Titan Company Limited (BOM:500114)
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At close: May 8, 2026
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Q4 25/26

May 8, 2026

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Titan Company Limited Q4 and FY 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant line will be on the listening mode and there will be oppotunity for you to ask question, after presentation conclude. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Ajoy Chawla, Managing Director, Titan Company Limited. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Chawla.

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

Thank you. Warm welcome to the Titan Quarter four FY 2026 earnings call. Thank you for being here this Friday afternoon. We have ended the year with a superlative quarter for top line growth, perhaps our best ever in the recent past. All our businesses have grown very well, and all our brands have enhanced their visibility and equity in the quarter and the full year that went by. Over to you for all the questions so we can get on with the Q&A.

Operator

Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and One on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press Star and Two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Devanshu Bansal from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Yes, sir. Hi. Congratulations on a good set of numbers. Sir, firstly I wanted to check on gold sourcing. The industry sources a considerable part of gold from Middle East and there was some news flow also that there has been delayed renewal of import licenses by DGSP. Checking if you could provide some color on the current inventory levels as well as any increase in cost related to sourcing that you foresee in the near term.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Hi, Devanshu. Ashok here. While, yeah, some of those slowness, they are also picking up from the customs point of view, we are pretty much quite covered for, you know, quarter one. Also our gold exchange program is very, very successfully being run from the last quarter three onwards actually. We always used to run this but, you know, now we have another level of and another short notice we can kind of if required further ratchet. Some of the other plan Bs are also ready. We are at least not concerned in the short term as far as gold supply is concerned for Titan, Tanishq and CaratLane perspective.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Got it. Mr. Sonthalia, sir, just small follow-up. From availability perspective, I understood, but do you foresee any increase in cost? Maybe our gold metal loan cost was around three odd percent. Do you foresee an increase there?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

No, no, not yet. Actually, now, if you would recall, gold loan tenure has been increased from 180 to 270 days and I think we are working on that and we are successful in starting that also. We don't see any increase in cost in gold loan at least in the short term.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Sir. Second, couple of bookkeeping questions. Sir, Damas is a recent acquisition. International loss has been around INR 80 crore in Q4. If you could guide us on the top line scale growth, as well as near-term loss run rate for Damas, it would be helpful in forecasting for FY 2027.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

You know, one of the positive news for international business if you look at the full year, at operating level they're becoming profitable and this is the first year after whatever, two, three years back we started and we scaled it up. Full year basis it is profitable. Quarter four certainly had challenges which we all are aware. March month was quite disturbed in the GCC where not only Damas is present but our Tanishq also is present. All those things have kind of come in the Quarter four in the form of loss of INR 82 crore what you are seeing. GCC continues to be evolving our situation which is unpredictable at this stage and where the Damas vast retail network is there and Tanishq is also expanding there through some conversion of Damas retail network.

A lot of restructuring going on there. Over the, I would say two, three quarters beyond if you want to look at, we are very, very positive about the aspects of whatever is happening in the integration, the operational improvement. We are quite positive about that. Damas, you know, the next four quarter we started consolidating from the January. First four quarter of course we are, we have started disclosure in some manner and maybe you will see increased disclosure coming out of us as kind of we get better, you know. Then next year onwards you will also have comparison. Then you will able to assess how the situation in terms of growth of revenue, margin of Damas itself is improving.

Right now we are not separately calling out. It is not a major part of INR 82 crore, I can tell you. Whatever plan they had it is actually they have done better than that plan.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Got it. Last one, the unallocated losses, which were, which used to be around INR 20 crore-INR 30 crore, this time around is around INR 140 crore in Q4. What has led to this higher loss?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

For corporate?

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Yeah.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Just give me a second.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Yeah.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Okay. This is, you know, there was a quite good performance for the full year as Ajoy started and Titan In past also we have spoken about, we have a tradition of sharing that superlative performance by sharing we call it special reward, which kind of announce once we know the result, and that is how in quarter four, it comes without much planning. This year also, the good performance has been celebrated by sharing that with all the employees and all the people connected with Titan.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Is this?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

It's about 120.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Okay.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

INR 120 crore roughly, and that is what the variation you are seeing.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Sure, sir. I have more questions, but I'll join back in the queue. Yes. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Aditya Soman from CLSA. Please go ahead.

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. Actually, two follow-up questions. You said, a lot of that INR 80 crore to INR 2 crore loss was not in Damas. That could be for Titan's Middle East businesses. Is that the right assumption?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Yeah. Yeah, you're right.

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

Okay. Which is why it's showing up in the standalone numbers, right?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

No, it will not show in standalone. It is the international subsidiary. It is showing there.

