BENGALURU: Even as jewellery continues to account for about 90% of Titan’s revenues, its other businesses-watches and CaratLane-are now in the fast lane, within striking distance of the $1-billion revenue mark over the next few years.“Watches are certainly on their course, in consumer price terms, to reach that billion. Given the way they are progressing, and the way we are seeing the projection, we expect it to be there-driven, of course, by premiumisation, but also by volume growth through our portfolio of brands: Fastrack, Sonata, not just Titan, and of course the channels between Titan World, Helios Luxe, and Fastrack stores,” said Ajoy Chawla, who succeeds CK Venkataraman as managing director on Thursday.
Beyond Jewellery: Titan’s new MD Ajoy Chawla
The watches business grew 17.2% year-on-year to Rs 4,576 crore in FY25, while CaratLane’s revenue stood at Rs 3,583 crore. Titan’s jewellery business remained the largest contributor, reporting revenue of Rs 46,571 crore, up 21.4% year on year. Chawla said the average watch price across Titan’s channels-now branded as Titan World-more than doubled from Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 seven to eight years ago to over Rs 8,000 today, reflecting a steady shift towards higher-value products. The watches division now operates 1,259 stores across formats.Venkataraman said premiumisation is clearly visible in the watches business. “We sold higher-priced watches, going all the way up to-I think we even crossed Rs 10 lakh, maybe, for a Nebula. We sell quite a few pieces around Rs 3-4 lakh in Nebula, a lot of watches between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh, and some in the Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh range. So the overall share of watches priced at Rs 25,000-plus rose markedly over the last few years,” he said. “We see that runway open for the next 1 or 2 decades-millions of people acquiring wealth and much higher incomes. So it is really a decade- or 2-decades kind of opportunity.”Chawla said Titan, as a house of lifestyle and design-led brands, has “truly come of age”. “We are fortunate to be operating at a time when discretionary spending is rising and premiumisation is accelerating in India. The priority is sustaining the kind of growth we delivered over the last 5 to 6 years-growth is oxygen for any organisation,” he said.“Beyond growth, my focus is on increasing the potency of our brands.” Beyond watches and CaratLane, Titan also has other up-and-coming businesses in its portfolio that are on track to reach the half-billion-dollar mark.Speaking about Damas, Chawla said, “Damas-may be the first milestone, may be half a billion, depending on how the dollar-rupee moves, … I would say may be in the next 3 to 4 years, we would be getting close to $500 million.” Titan acquired a 67% stake in GCC-based Damas Jewellery for $283 million and plans to acquire the remaining 33% by end-2029.Following the acquisition, Venkataraman said the jewellery division is exploring tariff-mitigation options, including potential manufacturing in the UAE, while stressing there is no shift away from India. Chawla also pointed to TEAL-Titan Engineering and Automation Limited-as another business that could hit the $500-million revenue mark, driven by precision manufacturing for aerospace, defence, and semiconductor equipment.Venkataraman, who took the helm in 2019, transformed Titan into a diversified lifestyle powerhouse, growing revenues from a little over Rs 19,900 crore to over Rs 57,000 crore. Even as he superannuates, he deflects credit for the expansion. “Over the last 5 to 6 years, we consciously worked towards becoming a full-fledged lifestyle company-perfumes, bags, sarees, jewellery, watches, smartwatches, and more,” he said. Titan reported 22% revenue growth to Rs 57,818 crore in FY25. Venkataraman also navigated macro challenges, including rising gold prices. Higher prices muted buyer growth in lower-ticket jewellery below Rs 1 lakh, though value growth remained strong, aided by studded jewellery, bullion coins, and modern designs in 18K, 14K, and even 9K. “Gold prices continue to rise, putting pressure on buyer growth, particularly in gold jewellery. Gold bullion coins, however, are doing very well, Chawla said.
