Infrastructure hurdles hinder toy manufacturers’ shift from China

Toy-makers grappling with surging costs in China are finding no easy options when it comes to shifting production to cheaper centers elsewhere.

Six years ago, Hasbro — manufacturer of the board game Monopoly — approached Indian durable goods and aerospace supplier Aequs to sub-contract.

“They said if you can get into toy manufacturing, now we’re looking to shift millions of dollars worth of product from China to India,” said Rohit Hegde, Aequs’ head of consumer verticals. “We said: as long as we can get at least about $100 million of business in the next few years, we can definitely invest in it.”