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

Okay. Okay. In the international subsidiary. All right. This INR 120 crores, this is not, I mean, the reason it's in unallocated loss is because it's not attributable to any specific. It wouldn't be like a payment to the franchisees, right? This is just bonuses to employees or other partners, or would this also include payment to franchisees?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

No, it is not payment to franchisee. It is mostly employees and the other employees through different agencies who are connected with us.

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

All right. No, very clear. Then just very quickly on the watches business, again.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

That's something, you know, like my colleague just hinted me. One thing which you would see in standalone, in international, I don't know what page you are looking at, but we from the 2025, 2026, although we had a transfer pricing arrangement all through start of international business, but we formalized that from 2025, 2026, where we are treating our all subsidiaries at lowest distributor, and that Titan as a parent company is, in a way, ensuring that a certain amount of basic profit is there. That transfer pricing adjustment in standalone books is about ± INR 80 crore , but in consolidated basis that nullifies because it is between subsidiary and parent. That I just wanted to point out for you as well as all the people who are on the call.

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

I understand. That's very clear. That's why the standalone profitability will look lower.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

Okay.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Yes.

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

Okay. Very clear. Just quickly on the watches one, any, you've given us a sense of how the analog watches have done, but can you give us a sense of what the contribution for the full year is from analog watches now?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Yeah, for the-

Kuruvilla Markose
CEO of Watches Division, Titan Company

Hi, this is Kuruvilla Markose here. Analog watches growth has been around 16% for the year. If you look at both smart and analog put together, because smart reduced in numbers, overall growth has been about 14% for the watches division. You were asking about contribution. What contribution were you looking for?

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

No, just a revenue contribution of analog watches within the overall business or within the watch business itself.

Kuruvilla Markose
CEO of Watches Division, Titan Company

Within overall business.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Within the watch business.

Kuruvilla Markose
CEO of Watches Division, Titan Company

Analog within the watch business.

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

Yes.

Kuruvilla Markose
CEO of Watches Division, Titan Company

Within the watch is around 85%.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

No, 90.

Kuruvilla Markose
CEO of Watches Division, Titan Company

90.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Now 90.

Kuruvilla Markose
CEO of Watches Division, Titan Company

Now closer to 90. Yeah.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

92.

Aditya Soman
Analyst, CLSA

Okay. Very clear. Thank you. That's it from me.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mihir Shah from Nomura. Please go ahead.

Mihir Shah
Analyst, Nomura

Hi, sir. Congrats on a good set of numbers. Thank you for taking my question. First question is on buyer growth. I just wanted to get a sense of what led to the return of buyer growth to 8% versus flat that we've seen for the past nine months. Was it a brief period of stable gold demand that brought it back? Or I'm sure you'll be doing certain activations, et cetera, on diamond. How should one look at the return of buyer growth? Was it more from gold point of view or from activation point of view?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Yeah, thanks. This is Arun Narayan here. Very clearly, we have seen resurgence in buyer growth in quarter four, what we have reported is 8% versus a flattish for the period prior to that. Two clear types of buyers, those who are waiting on the sidelines for to buy pretty much we have seen gold rates go up from festive onwards. Diwali onwards, it's been climbing. There are many customers who were waiting on the sidelines who came in to buy in quarter four. We've also seen an advancement in wedding purchases.

People were anxious that it could go up, even beyond. Those who had, who have weddings in their families, in quarter one also ended up coming in the months of February and March too. It's a mix of both, which has helped. Also we have seen a resurgence in buyer growth on the studded front as well, aided and enabled by the of diamonds, which has been a very, very successful campaign. A very fresh campaign, very different from what we have done in the past. On both sides, we have seen a good buyer growth. Lastly, I think the continued exchange campaign, which we began in the month of, just before, festive really has, you know, worked extremely well.

It helped get buyers in in quarter three. By sustaining it's also helped us to get buyers in quarter four. Now we are running the exchange campaign both as a standalone campaign. You may have seen that a lot of our Tanishq campaigns, which are new collection campaigns, also have an exchange section in the same campaign. In a sense, it's getting reinforced with every campaign that we run.

Mihir Shah
Analyst, Nomura

Understood. Arun, may I request if you can crystal ball gaze on Do you see the sustainability of this? Do you think the exchange program will help us ensure, you know, some level of buyer growth to continue?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

We think so. We think so. We believe so. That's why we are sustaining the investment behind exchange. It's very relevant for wedding buyers. It's also relevant for others who are looking at, you know, updating their collection of jewelry. The sentiment also of the campaign has resonated very well with people because it has a certain public service message and nationalistic angle to it. All in all, we think that, you know, it is a good thing to run, and it will give us rewards even going forward.

