It pioneered the concept of branded jewellery and ornaments in India. Established in 1995, it challenged the traditional family jewellers’ integrity and introduced new rules to the game. That’s Tanishq, which exploded the market with facts about rampant impurity and cheating of customers across India. It introduced a technology-backed challenge in a category completely governed by trust. Tanishq introduced innovations like the Karatmeter, the only non destructive means to check the purity of gold. It replaced the age-old jeweller's word with the Tata's guaranteed purity certificate.

Today, it is the fastest growing jewellery brand in India.. The name Tanishq has been formed by combining "Ta" (the first two letters of Tata) and "Nishk or Nishkh" (meaning gold coin or necklace in Sanskrit).