Tanishq puts EMI-based jewellery scheme on hold

Chennai: Titan Company has decided to put its plans to revive the jewellery purchase scheme of its group firm Tanishq in the back burner for some more time. The company has decided to adopt a wait-and-watch  policy until there is some clarity from the finance ministry to revive the popular gold harvest scheme.

“We are waiting for the ministry to say that it is not a finance scheme,” said Bhaskar Bhat, MD, Titan Company.

Tanishq discontinued its gold jewellery purchase scheme, golden harvest savings scheme, since April that allowed the buyer to pay a fixed amount every month for 11 months with the 12th month installment paid by Tanishq.

With the new Companies Act deeming all these instalments as deposits, and with RBI rules stating that no deposit can pay more than 12.5% as return, the scheme had turned illegal, which resulted in the closure of the scheme. “We will restart at the right time in the right manner later,” he added.

Betting big on its watch business, Mr Bhat said, though the watch business was severely impacted last year owing to dip in consumer sentiments, the ensuing wedding season and revival in consumer spending are looking bright for the business. He was in Chennai to open the company’s largest outlet in the city.

Launching a new range of premium watches of Raaga Kitsch, Mr Bhat said that the company is hopeful of good growth in luxury watch segment this fiscal. “Anything about Rs 5000 is a premium segment for us and we planning a lot of new products for this segment as we see good scope this fiscal,” he added.