Sonata forays into plastic watch segment

Bangalore, Sep 2: Sonata, a premier brand of watches from the house of Tatas, has entered into plastic watches segment with the launch of 'Super Fibre' Collection targeting the large sub-Rs 500 market, Urban, Semi-urban and Rural India.

Speaking after launching the collections, Titan Industries Limited Managing Director Bhaskar Bhat said they aimed to sell over one million newly-launched branded watches by 2010. Claiming Sonata's entry into the sub-Rs 500 segment with Super Fibre was a very significant move for the company, Mr Bhat said it would herald the company's foray into the plastic watches segment for the first time since creating Sonata brand in 1996.

Mr Bhat said expressed confidence with the launch of new product, 'Sonata was on its way towards becoming a ten million watches per year brand in the next three years from the current five million.

Mr Bhat said the Rs 3,000-crore Indian Watch market with an 26 per cent growth per year was largely hit by grey and unorganised market. However, there was still space for branded and organised segment.

Elaborating on the new product which was launched, Mr Bhat said it was designed primarily for youth and came at an very affordable price of Rs 275 and 550 or less.

The watches will be available in more than 12,000 authorised Sonata dealers, ''World of Titan'' showrooms and exclusive Sonata Stores across the country.

To questions, Mr Bhat said Titan Industries Limited earned a net profit of Rs 150 crore last year.

UNI