The timeless symphony...
“Titan will continue to be the pioneer in new designs or even campaigns. We’ll take the industry to another level in India.”

(column by Meena Shukal)

Gone are the days when people used to buy watches as a device to keep a track of time. Today luxury watches are indispensable and have become an important fashion & lifestyle accessory for India’s fast-growing upwardly mobile denizens. Seeing the huge potential in the market, global luxury brands like Rado, Omega, Tag Heuer and Cartier have entered the Indian market, but they have an omnipresent Indian player to contend with. Yes, the ubiquitous Titan! Titan Industries Limited (earlier known as Tata Watches Limited), like any other brand from the Tata stable, is India’s leading (and the world’s sixth largest) manufacturer of watches and jewellery.

Incorporated in 1984, Titan is a joint venture between the Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) with a strength of 3,000 employees. The company with its quartz technology and international styling brought about a paradigm shift in the Indian watch market across diverse segments – youth, mid-premium and luxury, and has been able to win the trust of millions of consumers. Today, Titan manufactures over 8 million watches & has over 65 million customers.

And the man taking the Titan legend forward is the company’s maverick Managing Director – Bhaskar Bhatt – whose persona is as dignified as it is charismatic. Bhasker, who joined the company in 1983, has handled Sales & Marketing, HR, International Business and general managerial projects before taking over the reins of the company as Managing Director in 2002. Today he is responsible for steering the growth of Titan Industries. A mechanical engineer from IIT Madras, Bhaskar completed his Business Management from IIM Ahmedabad in 1978. Later, Bhaskar worked as a trainee at Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company for 5 years, after which he joined Tata Watch Project and has stayed with them ever since.

In 2003, under Bhaskar’s erudition, the company made a smart turn-around by reducing costs, increasing competition and introducing new products which grabbed a major share in the market. Bhaskar asserts: “Titan Industry is the market leader today in branded watches and jewellery in the country. Therefore, as market leaders, Titan aims to continue to be the pioneer – be it new designs or new campaigns taking the industry to another level in India.” During the years, Titan has been able to earn a reputation of quality, reliability and technology. “Since the beginning, Titan was seen as more than a time keeping device – it was bought because it combined time keeping with elegance,” quips Bhaskar.

Today, Titan has captures a 60% domestic market share. The company reported a whooping turnover of Rs.14.81 billion for the year ended 2005-2006. In fact, Titan’s strategy has been to flank consumers in different or same market segments with its vast product portfolio: PSI (a rugged and sporty series of chronographs), Dash (for kids), Sonata (for budget-conscious buyers), Fastrack (funky collection targeted at young consumers), Edge (world’s slimmest watch), Notable (gold and steel collection), Raaga (for women) and Flip (a reversible watch from the Titan stable).

During the year 1995, Titan diversified into jewellery under the brand Tanishq, which has become one of the key growth brands for Titan in terms of profits, sales and consumer loyalty and is now changing the jewellery market in the country. To expand its retail reach across the country, Titan launched ‘The World of Titan’ stores, clubbed as one of the world’s largest retail watch outlets that are now available in 30 countries. According to Bhaskar, the company is planning to now launch these stores in various parts of the country. He divulges: “We are looking at taking the World of Titan number to 300 in 3 years. Similarly, Tanishq to about 125 and in total to open about 450 stores of watches and jewellery over the next 5 years.” The company has also marked its presence in the premium fashion watch segment by acquiring a license for global brands like Tommy Hilfiger. After capturing a big share of the branded jewellery market in India, the company has also entered the fashion eyewear segment, by launching Fastrack Eye Gear sunglasses, an extension of its Fastrack watches, targeted towards the youth.

In fact, like a true blue Indian multinational, Titan has won India a global market place from UK to Spain, Greece, Asia Pacific to countries in the Middle East.

