Tata group chief Ratan Tata said his step-brother Noel Tata is among the possible candidates being considered by the search panel to find a successor for him. Id have to say that thats something I wouldnt like to comment on,my step-brother is one of the candidates that is being considered and I dont think its my lot to,to say whether its fifty per cent,or ninety per cent or ten per cent so., Ratan Tata said in an interview to CNN International,when asked about chances that a person who does not have the last name Tata becoming a successor. Noel Tata is currently the managing director of Tata International and vice chairman of Trent. On the succession issue,he said,There is a committee thats been established. that committee is mandated with looking at internal candidates,external candidates,Indian expatriates,they have a short list of people who theyre examining today and who they are meeting. Ive stayed away from that committee because I think that committee should operate independently without the force of someone who is looking over their shoulder and I hope that by first half of this year,well be able to define a suitable candidate with who one can overlap for a short period of time before I move away, he said on his absence from the search panel. The 73-year old Tata is scheduled to retire as Tata Group chief in December 2012,when he turns 75,and a search panel was formed in August last year to find his successor. I think what I would like to do is to leave behind a sustainable entity of a set of companies that operate in an exemplary manner in terms of ethics,values and continue what our ancestors left behind. Not my legacy alone but a continuation of the legacy that extends over the last over a hundred years. I hope my successor will be as committed to that as I have tried to be. My only regret is that I am not 20 years younger because I think India is going through a very exciting period in its history, he said on his legacy.
