In its quarterly update for Q3 FY 2019-20, Titan Company Limited detailing the overall situation said: “The general economic slowdown in the economy leading to poor consumer sentiment and lower walk-ins has been a concern for the last few quarters.”

As a result, the Company said, it “experienced different consumer responses” in each of its divisions.

However, retail sales in jewellery were reported to be better than expected at the beginning of the quarter. This, Titan said, was “possibly due to a good wedding season and reasonable inelasticity of wedding jewellery”.

Titan said that the jewellery  industry as a whole witnessed “reasonable growth” in the festive season this year; and the company itself did better, while also gaining market share.

“The division met its revised expectations for the quarter,” Titan noted. “While the revenue growth for quarter is 11%, the retail growth was actually much better at 15% (the base quarter, Q3'19, had a large institutional order for gold coins of ~INR 200 cr).”

Titan said that during the year, the division added 34 Tanishq stores, eight Mia stores for the year to date on net basis, with a retail space addition of about  117,000 sq. ft.  

Other sections like its Watches and Eyewear divisions found growth to be elusive.

“Sales in all divisions in the second half of December were also impacted to some extent due to forced store closures due to the protests in the North East and in many other parts of the country,” Titan said.

 Titan also noted that CRISIL has upgraded its rating on the long-term bank facility of the Company to 'CRISIL AAA/Stable’ from ‘CRISIL AA+/Positive’. Also,  BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) has included Titan Company in its benchmark stock index with effect from Dec. 23, 2019.