Titan-Montblanc to invest Rs 250 crores in next five years

Titan and global luxury company Maison Montblanc, who have entered into a joint venture to open Montblanc retail outlets, will invest Rs 250 crores in the next five years. They will take the store count to 50 by 2020-2021. The stores will be spread out in 40 cities. The JV plans to spend around Rs 5 crore on each store they open. The move to open stores comes more than a year after the Rs 11,791 crores company got a nod from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to open stores under the single-brand retail investment policy in India. For Montblanc, it is a second coming to India. Previously, since the 1990s, it used to sell its products through a distribution arrangement with ex-cricketer Dilip Doshi’s company Entrack International.

In New Delhi, already three stores have been opened. Other two stores are in Mumbai and Pune. Three more will be added by the end of this fiscal. The joint venture will tap cities like Chandigarh, Bhopal, Surat, Kochi, Lucknow and Patna. The boutique sells writing instruments which are priced between Rs 22,000 and Rs 6.50 lakh and watches priced between Rs 1.15 lakh and Rs 7.50 lakh. It also sells jewellery, leather products and travel bags. Bhaskar Bhat, managing director, Titan believes that this is the right time for such standalone boutiques as Indians are now getting into luxury product buying.

Titan is a joint venture between Tata Group and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.