Bengaluru: High gold prices briefly slowed demand for plain gold jewellery towards the end of July as consumers waited for prices to settle, but overall business remained positive, Titan managing director Ajoy Chawla said on Friday.
“July also is not bad,” Chawla said during the company’s post-results analyst call, adding that he was seeing “a certain positivity” over the past four months. Demand picked up over the past two to three days as consumers returned to the market.
Demand had been temporarily affected for around three weeks in May after the government raised customs duty on gold and because of Adhik Maas, an extra lunar month in the Hindu calendar that occurs roughly every 2.5-3 years, during which many people traditionally avoid auspicious events such as weddings and major purchases.
Consumer sentiment recovered at the start of June as weddings resumed, and Titan believes most purchases deferred in May were made up in June.
That recovery took consolidated revenue from operations in April-June up by 20% year-on-year (y-o-y) to ₹21,356 crore, slightly below the Bloomberg consensus estimate of ₹21,451 crore. Net profit rose 63% to ₹1,777 crore, beating the estimate of ₹1,396 crore.
The jewellery business remained the main growth driver, with income — excluding bullion and digital gold—rising 43% to ₹18,253 crore. Domestic jewellery income increased 38% to ₹16,943 crore, while Tanishq, Mia and Zoya together grew 38% to ₹15,502 crore. CaratLane rose 40% to ₹1,441 crore, and international jewellery income surged 136% to ₹1,309 crore.
Jewellery buyer growth was around 5% during the quarter, while both plain and studded jewellery continued to grow. Chawla said the recovery in studded jewellery, which began in the fourth quarter of FY26, continued into the June quarter.
Chawla said the company has significant room to expand as India’s jewellery market becomes more organised, consumer spending rises and customers move towards premium products.
Titan is focusing on regional expansion, higher-value studded jewellery, stronger brands, better stores and a wider product range. Chawla said Titan’s market share remains in the single digits, leaving room for further gains.
With gold prices remaining high, Titan is using lightweight jewellery and exchange schemes to keep purchases affordable. Chawla said transactions involving gold exchange account for more than 50% of the jewellery business. The unusually high exchange activity seen during the May slowdown has since normalised.
On profitability, Titan received a ₹407 crore benefit from the increase in customs duty on gold during the quarter. Of this, ₹386 crore came from the Tanishq, Mia and Zoya portfolio and ₹21 crore from CaratLane. Management said the benefit will gradually reverse over the next two to three quarters as the related inventory is sold.
Titan also benefited from differences between domestic and international gold prices, which added about 75-80 basis points to the jewellery margin. This benefit is also expected to reverse over the coming quarters. A hundred basis points are equivalent to 1%.
After adjusting for these temporary benefits, the normalised margin for the Tanishq, Mia and Zoya business was 10.9%. Management said around 11% should be viewed as the jewellery business’s normal margin level rather than a fixed quarterly target.
Lower-carat jewellery, sourcing changes and other margin initiatives are expected to contribute more strongly in the second half of the year. A shift towards studded jewellery could also improve the product mix, while growth in gold-coin sales is expected to moderate from recent highs.
The international business remains a weak spot because of the war in West Asia. Management said Damas, which was not loss-making when Titan acquired it, has been hit as jewellery purchases in Dubai, Saudi Arabia and other markets have fallen amid the conflict. Excluding Damas, Titan expects its international jewellery portfolio to continue generating margins of around 5-6%, with the overall international business remaining profitable. Damas’ recovery will depend on the geopolitical situation.