Tags: Mumbai , Ratan Tata

Mumbai: Ratan Tata, the 71-year-old Chairman of Tata Group, whose tenure ends in 2012 told Wall Street Journal in an interview that his successor could be an expatriate.

"We are in the process of formalizing a successor to me. We have some outside consultants and a formal search process is on. There are no constraints," said Tata, who has steered the group for nearly two decades. "It would certainly be easier if that candidate were an Indian national. But now that 65 percent of our revenues come from overseas, there could also be an expatriate sitting in that position with justification."

All but one of the group's past chairmans have been Tatas, although at the moment no family candidate has been publicly identified to take over the role.

One of the contenders from within the family is Noel, son of Simone (the Founder of Lakme and Trent) and Naval Tata. Noel Tata is credited with building Trent into a profitable retail player with the Westside apparel chain and Star Bazaar hypermarkets. At 53, Noel Tata is now one of the more senior CEOs in the Group. He is married to the daughter of billionaire Pallonji Mistry (who owns 18 percent in Tata Sons).

In 2006, the group holding company Tata Sons decided to raise the retirement age of non-executive directors from 70 to 75. "The successor, I would hope, would have integrity and our value systems in the forefront and would carry on the path that we have tried to set for the company's growth," added Tata.

In an interview early last year, Tata had said that his successor would need up to 18 months as handover time. Tata Group's 98 operating companies have annual revenues of $71 billion and 357,000 employees, according to its website. The group, founded in 1868, runs India's vehicle maker (Tata Motors), software services company (TCS), private sector power producer (Tata Power) and the world's eighth-largest steel maker by output (Tata Steel).

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