Mihir Shah
Analyst, Nomura

Got it. That is clear. That's one. Secondly, wanted to, you know, get your sense on the increase in ticket size that we've been witnessing over the past two quarters of 44 and 43. You know, should one extrapolate this growth given that the gold prices have gone up? Do you think it is a phenomenon again because of, you know, wedding earlier and activation in fourth quarter? Can one expect this at least to continue for, some more time?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Yeah. If you track the gold rate trend of last year, you will see that there have been increases on a consistent basis and a big jump which happened close to Dussehra, and thereafter it is gone up significantly. Therefore, there will be, you know, I mean, in that sense, if you were to compare, let’s say quarter one versus quarter one of last year’s, just the increase in gold rate will give us a certain ticket size benefit in quarter one and quarter two. The second half of the year, we will have to see how the trend of gold actually, you know, how it kind of pans out. Perhaps for the first two quarters, we may see a certain benefit.

Mihir Shah
Analyst, Nomura

Got it. Lastly, on profitability, you know, you have been within the 11.5% band in the TMZ side of the business in domestic. Any confidence on sustaining these levels? I understand this quarter, while it is down year-over-year, but because of the gold diamond activation it will be optically, sequentially better. Ability to sustain these margins, any insights of that will be great.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Ashok here, you know, I think this is completely, I would not say full correlation, but gold price is playing a significant role on the product mix aspect of it. Consequently it is very difficult to tell sustainability. If gold remains at the current rate, it is sustainable. If gold continues to go up, we may have to keep making effort, which has been a huge effort by the team on various things which we have talked in the past, like doing 18 karat, 14 karat jewelry, doing mix reengineering, lightweight jewelry, a lot of things they have been doing. To some extent you can offset that. Beyond a point, you know, there will be impact on margin and that is visible. You know, some 10, 20 basis points we have been kind of losing.

The other thing which we are able to offset sometime through the control of our overhead costs, et cetera, optimizing that. I would not give you a good assurance that this is sustainable. A lot of things are going on, and maybe we will have more informed view to guide a little bit about this. How do we see it, you know, in the context of where growth is number one priority? How do we see it maybe in our Investor Day, which we are planning in June first week? Yeah.

Mihir Shah
Analyst, Nomura

Got it. Understood. Ashok said the gold prices have constantly gone up and you've been able to manage well, and I was, you know, asking in that context only. I hear you and we look forward to, you know, seeing more guidance from you on the first week of June. Thank you. That's all from my side.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Just keep sending your blessings. We will hopefully continue to deliver. Just keep sending your blessings.

Mihir Shah
Analyst, Nomura

Thank you, sir. Wishing you all the very best.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Kunal Vora from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Kunal Vora
Analyst, BNP Paribas

Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Gold price has now stabilized at a fairly high level. How is the consumer managing with the high gold price? What is the behavioral change-Which you are seeing any changes in trends in the exchange or a shift towards lower karat or increase in the jewelry budgets, buying gold coins? What's happening in the market?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Actually all of the above, you know, I think people have started accepting gold at this level and this small cool off that we have seen in the last month or two has also kind of helped to bring people back. There seems to be an acceptance that in the medium to long term it's again going to go back to its trajectory of upward movement. That seems to be the sentiment with consumers. From a brand standpoint, I think we have said we need to make jewelry both exciting as well as accessible. There are a set of things we have done to make it accessible. Exchange is one, 18 karat gold is the other, 14 karat studded jewelry is the third.

Lastly is the jewelry purchase plan that we have, which is a grammage purchase plan, which is ongoing for the last two years, which does a rupee cost averaging by accumulation in grams and not in rupees. Plus the whole lightweight piece where we are trying to get a significant difference in the weight of the jewelry versus the way it looks. Look to price ratio. Multiple things we are doing to make jewelry accessible and exciting as well for customers. Certainly there is interest in the category, which is, you know, what we have seen in quarter four by way of a buyer growth, both in diamonds, studded jewelry and in gold jewelry.

We are also expanding the pie by, you know, by what we have launched also this Akshaya Tritiya, which is an getting, you know, entry into a whole new world of natural gemstone jewelry to make jewelry more exciting and provide collections and stories which have never been seen before. Bunch of things we are doing to keep jewelry and the category exciting and accessible.

Kunal Vora
Analyst, BNP Paribas

Understood. Just a follow-up there. FY 2026 was a strong year for you, and the base will keep getting higher, especially in the second half. Can you share your early thoughts on FY 2027 jewelry sales growth? Also, you mentioned customers might have preponed purchases. Is that a risk for FY 2027? How, let's say, confident are you of, let's say, maintaining the growth rate or let's say this 20% growth which you've been talking about in the past? How doable is that?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Yeah, I think in the past we have said between 15 to 20. In a sense, you know, that holds good and we hope to do that and maybe do a bit better. In a sense, this preponement is, you know, can keep happening, you know, because you can each, at each month you can keep advancing from the future because wedding dates are in a way sustained. It all depends upon the trajectory of gold and what impact that makes on consumer sentiments. We'll, you know, too early to call on that, but we are hopeful to keep to the same guidance we may have given in the past. Whether we will sustain this trajectory, I think, perhaps time will tell.

