Licensing and merchandising industry in India is slow to grow. Recently, it has shown some signs of revival. It is still in a nascent stage.

As we know, Walt Disney globally is number one in licensing and merchandising. It has very successfully used its characters for secondary commercial exploitation by creating a global franchise for them. Worldwide, it has 3500 licensees. The characters are associated with toys, fashion and home, food, health and beauty, stationery and publishing.

India is a complex market. Branded merchandise is restricted to big towns and cities. The customers are price-sensitive. There is low level of customer awareness. They cannot distinguish between an original and a copy. There is rampant piracy.

Entertainment is the biggest base for licensing. Stationery and toys are the highest selling categories.

Characters like Chhota Bheem are chosen for action toys. There are quite a few Indian characters that can be leveraged. The digital boom is an incentive. Metaverse and Web 3.0 too present tremendous opportunity.