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]
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.[36]
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%.[37]
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%.[38]
^Ranking, Channel NewsAsia Sustainability. "Channel NewsAsia Sustainability Ranking". sustainability-ranking.channelnewsasia.com. Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
