Watch maker Titan Industries intends to focus on rural and semi-urban markets to tap first-time watch owners. "Our agenda is to expand the market over three to five years and increase market share," said Bijou Kurien, CEO-watches, Titan Industries.
The company, is a leader in the organised domestic watch market, with a share of over 65 per cent. Kurien said it was necessary for the company to maintain its current growth rate.
"The agenda is clear. We have to focus on increasing first-time ownership in rural and semi-urban areas because that is where the volumes are," he added.
Quoting market surveys, Kurien said there was a huge space for growth for all watch makers in the country. The surveys show that barely 20 per cent of adult Indians own a watch and about 90 per cent of them own a single watch.
Kurien was here to inaugurate a World of Titan showroom, the second in the city and the 176th in the country. Kurien said for the low-end rural and semi-urban market, the Sonata range with prices as low as Rs 395 can act as a good introductory brand.
Similarly, in urban areas, the company has to focus on multiple ownership and address the needs of middle and high-end customers. He said, in the urban markets, there is an opportunity in the women's segment, which the company has attempted to address with the Raga collection.
"Then there is the youth segment, which we are targeting with the help of Fastrack. This segment's the fastest growing one, considering the fact that close to 60 per cent of the new watches are being bought by people under 25 and roughly 43 per cent by people around 20," he added.
Titan Industries reported a turnover of Rs 1,135 crore (Rs 11.35 billion) in the last fiscal and is looking at Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) for the current year, which is 28 per cent higher.
Kurien said the jewellery segment Tanishq, contributed around Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) to the business last fiscal, registering a growth of 40 per cent year-on-year.
Exports were about Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 million), which was also growing rapidly, he said.
The company has a manufacturing capacity of nine million watches across its plants in Hosur, Ooty, Baddi and the recently expanded Dehradun unit.
It plans to set up another plant of about two million capacity either in Uttaranchal or Himachal Pradesh in 2006-07.
