Titan Company commenced operations in 1984 under the name Titan Watches Limited. In 1994, Titan diversified into jewellery with
Tanishq and subsequently into eyewear with Titan Eyeplus. In 2005, it launched its youth fashion accessories brand
Fastrack.[7] Titan is the largest branded jewellery maker in India by value, with a 6% market share as of 2022.[8][9] More than 80% of its total revenue comes from the jewellery segment.[8] As of 2019, it is also the fifth-largest watch manufacturer in the world.[10]
History
1984–1990
Titan Company Limited was inaugurated on 26 July 1984 under the name Titan Watches Limited in
Chennai.[11] A plant was set up to manufacture quartz analogue electronic watches in the State Industries Promotion Corporation of
Tamil Nadu, Ltd. Industrial area at
Hosur. In November 1986, Titan Company and
Casio signed a
MoU proposing to manufacture 2 million digital and analog-digital watches.[12] In 1989, a satellite case plant was set up in
Dehradun,
Uttarakhand at present with a manufacturing capacity of 500,000 watch cases annually.[11]
1991–2000
In September 1993, the company changed its name to Titan Industries Ltd. as it ventured into other range of products other than watches.[13][14]
In 1994, Titan launched its jewellery brand
Tanishq.[15]
In 1998, the company launched its watch and accessories brand, Fastrack, targeted at a younger audience in a bid to compete with
Timex.[16]
2001–2010
In 2001, Titan launched the kids’ watch brand, Dash. The brand saw poor performance and was discontinued in 2003.[17] In 2004, the company agreed with
Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Group, to service the latter's range of watches in India through its customer care centres.[18]
In 2005,
Fastrack was positioned as an independent accessory brand targeting the urban youth. To become a fashion brand, Fastrack launched
sunglasses in the same year and launched bags, belts and wallets in 2009.[19]
2011–present
A Tanishq jewellery store in Hyderabad.
Titan acquired Swiss watchmaker
Favre-Leuba in 2011 for €2 million to enter the
European market.[20][21] In 2013, Titan entered the fragrances segment with the brand Skinn[22] and later that year, it ventured into the helmets' category under its brand
Fastrack.[23] In the same year, it changed its name to Titan Company Ltd.[24] In 2014, it entered into a joint venture with
Montblanc to establish its retail stores in India.[25]
In 2016, Titan opened prescription lens manufacturing facilities in
Noida,
Kolkata, and
Mumbai to improve its order processing time.[26]
In 2016, Titan entered the wearable devices market by introducing its
smartwatch, Juxt, made through a collaboration with
Hewlett-Packard.[27] In 2017, the company launched a
fitness tracker, named Gesture Band under its youth accessories brand, Fastrack.[28] In the same year, it invested $3 million in a
Singapore based wearable tech company, CoveIoT.[29] In 2018, the company added new fitness tracker bands. The company had a 7.4% market share in the wearable devices market as of 2018.[30]
In 2018, Titan merged its
jewellery brand, Gold Plus targeted at customers in South India with
Tanishq to establish the brand's presence in South.[31]
In November 2020, Titan opened its first overseas Tanishq store in
Dubai as well as an exclusive website for Dubai showcasing its collections.[32]
In 2023, Titan sold its subsidiary Favre Leuba to Ethos.[33][34] In December 2023, Titan acquired a 10% stake in American healthtech company CueZen for $3.5 million.[35]
Products
Watches
A Titan Octane series watch.
The watches division comprises brands
Fastrack, Sonata, Edge, Raga, Nebula, Octane, Xylys and Zoop. In 2011, the company secured a licence for the marketing and distribution of
Tommy Hilfiger and
Hugo Boss watches.[36][37] In 2016, Titan obtained the license to retail
Kenneth Cole watches in India.[38]
Eyewear
In 2007, Titan Industries forayed into the fashion accessories industry with the launch of
sunglasses. It introduced Titan Eye Plus which makes frames, contact lenses, prescription
eyewear, and sunglasses.[39]
Jewellery
Xerxes Desai started the brand
Tanishq in 1995. Zoya was launched in the luxury segment, while Mia, a sub-brand was under Tanishq for work-wear jewellery.[40] In 2016, Titan invested in
CaratLane. As of 2022, Titan has a 6% market share in India's jewellery market.[9]
Perfume
In 2013, Titan launched six variants of perfume under the brand name ‘Skinn’. They collaborated with global perfumers including
Alberto Morillas and Olivier Pescheux.[41]
Sarees
Taneira is an
ethnic wear brand from Titan that retails hand-woven
sarees from different weaving clusters of India.[42] The brand was launched in 2016. The first retail store was opened in
Bangalore in 2017 with more stores followed in
New Delhi and
Hyderabad.[43]
Subsidiaries and affiliate companies
Titan Engineering & Automation Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Titan. It was formerly known as Titan-Precision Engineering Division. The company now deals in machine building, automation and component manufacturing.[21]
Titan acquired a 62% stake in
CaratLane 2016 for $50 million.[44]
In 2023, Titan acquired another 27.18% stake in CaratLane Trading from the jewellery brand’s founder and his family for Rs 4,621 crore in cash, following which its stake in the company will increase to 98.28%.[45]
In 2015, Titan entered a joint venture to sell products of the Swiss luxury brand
Montblanc through its retail outlets. Titan's equity share in Montblanc India Retail Private Limited is 49% and Montblanc Services B.V. holds 51%.[46]
Titan ranked among the 100 most sustainable corporations in Asia in the Channel News Asia Sustainability Ranking 2014[48]
Top Indian Company award under the Gems and Jewellery Sector at the Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Awards, 2014[49]
"Hall of Fame" award at 12th Franchisee Awards 2014 by Franchisee India[50]
Watches
Award at the CII 24th Kaizen national awards for assembly casing team[51]
Good Design Award 2014 by design Council of Japan for Skeletal Edge[52]
"Best Product Design of the year-Watches & Jewellery" award by Red Dot for Skeletal Edge for 2014[53]
Bronze medal at the Indian Effies Award for Fastrack[54]
Jewellery
"Most Admired Retailer of the year" award in Jewellery Category by Images Retail Awards[55]
Tanishq wins Global Awards for Excellence in Quality Management & Leadership by World Quality Congress[56]
Tanishq is the first Indian Brand to enter the list of top 30 Best Retail Brands in the Asia Pacific and stands at # 13 as per Interbrand[57]
Eyewear
Award for Customer service excellence at Golden Globe Tigers Award[58]
Gold & Silver Awards at TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers and Retail Associates of India) Retail Awards[59]
Gold Award in the Outdoor Advertising Convention 2014[60][61]
Precision engineering
Hosur won three State Safety Awards announced by Tamil Nadu Government in 2013[62]
Social initiatives
In 2018, as part of their
corporate social responsibility, the company sponsored entrepreneur and skater Rana Uppalapati’s mission titled Titan ECHO (Educate to Carry Her Onwards), to raise support for the education of 25,000 girl children in India.[63]
^Ranking, Channel NewsAsia Sustainability.
"Channel NewsAsia Sustainability Ranking". sustainability-ranking.channelnewsasia.com.
Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.