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Global toymaker Hasbro supports government's 'Make in India' toys initiative, says will help in policy formulation for the sector

In a conversation with BestMediaInfo.com, Bhavesh Somaya, General Manager – South Asia, Hasbro, says the company is committed to sourcing from India to serve the international markets, along with helping government in shaping up its toys manufacturing policy.

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Akanksha Nagar
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Global toymaker Hasbro supports government's 'Make in India' toys initiative, says will help in policy formulation for the sector

Bhavesh Somaya

As the government increases its focus on developing a full fledged toy manufacturing ecosystem in India, global toy manufacturer Hasbro has committed its full support in helping government to make India self reliant in toy manufacturing.

Currently, over 60% of toys in India are imported from international markets, specifically from China. To curb the import of low quality toys into the country, the government has already implemented the quality control order for toys.

On several occasions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared his intention to make India a global toy manufacturing hub.

PM Modi also addressed the recently concluded National Toy Fair in which all major toy manufacturing companies participated.

In a conversation with BestMediaInfo.com, Bhavesh Somaya, General Manager, South Asia, Hasbro said, "the government has definitely turned its focus on the toy industry and there is a large call out to ensure that the toy industry is not just regarded as a sunrise industry but is also is driven to be more self-reliant."

“The government is encouraging local manufacturing. Hasbro is at the forefront of such initiatives and has been sourcing for both domestic sales, as well as exports from India. We are engaging with the government through various forums and initiatives and are helping it to shape policies that are meant to benefit the toy industry,” he added.

Companies such as Hasbro and Mattel, along with others, have extended their support to the government's 'Make in India' toy plan. However, none of them has announced any intention to invest in setting up manufacturing facilities in India or handhold the domestic industry.

The government is aggressively pushing global corporations to invest in India. The companies, however, have chosen not to make any investment declaration and are instead choosing indirect ways to build their equity with the government.

New product line launched in Hindi

Hasbro has been steadily working towards expanding its presence in the country and has now launched its Monopoly Deal Card game in Hindi, strengthening its commitment to pursue manufacturing in India.

Talking about brand’s offerings in the vernacular space and its marketing strategies, Somaya said, “We fully realise that to be able to reach its target audiences and consumers, it needs to have a presence in traditional forms of media like television as well.”

“We do a lot of variety of digital and social media channel activities and have our own specific channels that we are forever very active on. And we always keep putting out new content and new engaging sort of opportunities for consumers and fans to interact with and we have always been at the forefront of those marketing activities in India,” he said.

Last year, amid the pandemic, it not just used channels of communication to reach out to its audiences but also engaged with them. It executed a lot of activities in Q2 and 3 last year while working with influencers and brand advocates.

Talking about its target audience, Somaya said that brand’s core offerings is for kids from five to 10 years old but includes a much wider audience, across geographies.

With board games emerging a pretty strong trend amid the pandemic, he said the game actually became a very big part and parcel of the time since people were spending time indoors. In fact, it had launched a very high impact campaign called ‘Bring home the fun’ with positive messages around the power of having fun during these difficult times.

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Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Global toymaker Hasbro Make in India toys initiative Bhavesh Somaya
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