Titan Company Limited

Devanshu Bansal

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Ashok Sonthalia

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Ashok Sonthalia

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Arun Narayan

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Mihir Shah

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Mihir Shah

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Mihir Shah

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Ashok Sonthalia

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Mihir Shah

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Kunal Vora

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Again, we have seen that like my colleague just hinted me one thing which you would see in standalone, I don't know what page you are looking at, although we had a transfer pricing arrangement from the start of international business, we formalized that from ‘25-26, where we are now treating our all subsidiaries as low-risk distributor.

— Ashok Sonthalia

And consequently, it is very difficult to tell sustainability.

— Ashok Sonthalia

beYon, 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 uncertainties?

— Nihal Mahesh Jham

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.

— Ashok Sonthalia

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 Jewelelry across customers, and which is why the studded Jewellery value proposition for CaratLane had a challenge.

— Jignanshu

That is why you are seeing that loss and 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 Jewellery business, they are low risk distributors, and we ensure that they have a minimum profit there.

— Ashok Sonthalia

It's difficult to answer that over a call, but there are multiple customers, multiple need states.

— Arun Narayan

Q

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 delay in the renewal of import licenses by DGFT. I am checking if you could provide some color on the current inventory levels as well as any increasing costs related to sourcing that you foresee in the near term.

Ashok Sonthalia

Hi, Devanshu. Ashok here. While, yes, some of those slowness, we are also picking up from the customs point of view, but we are pretty much quite covered for Quarter 1. And also our gold exchange program is very, very successfully being run from the last Quarter 3 onwards, actually. We always used to run this, but now we have another level of another short notice we can, kind of, if required, further ratchet it. And some of the other plan Bs are also ready. So, we are at least not concerned in the short term as far as gold supply is concerned. For Titan, Tanishq and Caratlane perspective. Got

Q

Hi, thanks for the opportunity. So, actually two follow-up questions. So, you said a lot of that ₹82 crores loss was not in Damas. So, that could be for Titan's Middle East businesses. Is that the right assumption?

Ashok Sonthalia

Yes, you are right. Okay. And which is why it's showing up in the standalone numbers, right? No, it will not show in the standalone. It is the international subsidiary. It is showing there. Okay. In the international subsidiary. All right. And this ₹120 crores, this is not I mean, the reason it's an unallocated loss is because it's not attributable to any specific item. So, it wouldn't be like a payment to the franchisees, right? So, this is just bonuses to employees or other partners, or would this also include payment to franchises? No, it is not payment to franchisees. It is mostly employee

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Congrats on a good set of numbers. Thank you for taking my question. So, 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 have seen for the past nine months. Was it a brief period of stable gold demand that brought it back or I am sure you'll be doing certain activations, etc. on diamond. So, 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

Yes, thanks. This is Arun Narayan here. So, very clearly, we have seen resurgence in buyer growth in Quarter 4 and what we have reported is 8% versus a flattish for the period prior to that. Now, two clear types of buyers, those who are waiting on the sidelines to buy and pretty much we have seen gold rates go up from festive onwards, festive onwards, it's been climbing. And there are many customers who were waiting on the sidelines who came in to buy in Quarter 4. And we have also seen an advancement in wedding purchases because people were anxious that it could go up even beyond. And those w

Q

Thanks for the opportunity. Gold price is now stabilizing 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 exchange or shift towards lower carat or increase in the Jewelry budgets, buying gold coins? What is happening in the market?

Arun Narayan

Yes. Actually, all of the above. Because 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. Because 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 Jewellery both exciting as well as accessible. So, there are a set of things we have done to make it accessible. Exchange is one. 18-carat g

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

Arun Narayan

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 kind of try to achieve irrespective of the gold rate. And 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. So, in a sense, that's the playbook that we have been following also for the last year or so. I will just add to that. This is Ajoy here. See, the fundamentals of jewellery category and the ind

Q

Hi, Sir. This is Percy Panthaki here. I just wanted to understand on the competitive and margin front for the Jewellery business, what is the situation now in terms of competition? Is it still sort of on a YoY 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 FY27?

