Chennai, Feb 16 (IANS): Chinese soft toy-maker Pals Plush plans to expand its Indian facility near here to meet the increased overseas demand, said a top company official.
"We will start our second phase expansion this year and get going next year. The expansion outlay will be around $2 million. Till date we have invested around $1.5 million in our existing facility," Seema Nehra, director, Pals Plush India told IANS.
Part of the expansion plans would include setting up a toy design centre, which is now only in China.
According to Nehra, the new plant will employ around 600 persons.
The $25 million turnover Pals Plush headquartered in China set up its only overseas operations at Sri City, an integrated business city in Tada, Andhra Pradesh, around 60 km from here.
"Currently, we employ around 340 people and this can go up to 500 workers once we add couple of production lines," Nehra said.
Nearly 80 percent of the workers are women. The production line is patterned like a garment unit, wherein one person would be cutting and stitching one particular part.
The soft toy industry is not only labour intensive but also women worker intensive, Nehra said.
A lot of detail goes into the making of a soft toy, for instance, the length of fur to be used in a toy depends on the age of the target segment. A toy with lots of fur will be targeted for grown up children whereas furless toys will be for babies.
"This is to avoid the risk of babies chewing up the fur," Nehra said.
Pals Plush India makes stuffed toys for brands like Hasbro and others. The company ships directly to the end customers located in Australia, China, South and North America.
According to Nehra, the labour cost in China is going up and hence the parent company is looking at expanding Indian operations though all the raw materials are imported from there.
"We make our toys as per the specifications provided by our customers who give enough volumes. Though we are allowed to sell some portion of our production in India, the volumes ordered even by big chains are not economical," Nehra said.
While production lines at the toy factory are similar to that of a garment unit, the industry does not follow the garment fashion season.
"The toy colour trends do not mirror the garment fashion trends. Our products are more age specific. For instance 9- to 13-year-old girls would prefer only specific colours. For instance, young girls would prefer pink colour whether it is for toys or garments," Nehra said.
Pals Plush India hopes to close this fiscal with a turnover of $4.5 million, up from $2.5 million posted last year.