Manama, Bahrain: Aerolam Middle East and Titan Company are set to launch their operations in Bahrain with a total investment of $45 million.
This was was announced during the recent high-level Bahraini delegation visit to India this week, which was organised to highlight investment opportunities in Bahrain across priority sectors.
A part of the billion dollar Tata group, Titan is the world’s fifth largest wristwatch manufacturer. Titan operates several businesses including Tanishq, its flagship and fastest growing fine jewellery brand in India.
With a total expected investment of approximately $30 million, Titan is gearing up to launch Tanishq in Bahrain, backed by a franchise partner from India.
“Thanks to the level of support and agility of Bahrain’s government, they made it incredibly easy for us to set up our operations in Bahrain,” Mr Naresh Nair, Head of operations, at Tanishq said. “We look forward to bringing our leading brands and products to Bahrain. We have earmarked the location of our first store and will be opening 3 retail outlets over a span of 15 months to 18 months.”
As for Aerolam Middle East, the company is a subsidiary of Aerolam Insulations from India. This marks its first overseas manufacturing unit specialising in the production insulation material in the likes of foam sheets and Cross-Linked Polyethylene pipes. With an investment of $14.5 million, the plant will operate out of Bahrain International Investment Park (BIIP).
“We have gained from the active support of the government of Bahrain and look forward to setting up our first manufacturing unit out of Gujarat, India,” Brijesh Patel, Managing Director at Aerolam Insulations, said. “Bahrain was a natural choice given its central location and advanced logistics infrastructure, enabling us to cater to the GCC from Bahrain with greater speed and efficiency.”
Ali AlMudaifa, Chief of Business Development at Bahrain EDB, said he was excited to see these companies setting up operations in Bahrain and benefit from the key advantages that the kingdom uniquely has to offer.
“With Bahrain’s business-friendly environment and advanced logistics infrastructure, we expect both companies to cement a strong foothold in Bahrain, adding to the diversity of our economy and capitalising on Bahrain as gateway to the region,” he said.
India consistently ranks as one of Bahrain’s top 10 trading partners. The volume of trade between the two countries has increased by 30 percent since 2018, reaching $1.4 billion in 2022. Focusing on key sectors, including financial services, ICT, logistics, manufacturing, and tourism, Bahrain EDB successfully attracted more than $1.1 billion in foreign direct investment from multiple companies across the world in 2022, which are expected to generate over 6,300 jobs in the local market over the next three years.