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The Print
20 hours ago
- Business
- The Print
Navigating Trump's tariffs is no child's play. Indian toymakers are losing out on orders, enquiries
'With Vietnam nearing production capacity, the shift in sourcing focus is likely to favour Indonesia, meaning India's loss could become Indonesia's gain,' he told ThePrint. K.A. Shabir, CEO of Chennai-headquartered Funskool India, said a 50 percent tariff 'would have a significant impact on Funskool's exports, as well as on overall Indian toy exports, and would stall the diversification plans that many global brands had for India'. New Delhi: For Indian toymakers, the US is their biggest export market, accounting for a 47 percent share in total exports in FY2024-25. But existing orders have been put on hold and enquiries have dried up since Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods, including a 25 percent penalty for purchase of Russian oil and defence systems. Other Indian toymakers who rely on exports to the US confirmed that the steep tariffs have made a dent. 'We export 80 percent, of which 55 percent is only to the US market,' said Amitabh Kharbanda, director of Sunlord Group, which manufactures soft toys and apparels. 'All new enquiries from the US have stopped and even the existing orders have been put on hold by our customers,' Kharbanda added. In 2020, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) introduced 'Quality Control Order' (QCO) for domestic manufacturers and importers of toys. The Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020, mandated that toys for children under the age of 14 adhere to quality standards and bear the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) stamp. The next year, in 2021, the government hiked import duty on toys from 20 percent to 60 percent. In 2023, it was hiked further to 70 percent. This helped restrict low-quality imports from China, while elevating quality of Indian-made toys, making them more suitable for exports. Data from the commerce ministry shows India's imports of toys declined sharply to $73.9 million in FY2024-25 from $279.3 million in FY2019-20, while exports grew from $129.6 million to $169.5 million during the same period. As a result, the toy industry, which had a trade deficit of $150 million in FY2019-20, recorded a surplus of $95.5 million in FY2024-25. During this period, overall toy imports from China declined by 83 percent, from $235 million in FY2019-20 to 40.3 million in FY2024-25. However, even as government measures have restricted imports, data suggests that China is still the biggest exporter of toys to India with a 55 percent share in FY2024-25. Shabbir Gabajiwala, president of The All-India Toy Manufacturers' Association (TAITMA), told ThePrint, 'Earlier India was a dumping ground for low-quality toys from China but after introduction of BIS and QCO, imports of readymade toys from China have reduced substantially.' However, this might change. In the Finance Bill, 2025, the government lowered import duty from 70 percent to 20 percent on certain electronic toys with effect from 1 May, 2025. This is expected to run up the import bill in the current fiscal. Also Read: India's oldest toy store is a lens to view Delhi's history Pressure to cut costs & search for new markets With Trump's tariffs acting as barriers to exports to the US, Indian manufacturers are exploring new markets, but they want the government to negotiate a trade deal soon, and also introduce incentives and subsidies for the industry to make it more competitive. 'India needs to continue negotiating for favourable tariff structures, though this is easier said than done. Toys are a discretionary, low-margin, and price-sensitive category, and every link in the supply chain is under constant pressure to reduce costs,' said Funskool's Shabir. According to him, 'for every Rs 1 crore of revenue, the industry can generate employment for 8–10 people, most of them women'. 'Considering this, the government could explore targeted subsidies or incentives to make Indian toy manufacturing more cost-competitive globally,' he said. For Funskool, the largest toy manufacturing company in India, exports account for 70 percent of its business, 40 percent of which comes from the US. Other Indian toymakers, meanwhile, are now relying on markets other than the US for orders. Nidhi Agarwal, director of Afterskool Toys and Games that manufactures soft toys primarily for exports, told ThePrint, 'While the US is a big market for us, we can still make up the numbers from new markets like Australia that are showing interest.' 'Until restrictions on the US market are lifted, we are relying on markets like the UK, France, Switzerland, Denmark, and Australia that account for 45 percent of our exports,' said Kharbanda of Sunlord Group. Imports from China still finding way into India While the import of readymade toys from China has declined, manufacturers are still dependent on Chinese raw material, parts and machinery. 'Items like Felt which is a textile material used in stuffed toys are not readily available in India at competitive price, variety and quality,' said Agarwal of Afterskool Toys and Games. Due to limited options, toymakers have to depend on China for Felt, which offers competitive prices and varieties, she said, adding that the Indian toy industry lacks backward integration. 'We cannot manufacture each and every raw material used in toys ourselves.' For Funskool, dependency on China is limited to tools and machinery, since they source most of their raw materials from India. 'We are dependent on China for production-line tooling, injection moulds, automation machines, and emerging technology processes such as digital printing and prototyping,' said Funskool's Shabir. Adding, 'While India has capable toolrooms, they lack the competitiveness and quick turnaround times that are critical for the toy industry.' While some manufacturers are importing raw material and machinery from China, others are bypassing restrictions by importing semi-knocked down (SKD) and completely knocked down (CKD) parts. These are assembled in India without adding any value to the product. 'Importing CKD and SKD parts from China and assembling them in India to sell as a make-in-India product cannot be classified as manufacturing,' said Kartik Jain, owner of Noida-based Masoom Playmates, a manufacturer of electronic toys. Adding, 'We must not confuse assembling with manufacturing.' According to Shabir, Funskool is not involved in CKD operations as these are generally low-cost and the value addition from sub-assembly or final assembly is minimal. Jain of Masoom Playmates added that there is a need 'for minimum import price and enhancing inspection measures to bring down illegal imports from China'. (Edited by Amrtansh Arora) Also Read: Modi lauds toy hub Channapatna, but more than China this town is upset with rival at home
