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Boby Kurian

Bangalore , June 27

TITAN Industries Ltd, the country's largest watchmaker, is considering extension of its brand, Fastrack, to the personal accessories space of the consumer electronics market. The plan is at an early stage, as Titan looks to push one of its key brands for the future into new categories.

"We are looking at extending Fastrack to the consumer electronics business - into the personal accessories domain of that market," Mr Bijou Kurien, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Titan Industries Ltd, told Business Line. "We could look at youth accessories such as MP3 player or an I-Pod, but the plan is only at a conception stage," Mr Kurien added.

The Fastrack brand is already extended to sunglasses, which is expected to throw up Rs 25 crore in revenue in the current financial year. The brand is expected to generate over Rs 50 crore from its mainstay watch business in the ongoing year, taking the overall brand sales to Rs 75 crore. The company has catapulted Fastrack to the status of an independent brand, by disconnecting the chord of the house brand Titan. The company's watch and accessories operation now has three independent brands in Fastrack and Sonata, besides Titan.

The Rs 1,100-crore company also runs a separate jewellery retail business under the brand Tanishq. Mr Kurien said the company would go in for outsourced manufacturing when it extends the Fastrack brand into the consumer electronics space.

Three years ago, Titan, taking cue of the changing demographic profile of the wristwatch customers and the seeping market segmentation in the business, positioned Fastrack as the "fashionable face" of the house brand, raising it to the status of a sub-brand targeted at the youth. It had then predicted Fastrack to show up with revenues of Rs 100 crore "within two to three years".

The company, which is free of the hassles of the losses incurred by the European operations, and with its jewellery business scaling up profitability, is poised to support the Fastrack brand, one of its critical growth engines, in a more sustainable way.

It recently re-launched Fastrack with a whole new product range of watches priced between Rs 500 and Rs 2,000.

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