Kunal Vora
Analyst, BNP Paribas

No, understood. Just lastly, any comments on LGD for a beYon? Would you look to scale it up this year?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Yeah. Like we said in the, you know, earlier, we would certainly like to expand to, you know, around 10 to 12 stores, in two to three cities and then kind of see how that, you know. Because we've done a certain study, we've done a lot of interaction with customers, and we reached a point where we believe that, you know, that it is a twin engine approach to growing adoption, in a very low penetrated, diamond, market, which is India. Our objective currently is very soon to scale up to, you know, the next step of 10 to 12 stores and then kind of see, how that works for us before planning, a national launch. Right now we are looking to get to that point.

We are at two stores currently, and hopefully we'll get a bunch of stores in place, well, in quarter one is itself.

Kunal Vora
Analyst, BNP Paribas

Understood. Thank you. That's it from me.

Operator

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Nihal Mahesh Jham from HSBC Bank. Please go ahead.

Nihal Mahesh Jham
Analyst, HSBC Bank

Yes, hi team. good evening. Couple of questions. The first one was on the 15%-20% growth for next year that you mentioned. Does it say, as you said, depend on the fact of gold prices continuing to sustainably increase, so that also becomes an additional lever for buyer growth? What are the caveats in terms of achieving that number?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Okay. I think this is the general guidance that we have given that we should be able to sustain this kind of a growth irrespective of gold rate, because it's intrinsic to what we, what we kind of try to achieve irrespective of the gold rate. Pretty much the playbook is very simple. If gold rate goes up, then we need to manage the buyer growth to deliver this number and to keep the category, like I said, accessible. In a sense, that's the playbook that we've been following also for the last year or so.

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

I will just add to that. This is Ajoy here.

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Please.

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

The fundamentals of jewelry category and industry formalizing and therefore organized players growing more rapidly. Certainly players with stronger balance sheets as gold price go up, as well as brands which are, you know, providing that trust.

Of course, differentiation. I think that formalization of the industry continues to be a very strong underlying factor for growth. Interest in the category because of its preciousness, and thirdly, the India growth story. Therefore, the 15%-20% is something that we ought to do. You know, if we don't do that much, we won't be doing justice to all these tailwinds. Caveats will always exist in terms of volatility in gold price, macro sentiment, et cetera, but those need to be managed.

Nihal Mahesh Jham
Analyst, HSBC Bank

Got that, Ajoy. Just one follow-up to that, you know, this FY 2023 was an exceptional year. You also mentioned there was a lot of FOMO buying which would have paid off, say, in Q3, maybe in Q4. That kind of a customer obviously would have come in one time or would have upsized the amount he spends. Potentially, if, you know, you don't see that kind of a gold price run up in this current year, maybe that customer goes out. Does that still have any impact on the 15%-20%? Just asking your views on that.

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

See, I think this 15%-20%, whenever we have given, we've never said it for a quarter or for a certain period. It's typically an annualized number and also a kind of a CAGR for the next three, four years, and I would stay with that. Pluses and minuses will happen. Preponement, postponement can keep happening, but that's more noise which happens between month to month, quarter to quarter. Think of it over the next three to five years, what should be the growth. I think India growth story and the formalization of the sector will land you in this space.

Nihal Mahesh Jham
Analyst, HSBC Bank

Got you. Final question, beyond, obviously the mix of gold and diamond which is sort of changing, is there any other pressure on margins in terms of, say, competitive intensity or is just mainly the mix that is leading to the answer?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

No, it's primarily that. nothing else that's in the mix.

Nihal Mahesh Jham
Analyst, HSBC Bank

Sure. Thank you.

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Coins play a role these days because investment-led orientation is high, and that and plain gold and diamond, you know, these are the three broad categories which interplays and impact the margin Jewellery Division.

Nihal Mahesh Jham
Analyst, HSBC Bank

Understood. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management will be able to address all the questions from the participant, we request you to kindly limit your question to two question per participant. If you have a follow-up question, please rejoin the queue. Our next question come from the line of Kaivalya Gawankar from IIFL Capital. Please go ahead.

