Titan Says “Business Impacted Substantially” During Lockdown

Titan today said that the lockdown and restrictions imposed on various activities due to COVID - 19 pandemic have posed challenges to all the businesses of the company and its subsidiaries.

"The Company's operations were hit substantially from 17th March 2020 till the 1st week of May 2020, when lockdown was gradually lifted. Corporate offices, regional offices, retail operations and manufacturing facilities were fully shut during the period and the Company was able to get only very marginal sales through its online channel at the end of April but delivery for these have been affected due to classification of our products as non-essential so far," the company said in a statement.

"Akshaya Tritiya is considered as a very auspicious day for buying gold jewellery and is a big contributor to the jewellery sales for the industry. This year it was on 26th April, which was during the lockdown period and hence almost all the sales related to it were lost except for some online sales. The wedding season is also normally quite strong in the months of April and May and this year almost all weddings in this period have been postponed. The jewellery business of the Company has deferred the launch of two of its collections till a time that most of the stores are re-opened," the company further added.

Company opens 43% of stores

Titan said that it has opened about 43 per cent of its stores.

"With the lifting of the lockdown restrictions, the Company has started re-opening its stores in the non-containment zones, after establishing thorough and well-rehearsed safety protocols. These protocols include encouraging customers to take appointment before a visit to the stores, making possible cashless payment in all stores, sanitizing products before and after every trial by customers, allowing limited number of persons inside the stores basis the store size, thermal screening, compulsory use of face masks, rotation of store staff, etc.," the release added.

The shares of the company were down more than 2 per cent, following the clarification on the business.