New Delhi:
Noel Naval Tata, the half-brother of Ratan Tata and the current Managing Director of Tata International, has emerged as a contender for the top job at Tata Sons, after the committee to select a new chairman has initiated its search, said two sources aware of the matter.
As per a report in Economic Times, Tata's name is amongst the few internal candidates like N Chandrasekaran and Ralf Speth who have emerged as potential candidates shortlisted for the race for the top job at India's top corporate house.
The board of Tata Sons removed Mistry, 48, from the chairmanship of Tata Sons on October 24th, claiming to have lost confidence in his leadership and brought back 78-year old Ratan Tata for 4 months as the interim chairman. Within that period, the 5 member panel comprising Tata himself along with TVS Group chairman, Bain Capital's Amit Chandra, Ronen Sen and Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, have been mandated to finalise a candidate.
External names like Former Unilever COO Harish Manwani too have been speculated upon.
Sources close to Tatas, however, cautions that the selection committee has just started their search and it would be premature to suggest anything definitive. One of them even added that Manwani or Chandra have also so far not met the panel for any interviews.
