Titan expects good Q3 show in jewellery business despite high base

Ajoy Chawla said that he hopes buyer growth will be better this festive season, coupled with the wedding season that follows

Titan is expecting its jewellery business to put up a good showing in October-December despite the high base of the preceding quarter. 

“Given the wedding season and the last days of September, when Navaratri began, demand has been good,” Ajoy Chawla, CEO, jewellery division, Titan, told Business Standard in an exclusive interview. 

He hopes growth in the number of buyers would be better this festival season, followed by the phase of weddings. 

To beat the soaring prices of gold, the company has launched a campaign featuring former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar urging customers to exchange their old gold for new designs. 

Talking about the gold-exchange programme, which it is running at Tanishq, its jewellery chain, Chawla said: “We want to stimulate demand. Finally, it is an expensive proposition to do an exchange.” 

He added: “We said this season let people feel unconstrained to open their lockers and exchange gold for new jewellery or even coins … We are not in the business of selling you gold. We are in the business of selling you beautiful designs.” 

Talking about Damas, the jewellery chain in which Titan is in the process of acquiring a majority stake, Chawla said the brand would continue to expand in West Asia. 

In its quarterly update ahead of its results, Titan said its domestic jewellery business saw a growth rate of 19 per cent in July-September. 

“Surging gold prices drove substantial ticket-size increases offsetting marginal year-on-year (Y-o-Y) declines in buyer counts. The impact of Q2FY25’s high base (due to custom duty reduction) was offset by the early onset of the festival season in September this year, compared to October in FY25,” the update said. 

The update also said growth was fuelled by significant investment in consumer promotions, which included its exchange offer and marketing initiatives. 

Growth for Tanishq and CaratLane was similar and in double digits. 

“Watches’ domestic business grew 12 per cent Y-o-Y driven by the analog segment clocking c.17 per cent growth Y-o-Y. Growth was anchored by the Titan brand posting strong double-digit growth and healthy volume offtake for the festive season,” Titan told investors in its update. 

Its eyeCare’s domestic business grew 9 per cent Y-o-Y and its international business increased 86 per cent, led by Tanishq more than doubling its business in the United States and witnessing double-digit growth in the Gulf.