India's New Rich Fuel Expansion For Tata's Jewelry Arm

"There is a lot of latent demand for luxury from India and high net-worth individuals are going to explode," Ajoy Chawla, the chief executive officer of the jewelry division at Titan Co., said in an interview.

India's expected surge of rich consumers is driving the jewelry unit of Indian conglomerate Tata Group to triple its Zoya-branded stores by 2027.

"There is a lot of latent demand for luxury from India and high net-worth individuals are going to explode," Ajoy Chawla, the chief executive officer of the jewelry division at Titan Co., said in an interview. "This is just the beginning for luxury."

Titan, India's biggest jeweler, gets about 90% of its revenue from the sale of jewelry and the rest from watches, eyewear and perfumes. It has four jewelry brands under its umbrella: flagship Tanishq, working women-focused Mia, online sales portal Caratlane, and Zoya, which is aimed at rich customers.

Expanding the number of Zoya stores to 15 in the next five years would cost about 300 million rupees ($3.64 million) per boutique, Chawla said. Revenues at the brand have climbed as much as five times from pre-pandemic sales figures, and the company expects this "aggressive pace" of growth to continue, he said.