Titan succession plan: Ajoy Chawla to take over as MD after C. K. Venkataraman retires

Titan Company Ltd ’s board of directors of at its meeting held today approved the succession plan for the managing director of the company. C. K. Venkataraman, the current managing director, will retire from the services of the company on December 31, 2025, on attaining the age of superannuation as per the Tata Group's retirement policy.

Venkataraman had joined Titan in 1990 and became the managing director on October 1, 2019. Ajoy Chawla, currently the Chief Executive Officer of the company's jewellery division, will succeed Venkat as the managing director with effect from January 1, 2026.

Chawla graduated as a mechanical engineer from VJTI Mumbai and then did his PGDM from IIM-Calcutta. He became part of the Tata Administrative Services (TAS) in 1990 and initially joined the finance department of Titan in 1991. Over the next two decades, he was in the Watches Division, and played several roles spanning Commercial, Sales, Retailing, Supply chain, SAP implementation, leading accessories and licensed brands as SBU Head and then heading the Titan SBU for Domestic and International. Between 2013 and 2019, Chawla was the Chief Strategy Officer of Titan, as well as head of Business Incubation, scaling the fragrances business and establishing the Taneira business.

In October 2019, Chawla became the CEO of Titan’s jewellery division. Under his leadership, the jewellery division has grown 2.5 times in sales and profits and reinforced its market and thought leadership.

The formal process to induct Chawla on the board of the company and his appointment as managing director of Titan will be completed in due course and the same is subject to the shareholders' approval, the company said. The decision relating to Chawla's successor in the jewellery division will be taken subsequently.

"On behalf of the entire Titan team, I welcome Ajoy to lead Titan in its next phase of innovation and growth. With his strong customer obsession, people orientation, partnering impulse and focus on creating value, Ajoy is well qualified to shepherd Titan towards even greater glory and scale,” said Venkataraman, Managing Director of Titan.

On Thursday, Titan announced a net profit of ₹870 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, marking an 11% rise from ₹786 crore reported in the same quarter last year—surpassing market expectations. The Tata Group-owned company's consolidated revenue grew by 20% year-on-year, reaching ₹13,477 crore in Q4FY25 compared to ₹11,257 crore in Q4FY24, driven by robust performance in its jewellery and watch divisions.

“While FY25 was marked by multiple external events that had varying impacts on the businesses in general, Titan’s businesses clocked yet another year of strong 22% revenue growth resulting in the company crossing the impressive milestone of ₹50,000-plus crores of revenues for the full year. Our Analog Watch business continued its strong growth trajectory by product innovation led premiumisation whilst moving in sync with the rising aspirations of the Indian consumer. The EyeCare business has returned to the double-digit growth trajectory in Q3 and Q4 of FY25 and is poised for even better growth in FY26. Within emerging businesses, fragrances has performed well for FY25 signifying growing acceptance of SKINN brand. Our international business expansions are progressing well in North America and GCC regions. As we look forward to FY26, all businesses of Titan Company are focusing on market share expansion in their respective categories and catering to the changing needs of our consumers,” said Venkataraman.