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Our Bureau

A First Citizen showroom in Coimbatore, which was opened recently.

Coimbatore , Feb. 4

CITIZEN Watches (India) Ltd is not looking at the option of having its own production facility in India at present since the quality of components it needs to make watches here do not meet its specifications.

The company, which opened its 16th exclusive franchisee showroom, styled `First Citizen', in the country in Coimbatore this week, plans to have 100 such showrooms in the next five years, according to Mr Hideaki Nakazaki, Managing Director, Citizen Watches (India) Ltd.

The company also market its watches through the multi-brand outlets and the goal is to have 500 multi-brand showrooms known as `Citizen Corner' in the country.

He said the Eco Drive watches launched recently, have been well received.

Cautioning against the ill effects of the discarded watch batterieson the country's eco system in the years to come, he said his company wanted to promote eco friendly watches in India as it had done in Japan and other countries.

Answering a question, he said Citizen was selling 2 lakh units in India annually and the company registered a 30 per cent annual growth in the past few years both in terms of number of units sold and in terms of value and he expected this momentum to be sustained.

Citizen's market share in its price segment was around 40 per cent.

Mr Nakazaki said the company at present has no plans to set up assembly facility in India since it was very difficult to get high quality components.

In future, if quality components are available, the company might look at setting up a facility in India, he said.

The company wanted to focus on the higher-end models in the Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 price band. With income levels rising, he expected the demand for the high-value watches to go up in future.

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