toy manufacturers and importers to have BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) quality certification. Over 800 manufacturers in the toy industry primarily from the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector now have BIS certification.

(With inputs from PTI)