Reliance Brands Limited Inks JV With Plastic Legno SPA

Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) has announced signing of a joint venture arrangement with Plastic Legno SPA and will acquire a 40 per cent state in latter’s toy manufacturing business in India.

This investment by RBL servesa dual purpose, bringing in vertical integration for toy business of RBL and helping diversify the supply chain with a long-term strategic interest in building toy manufacturing in India.

Plastic Legno SPA is owned by the Sunino group that boasts of more than 25 years oftoy production experience in Europe. The group started its India business in 2009 out ofa need to develop a strong production hub that would cater to global markets, but more importantly to the fast evolving and growing Indian market.

Commenting on the pact signed by both the company, spokesperson of Reliance Brands Limited said, “Keeping with our honourable Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, this collaboration with Plastic Legno is deep experience in world-class toy manufacturing coupled with our strong footing in the global toy retail industry would open new doors and unparalleled opportunities for toys manufactured in India.It is imperative for RBL to build design to shelf capability for a strategic advantage over the competition and to be an accelerator in building a robust toy manufacturing ecosystem in India not only for domestic consumption but also for global markets.”

RBL has a strong play in the toy industry with its portfolio of Hamleys, the British to retailer and homegrown toy brand – Rowan, making RBL one of the leading toy

distributors. Hamleys currently has a global footprint across 15 countries with 213 doors and is India’s largest chain of toy stores.

“We are very privileged to have RBL as a partner in this Joint Venture. We are confident that Plastic Legno’s experience in Toys production and Hamleys commercial outreach, will complement one another to enable the JV company to achieve greater heights and successes. We have important development plans to implement, always in the spirit of creating a cultural background in this specific sector in India. We are ready for the challenges of the future, but when there is a group like RBL alongside, we are sure that together we can do a great development.” said Paolo Sunino, Co-owner, SuninoGroup.

About Reliance Brands Limited

RBL is a subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd and began operations in 2007 with a mandate to launch and build global brands in luxury to premium segments across fashion

and lifestyle. In the past five years, RBL has also invested in building and operating homegrown Indian designer brands.

According to Invest India, the toy industry in the country is estimated to be USD 1.5 Billion making up a negligible 0.5 per cent of global market share.

The toy manufacturers in India are mostly located in NCR, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and clusters across central Indian states. The sector is fragmented with 90 per cent of the market being unorganised and 4,000 toy industry units from the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

The industry in India has the potential to grow to USD 2-3 Billion by 2024. It is only 0.5 per cent of the global industry size indicating a large potential growth opportunity. The domestic toy demand is forecasted to grow at 10-15 per cent against the global average of 5 per cent.