Ratan Tata to play an active role after retirement

Ratan Tata may continue to hold a non-executive post on the board of the Tata group following his official retirement in 2012.

Answering shareholders at the 63rd annual general meeting of Tata Motors, Mr Tata said he will continue to play an active role to guide the group’s operations. Mr Tata is now chairman of Tata Motors and has been closely associated with Tata Motors, be it the Indica project or the ultra low cost car, the Nano. He is also keen to get the two iconic brands, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), back on track.

Mr Tata refused to comment on an issue raised by some shareholders that his counterparts in other major groups, such as BK Birla of the Aditya Birla group and Keshub Mahindra of the Mahindra group, continue to hold the top posts even in their 80’s. “I don’t have to be on the board to be active,” said Mr Tata at the AGM.

Until 2005, non-executive directors of the group retired at the age of 70. Under the revised guidelines, the retirement age for executive and whole-time directors is 65, while the retirement age for non-executive directors is 75. This revision in the age has helped some of the directors in the group like JJ Irani, RK Krishna Kumar and NA Soonawala to stay on and give direction and value to the Tata group companies.

The succession issues have also been to put to rest till 2012 unless Mr Tata decides to retire at an earlier date, sources said. Mr Tata, who is now 71-year-old, is in the process of finding a successor and is open to looking for candidates outside the Tata group too. “I am committed to finding a successor before I retire,” Mr Tata said.

Mr Tata has been chairman of group holding company Tata Sons since 1991. He is also the chairman of other major Tata companies including Tata Steel, TCS, Tata Power, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, Indian Hotels, Tata Teleservices and Tata AutoComp.

During his tenure, the group’s revenues have grown over nine-fold to annualised group revenues of over $55 billion. Mr Tata joined the Tata group in December 1962. In 1981, he was named chairman of Tata Industries where he was responsible for transforming it into a group strategy think-tank.