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Canadian authors slam Meta for training AI using 'hugely problematic' program that pirates books: 'We're just "the little guys"'
When The Atlantic revealed that Meta had used millions of books and scientific papers scraped from LibGen — a notorious online repository of pirated books and articles — to train its AI models, the fallout rippled through the literary community. For Canadian authors, the revelation struck a particularly deep chord, as many discovered their copyrighted works were being used without consent or credit — or compensation. 'I found out about The Atlantic article on [social media app] Threads from other authors who were just beginning to learn about the incident,' says K.A. Riley, a Toronto-based author of young adult fiction. 'Twenty-one of my novels from several different series appeared in the database.' (She declined to share which of her books were pirated to avoid violating exclusivity with an Amazon partnership.) LibGen, long criticized for offering free and unauthorized access to books and academic materials, has been a controversial resource for years. But its use as a dataset by one of the world's most powerful tech companies has escalated the issue from piracy to a question of corporate ethics — and legality. 'It's extraordinary,' Riley says. 'A company valued at $1.3 trillion chose to download pirated books to train its AI systems rather than, at the very least, offer licensing payments to authors.' For many writers, the news felt like a gut punch — not only because of the theft, but because of what it signals for the future of the literary industry. Authors can spend months, sometimes years, crafting a single work. The idea that these labours of love could be absorbed into an AI model without permission and little recourse raises alarm bells. A company valued at $1.3 trillion chose to download pirated books to train its AI systems rather than, at the very least, offer licensing payments to authors. 'Generative AI being used to 'write' books is a problem,' Riley adds. 'Every word and nuance drafted by AI is something stolen from a multitude of authors and regurgitated. If that tool requires theft of 7.5 million novels and the erasure of the years it takes most authors to hone their craft, then I have no interest in it.' Heather Grace Stewart, an author and screenwriter based in Québec, also discovered her work had been scraped after The Atlantic article was published, including the novel The Ticket, and screenplays The Friends I've Never Met and Best Before. She says, simply, 'It makes me livid.' For her, the theft is personal. Her screenplays aren't just intellectual property, they represent turning points in her career. She says, 'TFINM is close to my heart because it was inspired by meeting screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and several other talented writers. I was encouraged to become a full-time novelist after creating that screenplay.' The implications go beyond individual careers. 'Meta is treating rights holders like garbage,' Stewart says. 'Not like the unique voices that we are, the voices that enrich our world. Creators like me deserve respect and fair compensation for the [time] we spend crafting our novels.' Although a class-action lawsuit is in the works in the U.S., there are no such plans as of yet in Canada. Both authors are exploring their options and agree that action is needed — legally and ethically. Riley has joined the Writers Guild of Canada for legal advice and plans to consult her lawyer. Stewart has filed a complaint with the organization and is in touch with The Writers' Union of Canada (TWUC), too, to explore a national claim. But neither is optimistic. 'We won't get compensation for this breach anytime soon,' Stewart says. 'I'm not in denial about the scale of this problem, and how we are just 'the little guys.'' The controversy comes amid growing tensions between writers and artists and the tech world, with many viewing stolen content to power new technologies as an insidious trend. 'The entire fiasco is hugely problematic for the literary world,' says Riley. 'Piracy sites exist because many people are convinced books should be free. The problem is, for many of us, writing is our full-time living. There is little stopping people from producing work via generative A.I. and publishing it. The problem is separating human-made from machine-generated work. Until legislation is firmly in place, the book world will be flooded with A.I. 'works.'' For now, Stewart has added a copyright disclaimer to her new books. And Riley hopes to see Meta settle with authors, companies labelling AI-generated content, and she proposes a general challenge: 'I'd like to see companies admit that they cannot exist without the theft of human work. And that that in itself is highly problematic.' 'Creators create,' she says. 'We always will. But this blurring of lines between human and machine is a slippery slope. There is intrinsic value in humanity and its various forms of expression. I intend to cling to the human-generated wonders as long as I can.'
