Funskool India plans to foray into digital gaming space

Funskool India Ltd., Chief Executive Officer, R Jeswant
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Funskool India Ltd., has drawn up plans to foray into manufacturing of remote-controlled electronic toys as well as into digital gaming space, said a top official.

“Currently, we are manufacturing toys using plastics and wood at our Ranipet facility. We are getting into making remote controlled electronic toys. A study is being carried out regarding our entry in the digital gaming space,” said its CEO R. Jeswant during an interaction.

Though no timeline has been fixed for launch of digital gaming, he said that remote controlled electronic cars will be rolled out soon. “These are going to be the area of focus for us,” he said.

MRF group’s toy manufacturing company Funskool ended FY23 with a turnover of ₹240 crore and aims to touch ₹290 crore for FY24. Exports accounted for nearly 60% of it.

Asserting that global toy market is estimated to be $100 billion, he said that India share is about 0.5-0.6% of it. However, it is bound to grow in the years to come due to the sizeable children population, Centre move to regulate imports, BIS accreditation for must for factories and toys becoming more affordable.

He also said that Funskool’s Goa unit was the first electronic toy manufacturing plant in India to get BIS accreditation, followed by Ranipet factory in South India for toys.

MRF group’s toy manufacturing company has two units in Ranipet and one in Goa. Out of the two, one unit is meant for exports.

Talking about exports, he said it is of two types. Sourcing of products by international firms that accounts for a major chunk of our revenue and products, conceived and developed by Funskool that are exported to over 30 countries. The exports revenue from Funskool products was about ₹10 crore.

“All our plants are working in three shifts. We have started expanding all the production facilities as we have sufficient space. Every year, we launch about 80-100 products and we have some exciting launches in the pipeline,” he said.