Bhaskar Bhat : Titan came to me isn't it a little presumptuous of me to say Titan came to me Titan was conceived and incubated in tata press Limited at that time our joint venture with TITCO had not yet been signed the name Titan watches limited had not yet been coined there was something called the MRTP act which was you know monopolies and restrictive Trade Practices Act it was called
Rahul Pandey : Okay
Bhaskar Bhat : One program ramayan if you were on you can access 143 million customers on that morning of you know the RAM and showcasing and you spend some 2 and half lakhs for 30 seconds or something like that a world class manufacturing facility was made then in Hosur that is we will not do screwdriver technology we will set up a proper industrial facility in Hosur
Rahul Pandey : I mean I remember and I've heard from so many places early 2000 when you become the managing director of this organization at a very early age so and your episode of thinking big from the first day interaction with Mr Desai to you become the managing director how I mean what difficulties that did you really go through and in a way how did you carry forward that that thinking big part
Bhaskar Bhat : I can't say that I had a planned approach to it I must say that the the culture that had been built of openness and transparency at that time so we got together on the first day in a room and I remember you know telling people look a I am not Mr Desai I can never be Mr Desai so I am not the Visionary kind of leader that he is and but we still have to carry on yeah all those things that we have benefited from in the early stages of this company it was actually 15 years after launch which is 87 was the launch of Titan 2002 was when Mr Desai retired so he had already been at the helm of Affairs for 15 years so the in a way the culture had been set of innovation and thinking big thinking different differentiation how to carry it on because also we realize that we can't be a person dependent company yeah and I remember saying that look from today you know actually you guys are best at doing whatever you do you
Bhaskar Bhat : Know Finance best you know watch is best and jewelry best etc etc so please continue doing the only role I think I can play and I can play it well is when if and when the hits the fan count me into clean it you know now I believe I mean one is it comes kind of naturally to me but I think there is a much later I think it dawned on me that that is an important role that somebody who considers himself above a manager and wants to be a leader yeah then you have to be able to do the difficult ones yourself you know because functional
Bhaskar Bhat : Expertise business expertise is with people in the company if you recruit well but leadership is a little beyond that I felt at least my version of it so the hitting the fan is and staying in front during difficult time this is not like you know in the trenches the general should lead all that I'm not talking like that in business it is during difficult situations when it is easy to pass the blame on and let that hit somebody behind you versus if you believe that it is the company which made that person do whatever he had to do then the
Bhaskar Bhat : Leader has to step up you understand and the belief that it was done for the benefit of the company and not for personal benefit so that was one part but we we realized that the only way we could continue the legacy of thinking big and Innovation was not only way one of the ways was let's all do it together you know that is collectively let us ensure that this Behavior continues in the company so 2002 we faced some significant problems in business because we had a very weak balance sheet and yet we wanted we had some assets like Brands
Rahul Pandey :Yeah
Bhaskar Bhat : People wonderful money was not an asset for us it was a liability nevertheless we said we will do it all together so in 2002 there was some correction we had to carry out VRSand there was a relationship between the company and the employees union which is not the healthiest at that time so we had to drive some cost cutting measures and we had to do a VRS of a different kind but it led to some unrest and a lockout and so on but during that period the whole leadership team stood together not as against the employees union yeah it was seen as management versus Union but what turned out both the VRS payments that we made as well as the back pay that we gave to the employees after the strike after the lockout
Bhaskar Bhat : Established trust that that what these guys told were their problems were real problems okay yet they paid us and from then I think we've had a great relationship in the sense we had been telling people that you are very valuable and we continue that you know to say you're valuable when you recruit them and then when you tell them we are May we'll give you only so much that means you're not sticking by your words so I think trust got built in that period and ever since we've had a great relationship with in fact there's no employee union versus management yes contractually there is a a cont but I think even today last two three settlements it's sitting together and putting the problem in the middle and say look we have high cost or work practices etc etc so let's solve the problem together not about we versus them or they versus us
Bhaskar Bhat : The big one was when we launched what was known as future shock but leave Future Shock I think the essence is collective dreaming so you know all the lessons of the of the problems of the failures of the '90s and the problems that it ended up on the table of the top team as very bad debt equity ratio no cash in the company Etc had to be dealt with and I think that collectively solving the problem the top team stayed together during those difficult days I'm saying nobody quit the till the jewelry team jewelry
Bhaskar Bhat : Business was turned around the team was intact there was a big departure earlier thereafter the jewelry team stuck together and turned it around everybody in the top team watches manufacturing everybody was there and put their shoulder to the wheel wow so I think that sense of ownership that we could build by sharing all our problems as well as collectively deciding what we should do built a sense of ownership I think and therefore there was a sense of responsibility and ownership of not just the problem but of the company as well Future Shock was not just ownership of the problem but Future Shock was about dreaming
