India's big watchmaker now earns most of its money from jewellery
Titan began in 1984 as a Tata joint venture making quartz watches in Tamil Nadu, and by 2019 it ranked fifth among the world's watchmakers by volume. Yet more than 80% of its revenue now comes from gold and gems, and it is the largest branded jewellery seller in India.
Titan Watches Limited was inaugurated in Chennai on 26 July 1984, a partnership between the Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu development agency TIDCO. Its factory at Hosur turned out quartz analogue watches, and in November 1986 it agreed with Casio to build 2 million digital and hybrid models. In 1992 Timex came into India through a venture with Titan, making cheaper watches that sat on Titan's shelves beside its pricier ones.
The turn toward jewellery came quickly. In September 1993 the firm renamed itself Titan Industries to signal it would sell more than watches, and a year later it launched Tanishq. When the Timex tie-up ended in 1997, Titan answered with its own budget range, Sonata. Later came the Titan Eyeplus optical chain in 2007 and a luxury multi-brand watch store, Helios, in 2009, and in 2013 the company settled on its current name, Titan Company Ltd.
Its deals have ranged widely. It bought the old Swiss watch house Favre-Leuba in 2011 to reach Europe, then sold it to Ethos in 2023. A 62% stake in the online jeweller CaratLane cost ₹357 crore in 2016; an extra 27.18% bought from the founder's family in 2023 cost ₹4,621 crore, more than twelve times as much, and Titan took the rest in 2024. It opened its first Tanishq store abroad in Dubai in November 2020 and in mid-2025 took 67% of Damas Jewellery, a UAE firm that spans all six Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Watches have not disappeared. Titan built a smartwatch called Juxt with Hewlett-Packard in 2016 and held 7.4% of India's wearables market in 2018. Beyond its core lines it has sold perfume under the Skinn label, opened Taneira stores for women's ethnic wear, and in 2025 introduced beYon, a lab-grown diamond brand, with a store in Mumbai.
Source: Titan Company
