The world still buys a lot of pens, books and art kits. Market researchers say the global stationery market was worth about USD 158 billion in 2024 and could jump to USD 238 billion by 2032 – roughly 5 % growth each year. Fortune Business Insights
Yellow maize husk might look like farm waste, but buyers overseas pay real money for it. Feed mills mix it into cattle rations, biomass plants press it into fuel pellets, and eco-packaging makers turn its fibre into cups and trays. The world market for these uses is growing by about ten per cent each year. India alone throws away more than five million tonnes of husk every harvest, so even selling a fraction abroad can open a brand-new revenue stream for small exporters.
Europe is still one of the world’s biggest textile buyers. In 2023 it brought in €18 billion in home-textile products, and a hefty €11 billion of that came straight from developing countries such as India. That’s a wide-open door for agile suppliers who can stand out with sustainability, story and craft. (cbi.eu)
India has made playthings for at least 4 500 years. Archaeologists at Mohenjo-daro have dug up tiny terracotta carts with turning wheels, clay whistles shaped like birds and ivory dice—all proof that the Indus-Valley kids of 2500 BCE already loved toys as much as ours do today (researchgate.net). That spirit still lives in the lacquered wooden animals of Channapatna, papier-mâché creatures from Kashmir and cloth “Kathputli” puppets from Rajasthan.