Soaring High

The Tata group is bullish about its future prospects

- Rachna Tyagi

TITAN’S SPRAWLING CAMPUS in Bengaluru boasts an asymmetric, fluid design, epitomising the company’s design sensibilities. It is all about open spaces, light and free air movement. For Titan’s managing director Bhaskar Bhat, it is the perfect place to speak about creating masterpieces, and also about newer businesses.

Titan was formally launched in 1985, during the days of the licence raj, when watch smuggling was rampant in India. Bhat said the company wanted to create a differentiated offering. “The combination of branding, design and manufacturing technology was modern at that time,” he said. “Conceiving a manufacturing model, where you hired people from the local area and developed them, not just what consumers saw—a great watch, great advertising, quartz technology—but the whole thing, was unique,” he said.

Titan continues to make watches and jewellery, and has diversified into other products such as perfumes, eyewear and saris. Bhat said Titan’s uniqueness was its “ability to smell an opportunity”. He gave the example of its joint venture with Timex. “We made that brand number two, putting all the power of Titan behind it,” he said.