I wish to be 20 yrs younger, but not for staying on: Tata

"I just feel its been an exciting time. 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," Tata said in a televised interview to CNN International.

Asked whether he would like to stay on, the 73-year-old Tata immediately replied in negative and clarified: "No No, I said I wish to be 20 years younger, not that I would stay on for 20 years."

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.

Tata's comments come within days of R K Krishna Kumar, the panel member and a senior group executive, saying that the panel was finding it difficult to find the right person. Besides, the group also announced last week lowering of retirement age of non-executive directors from 75 to 70 years.

"Our committee has come to the conclusion that we cannot find a replacement for Mr Tata! We may have to change and rearrange the model in terms of what we are looking for," Krishna Kumar said in an internal interview published on the group's website last week.

"We are now considering people — from within the group and outside, including expatriates — who can fill the role we have in mind. There are challenges but we will soon come to a conclusion," he added.

Another Tata Sons director R Gopalakrishnan recently said that the group was looking for a successor for decades and not for a few years.

The panel, which was constituted about eight months ago, was expected to name the successor by February-March.

Tata, who has been heading the group as Chairman of its promoter company Tata Sons since 1991 and had joined the group in 1962, said in the CNN interview that it had been an exciting time for him.

Asked about the biggest misconceptions that he would like to change about him, Tata said that he wished to be more outgoing and be more public.

"I would say that one of the things I wish I could do differently would be to be more outgoing. I'm a very introverted person, and pretty shy and the job I am in, I sometimes have to be more public, like sitting here (in an interview)."

"These are some of things I look almost like occupational hazards you have to deal with," he added.

Asked what makes Ratan Tata indispensable, Tata said: "I would say that I am blessed with a very very good executive team that operates reasonably autonomously each of the company...

"We have a review system and I'm the non-executive chairman of nine or so major companies ... It's a little trying because you jump from one industry to another industry as the case might be, but one has the reasonable knowledge of those nine activities. It's been an exciting job," he added.

Besides Tata Sons, Ratan Tata is Chairman of major group companies like Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Chemicals, Indian Hotels and Tata Teleservices.

During his tenure, the group's revenues have grown nearly 12-fold, totalling USD 67.4 billion in 2009-10.

Besides, he also serves on the boards of Fiat SpA and Alcoa and is also on the international advisory boards of Mitsubishi Corporation, the American International Group, JP Morgan Chase, Rolls Royce, Temasek Holdings and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Asked about his worst days, Tata said: "... The worst few days I had was when group decided that it was going to go out of textiles and I was incharge of one of the mills ...
"And that company needed relatively small amount of infusion of money to run but it was denied and the company was taken into liquidation, by Tata group and not by an outside party ... and being closest to the operation I saw the change of faith ... of several thousands of people," he added.

Asked whom he goes to for advice, Tata said: "For a long time, when I was not the chairman, JRD Tata used to be the person I will go to for advice, (he would) spend time with me. I miss him a great deal."