Titan Company Unfazed About Gold Supply in Short Term as Exchange Programmes Aid Sourcing

Leading branded jeweller maker Titan Company is unconcerned about short-term gold supply issues due to West Asia conflict as its gold exchange programme and contingency sourcing plans are helping mitigate risks.

Titan, whose FY26 topline crossed Rs 75,000 crore, said the company's gold exchange programme has been running successfully since the third quarter and it has further strengthened sourcing flexibility for its jewellery businesses.

"...our gold exchange programme is very, very successfully being run from the last quarter three onwards. We always used to run this but now we have another level," CFO Ashok Sonthalia said while responding to a query around gold supply.

He said the company has measures in place to respond to any supply-related challenges if required."On a short notice we can, if required, further ratchet it. Some of the other Plan Bs are also ready," he said.

"We are at least not concerned in the short term as far as gold supply is concerned for Titan, Tanishq and CaratLane," said Sonthalia.

The industry sources a considerable part of gold from the Middle East, and there were reports of a delay in the renewal of import licences by the government.

There was some slowness on the customs front which is picking up and "we are pretty much quite covered for quarter 1," he said.

Besides, Titan doesn't see any increase in cost in gold loan at least in the short term as tenure has been increased from 180 to 270 days, Sonthalia added.

Replying to another query, Titan CEO - Jewellery Division, Arun Narayan said now it is running the exchange campaign as a standalone campaign, particularly for Tanishq.

"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," he said.

The company expects the exchange programme to continue supporting buyer growth, especially among wedding customers and consumers looking to refresh jewellery collections.

"The sentiment 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 it is a good thing to run, and it will give us rewards even going forward," he added.

Tanishq offers a comprehensive gold exchange programme designed to help customers swap old, worn-out, or unused gold for new jewellery designs According to Narayan, Titan reported an 8 per cent buyer growth in the fourth quarter, compared with a flattish trend in the previous period, as customers who had deferred purchases amid rising gold prices returned to stores.

"Gold rates have gone 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," he said.

He added that wedding purchases were also advanced as consumers anticipated further increases in gold prices.

"Those 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," Narayan said.

Besides plain gold jewellery, Titan witnessed improved buyer growth in studded jewellery, aided by a successful diamond campaign.

Over the high gold prices, Narayan said consumers have gradually started accepting elevated gold prices, while a recent cooling-off in rates has encouraged buyers to return to stores.

"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 bring people back," he said.

According to him, consumers expect gold prices to continue their upward trajectory over the medium to long term, which has supported purchase sentiment.

"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," Narayan added.

Titan on Friday reported 35.36 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs 1,179 crore for the March quarter of FY26. Its sales surged 48.28 per cent to Rs 20,607 crore.