Rahul Pandey : Dreaming
Bhaskar Bhat : Dreaming big so what think big translated to was dreaming big and if I were to kind of reduce it to a certain attitude it was about learning from the past but living in the present and dreaming about the future
Rahul Pandey : I should write it
Bhaskar Bhat : So learning from the past as I said it was about you know making sure pilots and you know category truths you know which we hadn't assessed going deep into consumer insighting which continues in the company so wonderfully now you know being Progressive Etc but yet thinking Global thinking world class was important and how it applies to the present but being in the present is so important that today is business I run it efficiently generate cash being very focused but not forgetting about dreaming the future because that is what inspires people so it is it is a balance it's not a balance learning from the past is clear living in the present but don't only live in the present then you'll not build a future
Bhaskar Bhat : That's that's how I look at it in that period I think also institutional building started institution building started not that we were not an institution but it's it was not just a company which is a great economic engine but the sense of belonging that we could create by launching people first for example customer first all these programs were launched in that period 2002 onwards everything was present but it got highlighted and specific initiatives were launched for people first and customer first
Bhaskar Bhat : So the long and short of it is the thinking big and all those culture related strengths of this company got highlighted and I remember the people first part one small thing that we we talked about at that time at one time our in that challenging period our interest cost employee cost and advertising were all three equal almost 40 45 48 crores yeah
Rahul Pandey : Interest people and advertising
Bhaskar Bhat : We said you know we have to keep the strengths of this company leverage those and what were the strengths Our Brands and our people wow so you and so engage our people in solving the problem of Interest cost
Rahul Pandey : While interest was still there
Bhaskar Bhat : While leveraging the brands amazing amazing amazing one so I think if you ask me frankly you know the times were good India was you know and continues to rise and rise and Rise so to me I think it was enough not to make mistakes you don't make mistakes you will fly so I think I was just lucky to be at the right place at the right time and I had fantastic people who continue to be in this company and it goes on later on in iway we applied all those learnings I remember the
Rahul Pandey : First learning of the jewelry
Bhaskar Bhat : Of experimentation and so on and so forth and of course Taneira skin was launched in between now of course Irth and wearables great great the the story continues if you ask me we
Rahul Pandey : We all know sir I know what has happened under your leadership and you've been saying in a very modest ways certainly speaks about you this is one Curious Thing and and I thought I'll touch upon this is TATA as I mean as a group company of TATA we normally follow a lot of reaching out to society some of the things how Titan in a way has been benefited or Titan has explored that part
Bhaskar Bhat : Actually you know I didn't realize the kind of work that was done I mean I was in the middle of it when it was being done I was not doing it myself I was in sales right so the Hosur initiative the Factor's initiative of going to hundreds of schools to recruit young girls and boys to come to Titan and literally teach them his industrial work was our responsibility to the community in and around Hosur the dharmapuri district and krishnagiri and all that and our response we could easily have today's Industries are set up by simply getting I you know I know I'm in Airlines you know you want to start a new Airline just go to the guys who were in jet a or you go to vistara or you go to Indigo and say I'm setting up a new Airline and just go and get whereas Titan actually built from the Grassroots recruited we felt we had
Bhaskar Bhat : A responsibility much like Tata steel Mithapur chemicals you know wherever we are we go are responsible to the the community so when we recruited those 16 year olds who are still there the sustainable benefit from that has been those same people now we have continued that practice in Uttarakhand I know sikkim I know yeah but those people then go back to those communities and in and ensure that those communities rise with their not just monetary contribution but their engagement so I've seen the CDF for example Community Development Forum in Hosur continues its work intermittent I mean
Rahul Pandey : This is Titans
Bhaskar Bhat : Titans people even Uttarakhand and all I know those during weekends those girls will go to The Villages and volunteer work so the fact so any good we did as a company to them they are in turn doing good to the to the
Rahul Pandey : Wow
Bhaskar Bhat : yeah you guys in corporate office should go and see what's happening so yeah in fact much like Jamshedpur and Mithapur school itself for example which we started and the township Titan Township was for the benefit of employees and the Titan school today is one of the best in Tamil Nadu the CBSE school and those girls and boys whose parents didn't know a word of English now are into the NITs and IITs and and Amazon of the world working there and feel so grateful and engaged in fact some of those children I see they no longer children they are they are more titanians than some titanians that I see because they have grown up a in the that Township and be benefiting from not the business of Titan yeah from the community work of Titan you know that a school so today the Titan School
Bhaskar Bhat : is less oriented because we don't have children anymore you know people the children have grown so it is for the arger public the school there very good school 900 odd children it's nearly thousand we've started the 11th and 12th also there science 11th and 12th class anyway that's a separate Story the school is Township has again world class you know Mr Charles Correa was engaged in establishing the Town Township good sir
