Tanishq lowers growth forecast to 30% for FY13

Still better than industry as most players posting negative growth: Tanishq VP (Retail and Marketing)

Tata Group's jewellery arm Tanishq today said it has scaled down its growth forecast for the current fiscal due to slowdown but would continue with its expansion plans.

"The growth rate we believe will be lower than last year. We are looking at 30% growth in topline against 40% last year. But it still is a good number because the industry is posting a negative growth rate," Tanishq Vice- President (Retail and Marketing) Sandeep Kulhalli told reporters here.

Operated by watch firm Titan, Tanishq is one of the three jewellery brands, with the others being Zoya and GoldPlus.

The jewellery business contributes about 70% of Titan's revenue, and Tanishq accounts for 95% of that, Kulhalli said.

Titan's jewellery business had reported a turnover of Rs 7,064 crore for 2011-12.

He said people were holding back gold buying because of high prices.

"The marriage season is over and it is a dull period now. We witnessed good demand during Akshay Tritya and the wedding season. So we have to wait for sometime for the next season (for demand) to pick up," he said.

However, despite the slowdown in demand, the company is embarking on an aggressive expansion plan to open new stores during the fiscal.

"We have very aggressive plans this year. We plan to open 40 stores, out of which half would be in C and D class towns. We may own one-third of the stores and the rest will be through franchise," he said.

Investment for each store would be about Rs 3-5 crore, he added.