Percy Panthaki
Analyst, IIFL Capital

Hi, sir. This is Percy Panthaki here. I just wanted to understand on the competitive and margin front for the jewelry business, what is the situation now in terms of competition? Is it still sort of on a year-over-year basis getting more intense in terms of discounting and so on? And on a standalone basis now for the India business, what kind of EBITDA margins are we confident of achieving in FY 2027?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Okay. Thanks, Percy. I'll answer the competition question. I think competition has become business as usual. nothing, you know I think we have shown that we've got a playbook to kind of to deliver sustainable, sustained results. It's not something that we are so concerned about. It's, competition is here to stay. What Ajoy mentioned on formalization is also resulting in organized competition, putting up stores and adding stores across geographies. That's something that is now par for the course. Yeah.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

As far as, you know, margin is concerned, I was answering to the earlier question where I was asked that 11.2% and how much it can sustain. So in a way, you know, we have been focusing on growth, and in the current environment of gold prices, it's very difficult to predict or give you a number that or a small range that within that we will operate. Idea is that if we are growing revenue 15%-20% in the same ballpark, can we grow our EBIT also. At least, you know, a little bit lower than revenue because the structural gold price impacts are happening. We talked about product mix, et cetera. But a healthy growth of EBIT, which would be a source of cash flow and value creation overall.

We will talk maybe more about that, in our Investor Day, that how do we view this, which is going to be in June first week. Okay? Yeah.

Percy Panthaki
Analyst, IIFL Capital

Yeah. On the top line, given, supposing if the gold price remains roughly at INR 150,000 for the rest of the year, on a year-over-year average basis, that would still be a significant inflation. Although not fully, to some partial effect, the gold price inflation typically has a positive effect on the top-line growth. When you are saying a 15%-20% growth, aren't you low-balling the possible growth for FY 2027, given where the gold price is currently?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

We are not low-balling. We said this is the medium to three to five-year horizon if you want to look at.

Percy Panthaki
Analyst, IIFL Capital

Okay.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Growth rate we are expecting. We are not giving any guidance to you for FY 2027. As Arun spoke about quarter one and quarter two may have benefit of this gold price inflation substantially. Quarter three, quarter four already gold price was quite elevated, and it will completely depend-

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

On trajectory from there on.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

This guidance of 15 point 10 20, you look more that we have the way we are running business, the way Indian macros are behaving, we believe 15% to 20%, three to five year kind of horizon is certainly to be delivered on a CAGR basis kind of thing.

Percy Panthaki
Analyst, IIFL Capital

Understood. Very clear, sir. Thank you very much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Niganshu from Bernstein SG. Please go ahead.

Speaker 18

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. I just have one question. A lot of this has already been discussed. Wanted to touch base on CaratLane. The commentary seemed to suggest to me that one of the reasons why the growth sort of slowed from last quarter to this quarter was a preference for higher gold jewelry across customers. And which is why the studded jewelry value proposition for CaratLane had a challenge. This also suggests there is fungibility of gold versus studded or indeed CaratLane versus Tanishq slash Mia. Is this understanding correct? Or is the customer's use case and profile different for these two? How do you think about it structurally?

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

Soumen is there on the line.

Speaker 19

Yeah.

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

Ajoy Soumen, are you there? You want to?

Speaker 19

I'm there. I'm there.

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

Please.

Speaker 19

I'll take. I'll take. Hi, this is Soumen here. I wouldn't, you know, draw that kind of a conclusion by one quarter's, you know, result. I think, if you look at, even the studded sales of Tanishq or even otherwise, I think it has been a good sales, good growth. For CaratLane specifically, among other things, we have grown to the tune of 20%-23%, which is per se not bad. We also had a big, you know, platform-level shift, meaning we moved from our legacy ERP to, you know, Oracle Fusion. That had created some degree of operational challenges, especially in the month of January and first half of February. February month is very critical for CaratLane, because Valentine is our next big month after Diwali.

At some level, we have not been able to fulfill, some of the, you know, demand that were coming to us. I would say this is a bit internal, and this is a part and parcel of any big change that happens in terms of ERP migration. Why am I saying it so confidently? If I look at my December figure or if I look at what we experienced in the month of April, that suggests that this is actually a more of a, you know, blip. Yeah. I wouldn't think there is any significant change in customer preference for, diamond and therefore for, CaratLane.

Speaker 18

Okay. Clear. Just a quick follow-up on margin profile changing for CaratLane and at 8.4% this quarter.

Speaker 19

Yeah.

Speaker 18

Function largely of operating leverage or something else as well?

Speaker 19

It is because the revenue was one big factor. Also we have continued our investment on our campaigns in order to you know, generate a lot more, you know, awareness among customers because we are also present in across 160+ towns. These would be the two factors, but revenue would be the single largest factor for the. For the year, it's almost nearly 10%.

Speaker 18

Yes. Okay. All right. That's it for me. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Siddhant from Goodwill. Please go ahead.

Siddhant Dand
Analyst, Goodwill

First question was about Taneira. What kind of metrics are you targeting till you start opening new stores again? Like, is it some inventory turns, profitability?

