BENGALURU: Bhaskar Bhat, a one-company man, began his career at the Tatas as a member of its watch project in the early 1980s. He eventually secured a coveted seat at the highest table in the group when he was appointed to the board of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust 42 years later. During that period, he, along with his mentor and the founding managing director of Titan, Xerxes Desai, revolutionised the staid watch industry by launching quartz watches and dethroning HMT as India’s watch-keeper. Later, the bold decision to enter the jewellery business paid off with staggering dividends for the company. Under Bhat, Titan became the Tata group’s second most valuable company by market capitalisation after TCS.
During Bhat’s 17 years at the helm of Titan, the company rewrote the retail-consumer markets in the country with its top-notch marketing and merchandising, transforming Titan into one of India’s most admired consumer brands. Bhat, whose roles spanned across sales and marketing, human resources, international business, and general management, took over as MD of Titan in 2002 from Desai.Titan’s revenue then stood at less than Rs 1,000 crore. By the time he retired in 2019, the company grew nearly 20-fold to Rs 20,000 crore. “After Xerxes Desai, it was a big shoe to fill. But Bhat brought his own leadership style and was comfortable in his own skin,” said Jacob Kurian, former Titan COO, who revitalised the then ailing jewellery business, Tanishq, by shifting emphasis from its 18-carat product range to what the Indian market wanted, 22-carat jewellery. As Bhat rose through the ranks, his credibility within Bombay House grew steadily, earning him strong trust and confidence across the Tata Group. He built consensus around every strategic move and never let his own views overshadow those of others. “Desai had a disdain for metrics or the stock market,” Kurian said. Even before he became MD, Bhat was among the earliest business leaders to engage with legendary investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. In one memorable early meeting, Jhunjhunwala offered Bhat insights into how the market perceived Titan — and how success should truly be measured, Kurian recalled. Bhat formed what he called a Mission Impossible team to revive Titan’s watch business, challenging them to do new things, recalled B.G. Dwarakanath, former SVP and COO of Titan’s Precision Engineering division. Bhat’s humility often revealed itself in the smallest gestures. His review meetings at Hosur often ended with a simple plantain-leaf meal at Anjaneya Mess — a modest vegetarian eatery of barely 500 sft. After a hearty wedding meal, he would walk into the kitchen to personally thank the cooks for their effort and compliment the food, recounted Dwarakanath. At airports, he was known to hand chocolates to security staff after frisking — a quiet nod of appreciation for their service. Once, on his way to a business review committee meeting of another company, the car arranged for him broke down. Without hesitation, he called his driver, who arrived on a scooter — and Bhaskar simply hopped on as a pillion and rode to the airport. That simplicity and warmth stayed with him even as he became Chairman of Vistara. It is this blend of grounded-ness, empathy, and strategic clarity that defined Bhaskar Bhat’s leadership — qualities that helped shape Titan into a powerhouse and made him one of the most respected leaders in the Tata Group. “He was Titan’s chief empathy officer,” said Dwarakanath.
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