COMPANY ANALYSIS

Timex Group India Limited (TGIL) has several operating units and over 5000 employees
worldwide with a number of manufacturing facilities in India. TGIL has been acknowledged
for its commitment to the Indian Time-wear Industry. The company was voted for in the
Brand Equitys most trusted brands list in the consumer durables segment for two
consecutive years.
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
The elements like emergent economy, growing consumerism, favourable demographics and
a 300 million middle class, hold a lot of potential for the time wear industry in near future.
The buyer today is the ambitious youth with a high disposable income who considers watch
not merely as a time keeping device but as a fashion accessory and its brand name, a style
statement and the image of ones persona. This encourages the trend of multiple watch
ownership-A different watch for different occasions and TGIL capitalizes upon this with its
assortment of brands and styles, spread over Fashion to Classics and Sports to Jewellery.
The Company exclusively has multiple international brands manufactured at domestic
manufacturing facilities allowing sale of international products at unparalleled prices that
offer Value for Money to the buyer.
Timex boasts of an assortment of 7 brands and its own franchised retail chain - The Time
Factory, comprising 100 outlets, henceforth, allowing it to improve margins by contributing
to all ends of the value chain.
Also the policies like 100% foreign direct investment in single brand retail will expose the
Indian market to overseas investments and accelerate growth.
THREATS
Government regulations, economic slowdown coupled with mounting inflation, hefty duties
and complex & varied taxation structure pose key challenges to the time-wear industry in
India. The Excise Duty increment from 10% to 12%, taxes like VAT, Octroi levied by the state
governments (varying across states), etc. pose newer bottlenecks.
The current import duty structure is affecting the operations and profitability of both Indian
and international watch makers thus, hindering growth.
The commodities price hike, enhanced cost of sourcing from China and restrained vendor
capacity for critical watch components in India add to the peril by augmenting the input
costs and which if not alleviated (without compromising quality) would end up negatively
impacting the operating margins.
Besides cannibalization by unorganized retail, high rentals and lack of skilled sales staff
worsens scenario for organized retail since watches need a great service driven consumer
interface to strike a deal.
Watches as tools for time keeping, encounter eminent threat from intensified penetration
and usage of mobile phones. Counterfeiting also adds to the misery of watch brands in the
mass market in particular, the economy watch segment.
http://www.livemint.com/Companies/xnOtkBgvYlClts7yj7UWfP/Timex-plans-to-make-India-
global-sourcing-base.html
http://www.timexindia.com/profile.aspx
http://home.ubalt.edu/ntsbpitt/SpreeMPE.htm
http://www.timexindia.com/pdf/Timex_Annual_Report_2013.pdf