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

Hi, this is Ajoy here. I'll take that. On Taneira, I think we are undergoing some kind of a review of the way we are managing the store operating model through a mix of merchandise change, price points, and strengthening the consumer value proposition. Therefore, the metrics we are looking at is twofold. One is, of course, same-store growth, buyer growth. Thirdly, we'll be looking at the stock turns as well as the sell-throughs of product merchandise that has been brought in. These are the top-level pieces that we are tracking. A lot of work is underway to kind of bring in a lot more buyer growth, particularly in the sub 10,000 price band category. Some of that will start showing up in the next few months.

Siddhant Dand
Analyst, Goodwill

That's, that's great to know. About the Damas, just I wanted to understand a little more about the minority stake. You know, because we are converting some Damas stores to Tanishq, how does it work for the minority shareholder? What is the acquisition plan like for the residual stake in three to four years, whenever it is planned? In case it is very successful, you might not want to overpay for it or something like that, right?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

If it is very successful, we are happy to overpay.

You know, it is about four years after that occasion would come where partners can discuss and transact. Some of the retail conversion which are happening in favor of Tanishq in the catchments where Southeast Asian customers are dominant, they are, you know, under a franchisee model with Damas. Minority shareholder interest has been completely protected. Both the partners are in full partnership taking some of these calls for the upliftment of brand equity and everything, what Damas is expected to do for Arab segment.

Siddhant Dand
Analyst, Goodwill

That was good to know. The third question would be, would we expect the momentum at TEAL to continue, and how is the Justech acquisition doing?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

That has done wonderfully well, which is which you can see in the full year result, I think, which we have spoken about. TEAL has good opportunities folding in, unfolding under various domains, and they are a powerhouse of engineering precision manufacturing. Ajoy, you want to add something?

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

I think, the TEAL business has some good, growth, tailwinds or opportunities sitting in front. A lot of India manufacturing coming in, lot of investments, aerospace sector, defense, infrastructure, electronic chips. Manufacturing itself, because of partly government, led incentives, as well as the fact that internationally, many clients are choosing to have a China plus one strategy. Both of these augur very well. The automation business as well, having a lot of opportunities thanks to a lot more, new sectors also emerging, from batteries to EVs to so many other things.

Siddhant Dand
Analyst, Goodwill

Understood. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Ashish Kanodia from.

Speaker 17

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. The first question was on the bullion sales. You know, if I look at on a full year basis, the bullion sales is substantially higher. One, is this bullion sales largely because of the, you know, benefit which we have on the custom duty, which on 1% custom duty, so you're just selling that gold? If that's true, then where is the profit sitting? Is it sitting within the Jewellery EBIT?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

No, this is more, inventory management. We have been running gold exchange program at a very, very successfully. You would have seen our campaign around that from quarter three onwards. Lot of gold we are buying from customers, you know, from their vault, and we don't want to hold it for long, so we continuously keep liquidating that and replacing it when we really need that, volume. There is no 1% angle to this. We are not getting enough quota, you know, from the government to get that 1% thing. You know, it is not at all linked with that.

Speaker 17

Sure.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Actually, you know, there is no, in a way, profit because it is just inventory optimization.

Speaker 17

Clear point, sir. The second question was on the Jewellery EBIT. When I look at on the standalone basis on the reported financials, the Jewellery EBIT is around INR 1,711 crore. When I look at, you know, the revised disclosure of the TMZ business domestic, it's around INR 1,813 crore. There's a difference of around INR 102 crore-INR 103 crore. Please help me correct if I'm wrong here, but this is basically the difference in revenue as well as on the EBIT, absolute EBIT is largely because of the primary sales which happened from India to international. If that's true, why is there suddenly an INR 102 crore loss this quarter versus typically having profit? This is mostly gross margins on the primary sales.

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

That, you know, I spoke about that transfer pricing adjustment of about INR 80 plus crore. That is sitting into the India, international business. That is why you are seeing that loss. Otherwise, this is a new thing, as I spoke sometime during the call, that Titan as a parent company is ensuring that its international subsidiaries who are, who are doing this jewelry business, they are low-risk distributors-

We ensure that they have a minimum profit there. That is sitting there.

Speaker 17

Sure. Maybe I will connect more on this offline. Just last question, I think on the demand side is one, if you can help me understand, I think you talked about the grammage purchase plan which started two years back. One, when did we started seeing the first, you know, like which quarter did we started seeing the, you know, maybe the redemption of the same? Because I think it's typically a one-year phenomena. That's one. Second thing is, this one Q will have Adhik Maas as well. When I look at historical numbers, 2018 we saw some, you know, deceleration in growth because of Adhik Maas. The next year, 2021, because of COVID, et cetera, is not very clear.

