Titan open to acquiring smaller watch brands, sees strong growth in premium segment

Bengaluru: Leading watchmaker Titan Company, which has been expanding its premium and luxury watch portfolio, is open to acquiring or investing in smaller and emerging brands as part of its growth strategy, a top company official said.

The Tata group firm expects a "robust" festive season this year, driven by healthy consumer demand and an early wedding season coinciding with a delayed Diwali, said Titan Company Chief Marketing Officer Ranjani Krishnaswamy. She also acknowledged that the company is working to keep pace with rising demand.

"We are looking at a very robust demand. We are seeing a very healthy start to the festive season. We are very optimistic and, hand on heart, we are struggling to ensure we have the capacity to service demand," Krishnaswamy told PTI.


When asked about acquisition as part of its growth journey, she said Titan is evaluating opportunities that may complement its long-term growth ambitions and help deepen its presence across segments and markets.

Pointing to the group's past acquisitions in its jewellery business, Krishnaswamy said the company would consider investing in or acquiring smaller watch companies.

Krishnaswamy said the idea had been "debated internally" at Titan, and "I think we have always felt that when the time is right, and the partner is right, it will certainly be interesting for us to do that."

Titan as a company has done it on the jewellery side of the business, whether you look at CaratLane or some of the other investments we have made abroad," she said.

Krishnaswamy said any such move would have to be "complementary" to Titan's broader growth journey rather than opportunistic.

"So, we have always been open to inorganic growth as well as organic growth. It just seems it has to be complementary and help us build our larger growth journey," she said.

The remarks come amid a growing trend of smaller and India-focused micro watch brands building products around Indian design sensibility and culture, and gaining traction among millennials and high-income consumers.

Krishnaswamy said the emergence of such players was a positive for the category rather than a threat to Titan's market leadership.

"I have always believed that the most lonely thing that can happen to you is to be the only person in the category. I think competition is a big, big boon to the market leader. It makes the market leader more agile; it makes the market leader more innovative and inventive," she said.

Titan last week launched Vetra, a branded movement platform marking a significant milestone in Indian watchmaking. It has derived the name from a combination of "Veda" (knowledge) and "Tra", which stands for instrument, is expected to strengthen its presence in the high-end global horology space.

"We set ourselves a dream, a vision, saying we want to be the third force in the world of watches. We have the Swiss, we have the Japanese, and we want to be the third force," she said, adding that the company was pursuing the goal with "a lot of pride and a lot of hard work".

About trends in the watch business, Krishnaswamy said the company is witnessing "robust growth" in the premium segment of its watch portfolio, which is expanding nearly twice as fast as the sub-Rs 25,000 category.

She, however, said the sub-Rs 1,000 mass watch segment was seeing "serious sluggishness" as watches increasingly become a personal style statement, while limited-edition and higher-priced pieces were finding strong demand.

The company also retails international brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Police, Cerruti and Roamer in India through its Helios retail network, and said it was open to bringing in more accessible Swiss brands as free trade agreements potentially ease import costs.