Titan had gone hunting for volumes last year with the launch of its Sonata sub-brand at Rs 350.

In fact, about 60 per cent of the authorised segment of the domestic watch industry is being almost equally shared by both the companies, while the rest is dominated by grey market players including imports and domestic makers, according to a senior HMT Ltd official.

The new low-priced wrist watches from HMT's stable are aimed at the rural and young market segment and will be sourced from domestic watch makers. It would be make available in both plastics and aluminium materials. However, the company is yet to decide about the launch pad and exact time.

In addition to this, the company would beunveiling more than 1,000 new models during the year with an advertisement budget of Rs 15 crore. The price of the whole watch range would start from Rs 200 to Rs 8,000 a piece, HMT Ltd executive director (watches) S Siddalingaswamy told The Financial Express.

Setting a sales target of Rs 303 crore for its watch division, the central public sector behemoth is looking at a sale of 5.5 million watches during the fiscal 1999-2000 from last fiscal's 3.2 million. During the fiscal 1998-99, the division posted total sales of Rs 180 crore.

Though the company has existing manufacturing facilities to produce seven million watches per annum, the company would be sourcing around one million watches to meet the sales target of 5.5 million pieces.

Siddalingaswamy said HMT is in the process of identifying partners for sourcing watches on original equipment manufacture (OEM) basis. ``We will provide components and some other parts for the purpose. Since 100 per cent manufacturing of wrist watches in-house isnot economical in the present scenario, talks are on with 5-6 domestic watch makers,'' he added.

The company is also pumping in about Rs 10 crore to upgrade its watch-making units in the country located at Bangalore, Tumkur, Ranibag and Srinagar. The Srinagar unit, which made heavy losses over the last few years, will get more attention during the current fiscal.

HMT is looking at exporting 30 per cent of its production. Exports touched around 12 per cent during the last fiscal. Recently the company has entered into an agreement with Sanmar Watches to market its products in the UK. During the last fiscal, HMT opened its exclusive showroom in Singapore and the company is now eyeing other countries for the same purpose.