Leading change

Having been there and done all that for years, what is this disarmingly unassuming leader’s perspective on people management? Bhaskar elucidates: “I guess as I have come from a sales and marketing background, I am a participative leader and I believe that working with a team and as a team player is important in an organisation.” When it comes to breeding employee skills Bhaskar looks for individuals with high commitment, integrity, energy and a lot of enthusiasm. People with an open mind, who are willing to experiment and take risks, apart from being innovative, are the one’s who thrive in Titan, points out Bhaskar.

He adds that at Titan people are not forced to work for long hours and are given the freedom to take decisions. “Titan breeds people who are very committed to the cause of Titan,” he explains. Moreover, like most leaders these days, he has particularly strong views on the innovative spirit of his employees. “Innovation is very essential for growth of any organisation and in some industries it is essential for survival. He firmly believes that an organisation that innovates and inculcates the habit of innovation amongst a large number of its employee’s (and not just employees but also prudent business associates) are successful.

Bhaskar’s vision for Titan Industries is simple and straight. He wants to make Titan a $1 billion company within the next 5 years. Since the man has been associated with Titan from its very inception, he has a very strong personal commitment towards the company.

Armed with the versatile Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador and the legendary Titan legacy by his side, Bhaskar will certainly ride roughshod over competition from global players in the near future. Till then, reminisce the traditional Titan jingle: Tra la la la la...

(End of Meena Shukal column)

It’s craning software
Here’s one rooting for innovations...

News, news & still more news of great financials & dividends, alliances & acquisitions, awards & felicitations, new product launches... phew! The list simply extends to a lifetime of milestones for this software company. Cranes Software, established in 1991, has been working hard at maximizing its value, to enable its stakeholders to reap the rewards.

With a global footing in over 39 countries today, Cranes Software has expanded its user base to over 360,000 engineers from corporations like AT&T, Texas Instruments, Bayer Corporation, BP Chemicals, Ford Motors, 3M among others, including many Fortune 500 companies. In the words of Managing Director, Cranes Software International Limited, Asif Khader, the software major has a vision “to emerge as a preferred technology partner for the global scientific and engineering community.” And he’s steering the company determinedly in that very direction.

In terms of its USP, the company is into a specialized segment of developing software tools specifically designed for scientists and engineers enabling them to discover, develop, invent and innovate with newer technologies. In layman’s terms, the company is into developing software products, solutions and services in niche domain areas. And while doing so, they have managed to receive many accolades from industry leaders like Mi- crosoft and organizations like NASSCOM. Cranes has also been ranked among the fastest growing Indian IT companies by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, consecutively for last three years. In fact, it’s fame has crossed boundaries and its US subsidiary has been rated as the ‘Technology Leader’ by Scientific Computing & Instrumentation, US. For number-crunchers, here are some stats to chew on: The company’s operating revenues stand at Rs.2,138.2 million (31% higher over March, 2005), and net profits are up by a 36% hike to Rs.624.9 million. They are also celebrating the announcement of a 60% dividend (20% regular and 40% special dividend) for all shareholders of this privately held company. Still wondering why this one is our ‘Emerging Company’ this fortnight?

“The company is focussed on creating innovation-led opportunities across all its global initiatives,” enthuses Asif, highlighting the company’s drive. The company is also the second in the world to have received the ISO 27001:2005 accreditation, which is supposedly the ultimate benchmark for information security.

To keep its human assets motivated, Cranes has recently introduced an ESOP plan for select employees. Asif believes that “this will further enhance the spirit of entrepreneurship that runs deep at Cranes and instil a feeling of ownership amongst our employees.” Cranes Software has merged with its subsidiary EMRC India and also EMRC’s US operations, which have largely been instrumental in designing Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) products.

However, in the face of the Indian IT boom, the company is facing stiff competition in each of its businesses. Perhaps, it is an aggressive marketing approach that’ll deliver anticipated results for this software major. Sure, good news is trickling in the form of awards and recognition, yet the need is to move ahead from the ‘better mouse trap' mould and carve a distinct identity amidst the slew of software wannabe’s in the nation.