Titan Industries Limited, India's largest watch and branded jewellery manufacturer, is expanding its manufacturing capacity at its Dehradun plant.

The chief minister of Uttaranchal, N. D. Tiwari will inaugurate the facility on October 29, 2003.

Initial establishment:
The watch assembly of Dehradun was established in 1990. The initial capacity was 0.5 million watches per annum, which was augmented over a period of time to 2 million watches. The unit is located in the Mohebewala industrial estate area, with a plot area of 1373 sq.mt. and a built-up area of 760 sq.mt. The total investment as on March 31, 2003 was Rs 236.2 lakh with the unit having produced 17.86 million watches since inception.

Substantial expansion:
The Dehradun unit's capacity has been increased from 2 million to 3 million in order to meet the increased watch production volumes as per its five-year plan. An investment of Rs 71.7 lakh (43 per cent with respect to existing investment) has been made during the current financial year in plant and machinery, in addition to the existing book value of Rs167 lakh on P&M. With this, the total investment at Dehradun stands at Rs 3 crore. A further investment of Rs 20 lakh is planned for the procurement of service facilities. With this, the expansion will be a substantial 52 per cent.

Manpower: 
The unit has a well-trained workforce of 84 employees (58 women), which includes 19 physically challenged employees. The total strength, including staff, stands at 97. 

The unit is actively participating in various community development initiatives in and around Dehradun city. Also, low value-adding operations, like strapping, has been off-loaded to the Bajaj Institute of Learning, an NGO, in order to provide employment to the physically challenged. By way of off-loading such activities, indirect employment opportunity has been provided to about 40 people.