Titan close to acquiring stake in Caratlane.com

Tata Group company Titan, which already enjoys strong presence in jewellery business, is said to be finalizing an investment of about 30 million dollars (over Rs 186 crores) in popular jewellery portal Caratlane.com. Sources suggest that the deal would fetch valuation of Rs 1,200 crores to Caratlane. Interestingly, after his retirement from the group, Ratan Tata has invested in another online jewellery portal BlueStone in his personal capacity.

Earlier in October 2014, the company got an investment boost by Tiger Global, when it was valued at Rs 750 crores. Tiger Global invested around 31 million dollars (over Rs 192 crores) in the company. Other stakeholders in CaratLane include Srinivasa Gopalan, CEO of Lister Technologies, Mithun Sacheti and his brother.

Titan’s jewellery business, the highest revenue contributor with its chain Tanishq, reported total revenue rise of 11 percent in the December quarter, over the same period last year. Total jewellery volumes grew 25 percent. Excluding gold coins, jewellery volume growth was 11 percent and jewellery business Ebit increased by 12.5 percent.