Bengaluru, 18^th November 2020.

In its mission to bring all forms of Indian crafts online and expand the selection of products made available to customers, Amazon.in today announced launch of the ‘Made in India toy store’. With this launch, sellers from 15 Indian states will showcase over thousands of unique toys across ‘toy-categories’ like traditional toys, handmade toys and educational toys. The launch of Made in India toy store will provide a boost to home grown emerging Indian brands and manufacturers to accelerate their business. The launch is in line with Government of India’s vision in realising the potential of Atmanirbhar Bharat. The launch will enable thousands of manufacturers and sellers to sell locally designed and manufactured toys, inspired by Indian culture, folk tales as well as toys that encourage scientific thinking and innovation.

Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka said, “Karnataka is known for its rich, diverse and traditional heritage. I commend Amazon India’s efforts to feature local toys by launching a dedicated 'Made in India' toy store where the state’s vibrant toys from Channapatna will also be featured. The launch of the Made in India toy store is line with Government of India’s vision in realizing the potential of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Such efforts will provide a boost to home grown emerging Indian brands and also local artisans to accelerate their business.”

The traditional Indian toys section showcases toys that are bound to take consumers down the memory lane, reminiscent of carefree childhood nostalgia with toys like ChowkaBara,Pitthu/Lagori, Lattu(Wooden spinning tops) and more. The handmade toys section will showcase handmade toys & dolls from karigarsof various states like Channapatna, Thanjavur, Varanasi to name a few. These handmade toys speak of the pride in Indian craftsmanship and are unique in design. The third category showcases innovative and educational toys like a DIY Microscope, 4D Educational AR Game, Science Experiment Kits and more. These exciting products are conceptualized and manufactured by homegrown Indian brands like Smartivity, Shumee, Skillmatics, Shifu, Einstein box, etc who are delighting millions of kids and parents through their products. Some of them like Skillmatics and Shifuare also exporting made in India toys through Amazon’s Global Selling programme.

Meeta Sharma, founder from Shumee said “Shumee is a made-in-India toys brand, aiming to give play-based age-appropriate development toys for all ages, created with discussion with early-childhood experts and made using safe and sustainable materials. We work with artisans and small scale manufacturers in India and use safe, non-toxic, lead-free materials and adhere to all safety standards. Amazon with its reach in India has helped us grow 10X in the last 18 months with almost 4X growth in the last 6 months”

Manish Tiwary, Vice President, Amazon India said “This store reinforces Amazon.in’s commitment to nurture and support local talent. India is home to traditional arts, crafts and toys made by SMBs, artisans and craftsmen. These cohort of sellers will benefit with accelerated growth due to spike in demand for their products with the launch of this new store”

Over the past several months, Amazon.in has introduced several initiatives to promote Made in India products. In September 2020, Amazon.in launched Handicrafts Mela, showcasing over 55,000 unique products across 270+ art and craft forms from various parts of the country. Over 8 lakh artisans and weavers associated with 1500 Karigar sellers and 17 Government Emporiums including Tantuja, Harit Khadi, Tribes India and national level artisan organizations like Craftmark&DastkariHaat Samiti benefitted from this Mela. Similarly, Amazon.in’s stand for Handmade initiative to help over 10 lakh artisans, weavers and women entrepreneurs, enabled sellers from Amazon Karigar (for weavers and artisans) to register 3.2x growth and Amazon Saheli (for women entrepreneurs) to register 2.1x growth.