Titan
to bring three global brands to India
The
Economic Times March 26, 2007
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
in India in the next two to three years. "Tommy
Hilfiger has done well in the past year and has seen
a growth of more than 60 per cent 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 the next 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 per cent 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 per cent 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.

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