Bhaskar Bhat spent eight years cleaning up the legacy of the 1990s at Titan Industries. Now his new growth plan will need to convince a sceptical board
July-August is a time for special discounts on Usman Road, the main jewelry market in Chennai. Winding queues stretch outside the dozens of shops — some as small as 100 sq. ft. and some as big as 12,000 sq.ft — as women from all over South India converge to buy gold and diamond jewelry well in advance for the marriage season several months later. A flyover keeps the shoppers free from traffic these days.
Bhat could always put more pressure on the board to invest in long-term growth even if it means taking a short-term hit. But that’s never been his style. He had the extremely difficult task of filling in the big boots of Xerxes Desai, the iconic leader who founded Titan in 1986. Desai was a towering personality who wielded tremendous influence inside and outside the company. Bhat, who was Desai’s deputy for many years before becoming MD in 2002, is almost the complete opposite. Quiet, understated and thoughtful, Bhat perhaps lacks Desai’s charisma, but he more than makes up in terms of performance.
The New Game Plan
(This story appears in the 30 July, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)