Chawla to take over as Titan managing director

Retail jewelry chain Titan Co. Ltd has announced the appointment of Ajoy Chawla as managing director (MD) of its jewelry unit, effective 1 January next year.

Chawla, who is also the company’s CEO, will replace C.K. Venkataraman, who will retire on 31 December.

The company’s board approved the directors’ decision during a Thursday meeting.

Venkataraman, who has been with Titan since 1990 and took over as MD in October 2019, will step down upon reaching the retirement age per Tata group’s policy.

Chawla, a Tata Administrative Services officer from the 1990 batch, joined Titan in 1991 and has held several leadership roles over three decades.

His contributions span the watches division, strategy, business incubation, and, most recently, jewelry, where he oversaw a 2.5X growth in sales and profits since becoming CEO in 2019.

He holds a mechanical engineering degree from VJTI Mumbai and a PGDM from IIM-Calcutta.

His formal induction to the Titan board and MD appointment is pending shareholder approval.

“With Ajay’s strong customer obsession, people orientation, partnering impulse and focus on creating value, he is well qualified to shepherd Titan towards even greater glory and scale,” Venkatraman said.