Titan to Export Gold Jewelry to Damas, Mustafa

Jewelry and lifestyle products manufacturer Titan Company has firmed up plans to export its gold jewelry to marquee global retailers, as current gold import regulatory norms in India mandates the Tata Group company to have a sizable export portfolio. Titan Jewellery, which constitutes 75 percent to 80 percent of Titan's $2 billion revenue, will supply its Tanishq brand of gold jewelry to Dubai-based Damas and Singapore's Mustafa. The exports will also include diamond jewelry sales, Rapaport reported.
Titan had a gold export business until 2007, but closed it because margins were thin. "Also, we have had such a good opportunity in India that exports became insignificant to us," said Bhaskar Bhat, managing director of Titan Company.
At present, Titan, which operates close to 200 boutique jewelry stores, has a 4 percent market share in the country's $40.9 billion (INR 2.5 trillion) gems and jewelry industry.
"We have an import license, but we won't be able to utilize it if we don't have exports," Bhat told TOI. This follows the Reserve Bank of India's 80:20 rule on gold imports aimed to stem the country's ballooning current account deficit.
As per the rule, merchants/retailers have to re-export 20 percent of each gold import consignment before placing new orders. Due to these restrictions and increase in import duties, the demand for the yellow metal has softened over the last six months. This was reflected in Titan's jewelry business, which reported a 15.4 percent decline in the December quarter. Given the current market dynamics and the company's exposure to the gold trade, Bhat expects Titan to end the ongoing fiscal with a 10 percent revenue growth. In the previous fiscal Titan reported a 14 percent revenue growth.