Xerxes Desai will be timeless

By Ruma Dubey

Years ago, some time in the early 90’s I had the very good fortune of meeting Xerxes Desai, the then CEO of Titan Industries. The factory and the office was in Hosur and I was living in the main city.  I was doing a story on Titan (was working with current Editor SP Tulsian even then and this was for our weekly tabloid – Premium Investments).

Knowing that a commute would be difficult for me from MG road to Hosur, Mr.Xerxes himself arranged for a car to pick and drop me back. When I met him, the first thing which struck me was his quintessential ‘Parsi’ness but more importantly, his passion for what he was doing was so evident. At that time, Titan was just getting noticed and HMT was still holding sway. But I recollect his faith in his belief – he said that, in 90’s, an era of still HMT, one day, every wrist in India will have a Titan; he aimed to make the watches a fashion or jewelry, an accessory. And when he told me that Titan watches would be sold abroad, I did tell him that he was maybe being overambitious, day dreaming. But Mr.Xerxes told me that I would see this become a reality one day and said, “then you will remember my words.”

I still remember, he himself took me on a tour of the Titan factory, explaining each function with great precision. He was blunt enough to tell me then that he was poaching people from HMT as no one there really had work and most were indeed looking for a change. He won my complete respect when he said that recognizing that there was a skill gap, he had created training facilities within the factory where youth were trained and then given employment at Titan.

It is sad that one recollects people only when they are no more. Xerxes was an inspiration. I regret that I did not ask him about his days with JRD, about how he saw the growth of the Tata group, so many things….But I am happy that I could met someone like Xerxes, a leader who changed the entire watch scenario of India, indeed making wrist watches an accessory.

May his soul rest in peace.