Archive

On the Fastrack, he was speeding well with time. Having transformed the Titan watch brand targeting the urban youth into "a huge marketing success,” Ronnie Talati says he was called upon to set his sights further when Titan made an entry in the eyewear sector. "Do at Eyeplus what you did at Fastrack,” was the mandate given to Talati who in the last few years has overseen the expansion of Eyeplus to nearly 500 stores in India plus four lens manufacturing units and one unit manufacturing frames.
"Our business turnover is Rs 600 crores and growing with a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 25%,” revealed Talati who has been functioning as chief executive officer (CEO) of Eyeplus for the last two-and-a-half years. Although they have made their presence felt pan India, "our biggest market has been in the south. Historically it has always been like that,” stated Talati at a meeting with the Parsiana team in Bangalore in December 2017. The hallmark of all Titan products being a synthesis of "style and functionality,” Talati considers Eyeplus as "fashion on your face.”

 

 

 

 

 

To lure buyers, Titan has always kept customer needs in the forefront, states Talati. When Titan entered the watch segment in India which was then largely unorganized, the only major national player was HMT which could not keep pace with the new entrant. Once Titan made its foray into the jewelry field with Tanishq, they introduced the Karatmeter for customers to check the purity of their gold for free.  At Eyeplus stores, the emphasis is on letting customers experience the "‘browse and feel’ format, study the comparative prices” and then make a decision, unlike other optometrists who show customers a range "depending on which car they arrive in.”
"We are a part of the Tata brand and you can always take us for granted when it comes to providing world class products that come with the Tata trust,” notes the Eyeplus website, adding, "We seek to bring trust and transparency into the eyewear category.” Since its inception in 2007, Eyeplus products boast of the latest international designs, and transparent and uniform pricing across the country. "The brand has come to be known for excellence in eye testing, high quality products and overall high standards of customer experience. Unique designs in a spectrum of trending colors, the best of international brands and a range of specialized state-of-the-art in-house products have helped the brand carve a niche in the fashion category.”
"We have changed retailing in India, taken up market leadership in this industry,” reiterated the CEO. Whilst Titan exports watches, Eyeplus is "still nascent. There is so much room to grow in the Indian market. We are largely a retail business. To go international at a later stage we will need to set up retail stores in the international market,” he says.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talati views himself as totally a Tata product, "having worked in the same company all my life.” Born to Khorshed and Adi Talati in an upper middle class family residing on Napeansea Road, Ronnie recalls that he was in his early teens, studying at Campion School, when his father who was working in a family run business, went bankrupt and suffered a couple of heart attacks. At 17 years, when Ronnie was in his second year of studies at Bombay’s H. R. College, he decided to seek employment.
His first job as an accounts trainee at Tata Press earned him a salary of Rs 400, half of which he gave to his father, and the other half he retained for his personal use. After completing his commerce graduation, he earned his law degree from the Government Law College (GLC), whilst continuing with his job at the Tata Press. When he was around 26 years old, Tata stalwart Xerxes Desai who was his neighbor and preparing to launch Titan, the new Tata initiative, invited him to join the company in Bangalore as an accounts executive. Talati recalls his initial hesitation to move to a new company and a new locale where he knew no one. Eventually deciding to take a risk, "I packed all my worldly possessions in one suitcase and left for Bangalore” where he rose to be general manager, finance.
When he was in his mid 40s, Ronnie went up to his new managing director (MD) and told him, "I can’t do this anymore. I don’t enjoy what I’m doing.” He knew he wanted to quit finance but he did not then know what he would like to do. The following day the MD offered him a small marketing role as business head of Titan’s Fastrack watches which were then languishing. The MD believed Ronnie had "a very good marketing mind,” but Ronnie sought time to think it through. He knew the transition was a risk which "may or may not work. I spoke to my wife Anuradha (née Seth). She was encouraging as always and told me to go ahead.”
When Ronnie joined Fastrack it was a Rs 20 crore brand but within seven years it was worth Rs 800 crores and he was made vice president marketing of all watch brands that included Titan’s Sonata, Raga, Fastrack… When he progressed from watches to eyewear, he was senior vice president of Titan.
It was his shift to Bangalore over three decades earlier that gave Ronnie the impetus to resume his ties with Anuradha. They had first met when they were in GLC, but as he was not earning enough to get married and her family was keen to see her wed, they had decided to part ways. His relocation to Bangalore prepared him for a life change. With his parents in Bombay, hers in Ahmedabad and him in Bangalore, they triangulated, got the parents to meet, and six months later were married. They bought a one bedroom flat for Rs 2.5 lakhs, taking a loan of two lakhs from Housing Development and Finance Corporation Limited. To pay off the loan, Anuradha took up a job, selling encyclopedias for ETL (Educational Technologies Limited) Learning, Ronnie recalled the struggle of the earlier days. The couple has two sons — Rohan, aged 29 years, works for an advertising agency, 22 feet, and Rishad, aged 25, is currently with Red Bull, the energy drink company, and waiting to go abroad for higher education.
Enjoying an occasional game of squash with his sons "when they condescend to play with me,” tall and lean Ronnie is a regular at the gym where he does his daily workout. He also makes time for yoga, and is into running, delighted that Anuradha too has taken to this sport.
"I have not consciously kept myself away from the Parsi community. Considering myself an Indian, I have shied away from anything communal,” he declared. He did though admit that "any form of bigotry upsets me” and referred to his disappointment when the late Bangalore panthaky Ervad Nadirshah Unvalla agreed to do a jashan at their home provided his Hindu wife Anuradha sat out. Ronnie opted to foresake the jashan. The sons were navjoted, "more at my wife’s insistence,” he revealed. He hardly goes to any temples and believes in minimal ceremonies, convinced that it is more important to be "good human beings.”