Rahul Pandey : My last this is my personal is I think the reality of then versus the reality of now right have changed quite a lot yeah
Bhaskar Bhat : I think you know the the '90s and the 2000s and and it continues it's it's India is on a dream run you know our per capita income of $2,000 rising to $5,000 is nobody can stop even at that time I used to feel India is the story that going to play out I think we played our cards well I think we the greatest strength of this company's year to the ground we have our year to the ground thanks to our fantastic Network our great Market orientation our manufacturing people go
Bhaskar Bhat : To the shops and understand what problems people are facing with products The Old Company being oriented in a way to the customer and that way to the Future and the system sys of future orientation which I spoke about Collective thinking and all that Collective dreaming what is different today is you know this whole startup culture that has you know which has made people entrepreneurial themselves and therefore people dream of a wealth which is very different from just the cash flow of a salary you know at that time lot of people at that time
Bhaskar Bhat : Used to tell me you know Titan is on such a dream run in terms of it share prize you should be giving ESOPS now at that time the Tata group was not friendly towards ESOPS I was not certainly and my in my team I don't think we had any serious discussion on any ESOPS and it was kind of you know unsaid and never done and articulations like people should own own the company and not its share and all that were typically what we stated now today it's a reality in many Tata companies and I'm sure you know that has
Bhaskar Bhat : Changed if you ask me the other is you know if you ask me we could have we did we were very generous in our vrss and so on and we are generous even today but whenever you give a lot of wealth to someone unheard of you know lot of money which that person has not seen you have to train him or her to invest it for the future because you have money you don't have a job it's a very challenging situation you have to be very very very mature to manage that to manage that or you have to be trained counseled financial literacy it's
Bhaskar Bhat : Called but you know I think the early days the vs that we did we didn't teach them how to and so we've had some unfortunate outcomes of people wasting that money not caring for their families and as a result you know going into some bad time very bad times you know one more attitudinal change we brought about in the industry with watches and later in jewelry and it was a smart thing we did which is our Associates whether it was the dealer watch dealer the jewelry vendor the watch vendor the after sales service
Bhaskar Bhat : Provider we call them business associates but the relationship was one of partnering partner we are partners you know some things and we know some things we have money we have brand you have capability you can run a small ship with your own employees you have local contact like a franchise has his own network in the city in which at the same time you have capital and you have a dream to earn some money out of that capital and you love the association with the Tata company so all this made good business sense to build a
Bhaskar Bhat : Whole network of business associates whom we actually over the years have invested in them and they are now so deeply invested in us that it's a big asset it is the support that they offer to this company during difficult time only during difficult times you realize that how important they are and I think the company unlike most companies has treated them fairly and I remember the watch business during GST if you remember he said we would now that kind of move no company would have done you know the and you
Bhaskar Bhat : Get it back in hundreds of different ways so apart from the so-called investors view that this company has a asset light model because the franchise invests and all that that is the the so-called investors view but it goes deeper than that the relationship with our franchise so all those bams and all we do the
Rahul Pandey : Big ones
Bhaskar Bhat : Yeah the bams are meant yes to share our plans but is also to share our time to share our time with them to make them feel that they are they feel so safe they feel they enjoy themselves I think it goes it's also social they feel proud you know to be part of I know I'm in other companies and they say you know they just swear by the Titan relationship you know even vendors and I know in so many vendors have contributed to Innovation whether it's in watches or jewelry you know new product new technologies processed Technologies
Rahul Pandey : Wow okay sir I said last but this is my one more I'm just so many great campaigns of Titan right between all the categories which one is your favorite you know
Bhaskar Bhat : There's not one there are many and I would put at the top three one is the gifting the all time great in my the because it's the first time the husband gifting a watch to the wife where the violin players at the back as the tune of mozart is being and the expression on that girl's face and the watch actually becomes the hero you know very wonderfully done the other is u i mean it's it was controversial in another Forum I know many people would look at that as you know the the second marriage of that with the
Bhaskar Bhat :Kid yeah with the kid fabulously well done and and delivering a message which is very very purposeful and so on and the fast track yes sir I mean all enjoyable very very very sharply targeted at that audience
Rahul Pandey : Fantastic sir thank you so so so very much
Bhaskar Bhat : Thank you for calling me this can go on for days I told 45 minutes beyond my hard stop time
Rahul Pandey : But we we are in the time zone so you can take that leverage out of you but thank you so so thank you Rahul that's a great idea I must say the chatterbox
Bhaskar Bhat : I hope you're able to achieve the purpose of I don't know it's communicating or teaching or I don't know impacting yeah but yeah
Rahul Pandey : Thank you and ladies and gentlemen this is from the chat box with Mr Bhaskar Bhat I think we've had a great time thank you thank you so much thank you
