The Titan stock is sitting at a record high and has moved almost 20 percent higher in just the last month.

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Ajoy Chawla, CEO of the jewellery division at Titan, on Monday, said that recovery is likely to be slow, but green shoots have started to emerge for the industry after the COVID second wave enforced restrictions hit their business hard in the first quarter of the financial year 2022. Chawla also gave the outlook and demand picture as the country has just started to ease restrictions after a dip in daily cases.

Speaking in an interview with CNBC-TV18, Chawla said, “We are just about beginning to unlock over the last few weeks, so many markets are still shut. A few states have opened for about 2-3 weeks and a few more opened in the last 10-12 days. So it’s still early days, but expectedly it will be a slower recovery but there are some green shoots as well.”

The bet on revival is dependent on the wedding jewellery business which has seen a lull in the last few months and overall too since the pandemic began.

“Last year also we were confident that wedding demand will get deferred, it won’t go away and we saw coming in a big way in the second half of the year. This year also we expect the same. We believe wedding demand will be there, so we are very confident. Therefore, pent-up demand for weddings is there but when it will materialise is difficult to say,” he explained.

The company's overall market share is at 5-6 percent from 4 percent two years back. “Our overall market share continues to be in 5-6 percent mark; a few years back it was perhaps 4 percent mark. We think we are gaining market share because we are seeing a good proportion of new customers who are coming in,” said Chawla.

Elaborating on the challenges for the industry he said that a lot of independent jewellers are under stress financially.

He added, "Organised players like us, where the trust factor is high and safety protocols for the highest order, give a lot of people more confidence,"

The company is focusing on lightweight jewellery as home budgets will take time to rise..

For the entire management interview, watch the video

(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)