2024, we didn't see any impact from a growth point of view. Whatever was the trajectory, it kind of continued. From Adhik Maas point of view, anything to, you know, look at? Or do you think that, you know, there are enough, you know, initiatives the company has taken to mitigate that impact on growth?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Sure. Okay. Thank you for that, for the two questions. Let me answer the first one first. The redemption for the Rivaah Golden Advantage grammage program started from January 2025.

This is at a national level, though the program was run at a pilot level in Tamil Nadu prior to that. January 25 was the national, at a national level is when redemptions began. The second question on Adhik Maas, honestly, you know, we haven't really given it too much thought for me to, you know, answer that. See, there is a lot of seasonality in jewelry purchase. There are months which are auspicious, months which are not auspicious. It pretty much is part of an operating rhythm that we have. Really, we don't, you know, worry too much about this.

Speaker 17

Sure. Thank you and all the best.

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Aliasgar Shakir from Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.

Aliasgar Shakir
Analyst, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund

Yeah, thanks a lot for the opportunity, sir. Just I have onre question on the margin. You know, we've seen margin slightly coming down obviously because of the prices going up and, you know, you also have to offer promotions, discounts to the customer. Now, as you mentioned that Q1, Q2, you know, prices will be high, beyond that, if prices remain at the current level, would we expect the discounts, promotions to now start coming down and therefore in a flattish gold price environment, you know, margins could be better?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

You see, our reference was more from the growth point of view that quarter one, quarter two may have a tailwind of differential gold rate compared to last year quarter one to this quarter one. Quarter three, quarter four might be much more closer if gold prices doesn't go further up. You know, if at all they go further up, then again something may happen. It was more from the growth point of view than the margin point of view, you know, our response there. I think the margin pressures are more coming from the product mix aspect, not as much as the discount which happens, you know, which we have activations. I don't think we have kind of, doubled down on that in a very, very big manner.

Exchange program, of course, exchange program does have an investment and which is kind of helping us a lot in growth, in getting buyers and all those stuff. We are quite comfortable in continuing with that.

Aliasgar Shakir
Analyst, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund

Okay. Just, to, you know, I mean, further, you know, persist on this point that if at all the gold prices remain stable, do you think, there is any possibility of improvement either from the point of view of also mix or maybe whatever activations you may be doing to, you know, increase customer intensity?

Ashok Sonthalia
CFO, Titan Company

Sustainability of margin would become far easier if gold rate remains where it is, and then we will see whether there is opportunity to improve or what. Sustainability would certainly become far easier.

Aliasgar Shakir
Analyst, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund

Got it. Okay. Thank you very much. Very useful.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question come from the line of Tejash Shah from Spark Capital. Please go ahead.

Tejash Shah
Analyst, Spark Capital

Yeah. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Sir, just wanted to Based on the current trends and data available, what would be our assessment of the market share movement this year in jewelry?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Okay. Thank you for that question, Tejash. Our sense is that perhaps we have gained about 50 to 60 basis points is our sense on FY 2026 versus FY 2025.

Tejash Shah
Analyst, Spark Capital

Perfect. Sir, second, if we have to look, the opportunity here in jewelry from a consumer wallet share perspective, based on my rough calculation, we would have added, the sector would have added roughly INR 4 lakh crore kind of, size in last foue to five years. Which is sizable if we compare with many other, discretionary categories. How should we think about this number? The denominator is not only consumption basket, but it is dipping into investment basket of the consumer as well. Perhaps looking from consumer lens could be not the right way or the only way to understand. Just wanted your perspective.

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

I think it's a bit of a complex question. Better to, you know, discuss it in person when we are meeting just few weeks from now. This is the honest answer. Difficult to answer that over a call. There are multiple customers, multiple need states. The whole investment buying has really, you know, peaked in the last few years. That may not have been in the case between 2012 and 2019 when gold was very stable. Yeah. We'll have to look at it by need state and, maybe good to catch up in person perhaps or do it over-

Tejash Shah
Analyst, Spark Capital

Sure.

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

An Investor Meet few weeks from now.

Tejash Shah
Analyst, Spark Capital

I will park it for then, sir. Thanks a lot and all the best.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question come from the line of Utkarsh Sinha from an individual investor. Please go ahead.

Utkarsh Sinha
Shareholder, Private Investor

Actually, I wanted to understand that given the sharp increase in gold prices of the gold jewelry category, can you paint us a picture of how the demand trends progressed across January, February, March, particularly this quarter?

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

I think gold price increase has actually created more interest in the category, is my sense. This is Ajoy Chawla. It's not just for investment demand, but even for jewelry demand, gold as well as studded. I think Arun Narayan shared that how people have requirements for wedding, people have requirements for adornment. I think the interest in the precious jewelry category has had got heightened with the high gold prices and across segments, young, old, modern, traditional.