Arun Narayan

Thanks, Percy. I will answer the competition question. I think competition now has become business as usual. Nothing and I think we have shown that we have got a playbook to kind of, to deliver sustainable, sustained results. So, it is not something that we are so concerned about. And that competition is here to stay. And what Ajoy mentioned on formalization is also resulting in organized competition, putting up stores and adding stores across geographies. So, that is something that is now par for the course. And as far as margin is concerned, I was answering to the earlier question where I wa

Q

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 Jewelelry across customers, and which is why the studded Jewellery value proposition for CaratLane had a challenge. This almost suggests there is fungibility of gold versus studded or indeed CaratLane versus Tanishq/Mia. Is this understanding correct or is the customer's use case and profile different

Ashok Sonthalia

Saumen is there on the line. Saumen, are you there? I am there. I am there. Hi, this is Saumen here. I would not draw that kind of a conclusion by one quarter's result. And 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 22%-23%, which is per se not bad. But we also had a big platform level shift. We moved from our legacy ERP to Oracle Fusion. That had created some degree of operational challenges, especially in the month of January and first h

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

Ajoy Chawla

Yes, hi. This is Ajoy here. I will 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. And therefore, the metrics we are looking at is twofold. One is, of course, same-store growth, buyer growth. And thirdly, we will be looking at these 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. And a lot of work is underway to kind of bring

Q

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

Ashok Sonthalia

No, this is more inventory management. We have been running gold exchange program very, very successfully. You would have seen our campaign around that from Quarter 3 onwards. And a lot of gold we are buying from customers 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 from the government to get that 1% thing. So, it is not at all linked with that. And actually, there is no in a way profit because it is just inventory optimization.

Q

Yes, thanks a lot for the opportunity, Sir. So, just have one question on the margin. So, we have seen margin slightly coming down, obviously, because of the prices going up. And you also have to offer promotions, discounts to the customer. Now, as you mentioned that Q1, Q2 prices will be high. But 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, your margins could be better?

Ashok Sonthalia

You see, our reference was more from the growth point of view that Quarter 1, Quarter 2 may have a tailwind of differential gold rate compared to last year, Quarter 1 to this Quarter 1. And Quarter 3, Quarter 4 might be much more closer if gold prices doesn't go further up. But if at all they go further up, then again, something may happen. So, it was more from the growth point of view than the margin point of view our response is that. And I think the margin pressures are more coming from the product mix aspect, not as much as the discount, which happens which we have activations. And I don't

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Yes. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. So, just wanted to know, based on the current trends and data available, what would be our assessment of the market share moment this year in Jewellery?

Arun Narayan

Okay. Thank you for that question, Tejas. Our sense is that perhaps we have gained about 50 to 60 bps is our sense on FY26 versus FY25. Perfect. So second, if we have to look the opportunity here in Jewellery from consumer wallet share perspective, based on my rough calculation, the sector would have added roughly ₹4 lakh crores kind of size in last four or five years, which is sizeable if we compare with many other discretionary categories. So, how should we think about this number or the denominator is not only consumption basket, but it is dipping into investment basket of the consumer as w

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Actually, I wanted to understand that given the sharp increase in gold prices or the gold volatility, can you give us a picture of how the demand trends progressed across Jan, Feb, March, particularly in this quarter?

Ajoy Chawla

I think gold price increase has actually created more interest in the category is my sense. This is Ajoy Chawla. And it's not just for investment demand or even for Jewellery demand. Gold as well as studded. I think Arun shared that how people have requirements for wedding, people have requirements for adornment. I think the interest in the Precious Jewellery category has got heightened with the high gold prices and across segments, young, old, modern, traditional. Moderator; Mr. Sinha, are you done with your question? Yes, just thank you, Sir.

Q

Thanks for the follow-up opportunity. Sir, I wanted to check on this new gemstone-based ‘Hues’ collection that we 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 relatively slower growth in the studded segment? And second sub-question is, how is the margin profile for this line of Jewellery? Is it in line with the Studded Jewellery?

Arun Narayan

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 Jewellery, and Studded Jewellery. We are adding a new dimension to it of natural gemstones with gold and therefore attempting to create another engine of growth for us. 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'

Q

So, I just wanted to understand from the EyeCare business perspective, there were 20 stores which were net closed in the quarter. And of course, the EBIT margin is also from a YoY basis, a little suppressed. So, 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?

Raghavan N S

Thank you, Priyanka. This is Raghavan here. So, the store closures is a part of revamping the look and feel of our network. So, this is a journey which we undertook for the past one and a half years. And there is a reason you see almost 32 store closures and the net being at 20. So, that is to enhance the overall appeal. In terms of the EBIT, I think our focus is on growing the top line Revenue. And if you look at the Revenue growth, now we are clocking almost a 16% to 17% growth. However, this was also supported by increased marketing spends. And also, we had a one-off inventory recall where

Q

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.

Management