Funskool (India) Ltd. is an Indian toy manufacturing company, founded in 1987 with headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Apart from its own brands, the company also manufactures and distributes products in the Indian market under license from foreign toy brands including Hasbro, Disney, Warner Bros., Takara Tomy, and Ravensburger.

History

Funskool was established in 1987 as a joint venture by MRF Ltd. and American toy manufacturer Hasbro, Inc. The company began commercial operations the following year. Funskool manufactures all its products (including licensed products) at manufacturing facilities in Ranipet, near Chennai, and in Goa. Funskool opened its third manufacturing at Ranipet on 20 March 2019, which is dedicated to handling exports. The company's main competitors in the Indian market are Mattel and FisherPrice. In 2014, Funskool surpassed Mattel to become the market leader in the mid to premium range of the Indian toy market. Funskool's licence to manufacture

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

products was discontinued in 2019. In June 2022, the company acquired the rights to manufacture and distribute the board game

Abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Haliotidae. Other common name In biology, a common name of a taxon o ...

from

Asmodee Asmodee is a French publisher of board games, card games and role-playing games (RPGs). Founded in 1995 to develop their own games and to publish and distribute for other smaller game developers, they have since acquired numerous other board game ...

. In July 2022, Funskool acquired the licence to manufacture action figures based on characters from Green Gold Animations' ''

Chhota Bheem ''Chhota Bheem'' () is an Indian animated comedy adventure television series, created by Green Gold Animations based in Hyderabad, This show is available in English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. Bheem is a brave, strong and intelligent young boy. H ...

'' series. Funskool products are currently exported to Africa, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Europe, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the United States.

Stores

Funskool opened a Lego store in Chennai in 2013. Following the success of the venture, the company opened the first Funskool store in

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

in March 2014. By September 2015, the company had opened one store each in eight cities across the country. Funskool Store Chennai Tamil Nadu India

Most Funskool stores are operated by

franchisees Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busine ...

. As of February 2021, there are 18 Funskool stores nationwide. Funskool Store in Chennai Tamil Nadu India

References

{{reflist Toy companies of India Toy brands Indian brands Indian companies established in 1987 Game manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Chennai Toy companies established in 1987 1987 establishments in Tamil Nadu