Indra Nooyi rules herself out of race to succeed Ratan Tata

"Ratan is an unbelievable person. He has got an incredible stable of people who can succeed him. I am running one of the greatest companies in the world, PepsiCo. I love my job," Nooyi told PTI when asked about the speculation linking her to the top job at the USD 71 billion Indian salt-to- software conglomerate.

The Chennai-born chief of the world's leading company in convenient snacks, foods and beverages, with revenues of more than USD 60 billion and over 285,000 employees, however, was all praise for the Tata Group."Tata is an unbelievable company. It is a nation-building enterprise, a phenomenal enterprise, the face of India," Nooyi said.
While Ratan Tata's 52-year-old half brother Noel Tata has been speculated to be the front-runner, Nooyi and another global business leader, Carlos Ghosn, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Renault-Nissan Alliance, have been mentioned as suitable candidates.

Earlier this month, the Tata Group had announced that a successor to the charismatic Ratan Tata would be in place by February-March next year.It formed a a five-member search panel that includes Tata Sons Vice-Chairman NA Soonawala, senior group directors R K Krishnakumar and Cyrus Mistry, group adviser and lawyer Shirin Bharucha and influential British businessman Lord Bhattacharya.

Set to retire by end-2012, when he turns 75, Tata is responsible for turning the group global after he took over as Chairman of the USD 71 billion conglomerate in 1991 from J R D Tata.

Although the group is more than a century-old -- founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868 when he set up a private trading firm -- it was only in 2006 that it earned major global recognition when Ratan Tata spearheaded the buyout of Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus for about USD 12 billion.

Tata followed this up with another big ticket purchase of iconic British luxury car marque Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008 for USD 2.3 billion.