Titan to set up second lens manufacturing unit

To expand retail network by adding another 60 stores next fiscal

Titan Company Limited, a Tata group enterprise engaged in jewellery, watch and spectacles business, is planning to set up a second lens manufacturing plant besides proposing to expand its multi-brand eyewear retail network by adding another 60 stores next fiscal.

The new plant would be set up either in the north or in the eastern part of India at a size that can increase the in-house lens manufacturing capacity by 50%, said S Ravi Kant, chief executive officer of Titan Eyewear Business, here.

The existing unit is located at Chikkaballapur and has a capacity to produce half a million lenses a year. The company has invested about Rs 15 crore in this plant and is yet to finalise the investment size in the proposed plant, according to Ravi Kant. In-house lenses account for up to 40% of the total sales at the Titan Eye + brand retail stores as the plant produces only high-end lenses while frames are being imported completely.

The eyewear market in India is estimated to be of the size of Rs 3,500-3,800 crore and is growing at 16% annually though the organised retail portion of the market is at 30% giving ample space for growth to players like Titan, according to Ravi Kant.

Apart from expanding the retail network and the manufacturing capacity, Titan is also bringing out two new in-house brands, including one in the sun glass segment, to offer more choice to the customer across its stores.

A noticeable emerging trend in the eyewear market, according to Ravi Kant, is customers have started wearing spectacles having no requirement for vision correction, just to look good. "We want this trend to pick up," he said.

He refused share the financials of the eyewear business as the company currently does not report individual business-wise revenues.