INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - APRIL 2007
The Month that was ...

TITAN TO BRING IN THREE GLOBAL BRANDS TO INDIA

Buoyed by the success of Tommy Hilfiger brand, which it brought into India, Tata group-controlled Titan Industries plans to introduce another two to three international brands into India in the next two to three years. "Tommy Hilfiger has done well in the past year and seen a growth of more than 60% year on year. We have plans to bring in two to three more licensed brands into India in the next two to three years including at least one in the next one year," said Titan Industries chief operating officer Harsh Bhatt. Asked whether the company was looking at any specific locations from where these products would come from, Bhatt declined to give further details. Media reports had earlier suggested that the company was in talks with Hugo Boss for a possible entry into India through the franchise route.

The growing market for the company has prompted it to start a new manufacturing facility in India and outsourcing of watches from neighbouring countries as well as increasing its retail presence by around 50% in the coming fiscal. "We will be soon opening a new facility in Rourkee with a manufacturing capacity of 2-3 million watches with an investment of Rs 10 crore and will be functional by later 2007," Bhatt said.

"We have opened a sourcing office in Hong Kong for outsourcing of watches from China, Korea and other such countries and have made significant progress in that regard with nearly 20% of the production being sourced from these countries, he said.

The world of Titan's network has increased to 250 from 170 last year and we have plans to increase that to 275 by the end of this fiscal, Bhatt added. The company, which has a manufacturing facility in Hosur, Tamil Nadu and an assembly unit in Dehradun, produces about 10 million watches currently. Meanwhile, Titan has expanded its range in the sports wear category by introducing the Aviator series of watches. The new series, inspired from World War II fighter aircraft is targeted at the up-market, global Indian and has been priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 7,000.