Titan to open 300 outlets in three years

Titan Industries has plans to open 300 retail stores for its 'Titan Eye' in the next three years across the country, a senior company official said today.     

The company would add another 20 exclusive optical showrooms in the current fiscal, Titan Industries Integrated Retail Services Vice President V Govindaraj told reporters here after inaugurating the first 'Titan Eye' store in the city, the fifth in Tamil Nadu and 40th in India.     

As the current Indian prescription eyewear market was "sizeable" with nearly 30% of the population requiring vision correction, the company was eyeing a substantial market, with Rs 50 cr in 2009-10 and Rs 300 cr to Rs 500 cr in the third year, Govindaraj said.    

Titan industries, a joint venture between Tata group and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), has reported a turnover of Rs 3,041 cr for the year ended 2007-08, he said, adding that Titan Eye has recently entered into a technical pact with Sankara Nethralaya for training of retail and clinic staff.    

The company was also running Titan Watches and Tanishq brand of jewellery, besides a precision engineering unit for supplying spares to aerospace and automobile industries, he said.     

With a market size of Rs 1,500 cr to Rs 2,000 cr, the company expects to capture a substantial eyewear market share in the near future, Govindaraj said.