Titan to foray into tech watches

Switzerland team to make these; plans to launch range by third quarter of FY16

Bengaluru-headquartered Titan Industries, part of Tata Group, is looking to foray into the high-end technology watch market with its own range by the third quarter of FY16. The company said in an analysts call on Thursday that it had set up a dedicated team in Switzerland to produce these watches. While the company did not elaborate on it, in response to a specific question on whether this was a foray into wearable tech, Bhaskar Bhat, managing director, Titan said the range would be utilitarian and backed by technology.

'Wearable tech' is the latest buzzword in the technology space, where computing has been weaved into everyday life. Devices such as watches, eye-wear, clothing and allied accessories have computing capabilities designed to help the user monitor his health parameters, check his e-mail and perform other tasks. Most global tech and electronic giants have stepped into the space including Apple, which launched its Apple Watch recently; Google, which has made significant strides under Android Wear with eight watches; besides electronic giants such as Samsung, LG and Sony.

Different estimates peg the global wearable technology market at $1-2 billion (Rs 6,000-12,000 crore) with the potential to touch $5-6 billion (Rs 30,000-36,000 crore) by 2018. India is negligible at this point, with the potential to cross Rs 50 -100 crore in terms of size in the next few years, digital experts say.

Titan's impending foray comes at a time when sales growth of its watches division, contributing 16 per cent of annual revenues, has softened in the past few years. From about 20 per cent in FY12, this metric has slowed to levels of about seven per cent in FY15 (in FY13, sales growth was nine per cent). Analysts attribute this to slowing consumer demand and stiff competition mainly from e-commerce websites. The segment's profit before interest and tax has not moved much; it remained between Rs 195 crore and Rs 217 crore during FY12-FY15, according to annual results presentations by the company.

"The launch of wearables among other products will lead to steady medium-term growth in the watches segment for Titan," said Tejash Shah, analyst, brokerage Spark Capital. While Titan has ventured down the hi-tech route in the past, with the recent launches such as Skeletal Edge O2 - the slimmest and lightest titanium watch in the world - this is the first time it is targeting the wearable tech market, experts tracking the company said.

Besides, the Skeletal Edge O2, Titan also launched the Sonata SF, billed as a smart sport collection, and Garden of Eden, an uber cool collection under Raga, recently.