Operator

Mr. Sinha, are you done with your question?

Utkarsh Sinha
Shareholder, Private Investor

Yeah. I guess there was a tradition. No, yeah, I guess we could. Thank you, sir.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Devanshu Bansal from Emkay Global. Please go ahead.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Yes, sir. Hi. Thanks for the follow-up opportunity. Sir, I wanted to check on this new gemstone-based Hues collection that they have launched. What is the strategic rationale behind this launch? Is it also an attempt to address the current challenges at entry-level price points, or is it to address a relatively slower growth in the studded segment? Second sub-question is how is the margin profile for this line of jewelry within line with the studded jewelry?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that question, and also thank you for noting this new development from our side. It's an effort to grow the category. So far the category has been seen through the lens of coins, gold jewelry, and studded jewelry. We are adding a new dimension to it, of natural gemstones with gold, and therefore attempting to create another engine of growth for us. There are, you know, the category is a very, very, let's say, the category's penetration for gold is extremely high in India, and we are seeing that over the last few years the design seeker in the category is growing by leaps and bounds, in addition to the value seeker who's there to get, you know, the best value for their hard-earned money.

The design seeker in the category is looking for new expressions in gold jewelry, and we are adding a dimension to it by adding natural gemstones. Natural gemstones is a completely different world where there are multiple types of natural gemstones from different parts of the world which can be embellished in gold to create a whole new range of jewelry. That's what we are aiming to do with this. Hues is just the first attempt or first collection, and there'll be many more coming up in this. You know, we are not approaching it from a margin standpoint or from any other standpoint, but we are only approaching it from creating a new dimension and ensuring that the category in which we operate stays exciting.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Understood, sir. Small follow-up. If you could highlight the price range for this collection. As in, is it at entry-level price points or more towards the premium price points?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Yeah. We have about 200 styles, 50% of which is between about INR 40,000 and INR two and a half lakhs.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Okay. This may help us.

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

It goes up to about INR 10 lakhs. That's the overall range.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Understood. This may help us sort of address the challenges that we have been seeing at entry-level price points as well then?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

It is seeming to do that as well. Yeah, it is seeming to do that as well. Very wearable jewelry that you can wear every day. It's not stuff that you buy and keep, you know, keep it in the locker. That's also the direction in which we are moving to have a greater part of the excitement also in wearable daily wear jewelry. It's certainly helping in that in that end level.

Devanshu Bansal
Analyst, Emkay Global

Got it, sir. Thanks for the opportunity.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Priyanka Dhingra from SBI Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.

Priyanka Dhingra
Analyst, SBI Mutual Fund

Okay, sir. I just wanted to understand from the IC business perspective, there were 20 stores which were net closed in the quarter. Of course, the EBIT margin is also from a YoY basis a little suppressed. I am just trying to understand that despite the premiumization and the store optimization that we are doing, why are the EBIT margins going down, and what are the plans to further improve this category?

Speaker 20

Thank you, Priyanka. This is Raghu here. The store closures is a part of revamping the look and feel of our network. There is a reason you see almost 32 store closures and the net being at 20. That is to enhance the overall appeal. In terms of the EBIT, I think our focus is on growing the top line revenue. If you look at the revenue growth, now we are clocking almost a 16%-17% growth. However, this was also supported by increased marketing spends. Also we had a one-off inventory recall where we recalled certain stocks which we believe were slow movers. These are the reasons for that.

Priyanka Dhingra
Analyst, SBI Mutual Fund

Okay. Got it, sir. The second question I wanted to ask was about beYon, the LGD platform. I understand that at this point of time maybe sharing separate numbers will may not be possible. How was the, let's say, the Valentine's period sale for beYon, and do you see kind of parity between CaratLane or let's say, Mia versus beYon? Do you think that the footfalls are increasing? If you could give us some color around beYon?

Arun Narayan
CEO, Jewellery Division, Titan Company

Sure. Thank you for this question on beYon. It's just one store, so, you know, it would be incorrect to extrapolate on a sample size of one. We have seen good traction even in beYon during the Valentine's period this year. Nothing that we are seeing which is very different from what we are seeing in natural diamonds. Do allow us to open few more stores and have more data points to, you know, to answer that with more rigor.

Priyanka Dhingra
Analyst, SBI Mutual Fund

Sure. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. As there are no further question from the participant, I would like to hand the conference over to Mr. Chawla for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Ajoy Chawla
Managing Director, Titan Company

Thank you. Thank you everyone once again for a very engaging and interesting conversation. Thanks for all your questions. They make us think, and look forward to seeing you soon in the next few weeks. Till then, take care. Bye. Have a good Friday and a weekend.

Operator

Thank you so much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Titan Company Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining, and have a good day.

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