Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata on Tuesday said that deadline for his retirement was still intact, but before hanging his boots he would like to find a successor.
"I said that after (launching small-car) Nano, it will be a good time to step down. I still have a deadline for my retirement. I do have the responsibility to have a successor and both these things will take place," he said.
Tata, who had earlier said that the successor could be from outside India, had declared his intention to step down after the launch of world's cheapest car 'Nano'. Nano made its commercial debut last year.
There has been speculation from time to time on who will succeed Tata at the $71-billion group that makes nearly everything from salt to steel to luxury cars.
Tata, who turned 72 last month, will stay in office till 2012. The Tata group has 98 operating companies and 357,000 employees.
Tata willing to return Singur land if compensated
Ratan Tata virtually ruled out any investment in Singur and said the company would gladly return the land if compensated.
"Today we have no plans to do anything in Singur. We went to Singur and invested to give jobs, unless there is harmony, we won't consider going there," Tata said at the 10th Auto Expo in Delhi.
Tata Motors had to shift its Rs-100,000 car project Nano out of Singur in 2008 after violent protests by land owners.
Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee at one point spearheaded the agitation.
He further said he is willing to return the land but only in lieu of compensation for the money Tata Motors has spent on the abandoned project.
"We wouldn't stand in the way for another usage of the land if we are compensated for what we are leaving behind. We still hold the lease of the land," Tata said on a query on vacating the Singur land.
Last month, a senior West Bengal Government official said the state was about to start the formal process to get the Singur land back form the Tatas.
Tata Motors had to shift the Nano plant to near Ahmedabad at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).
Tata Motors abandoned the 997.11 acres in October last year, succumbing to protests by peasants led by state's principal opposition party Trinamool Congress who demanded return of 400 acres taken from 'farmers unwilling to part with their land'.
Tata Motors plans Nano's US launch in three years
Ratan Tata said that said the company will consider launching 'Nano' in the United States in the next three years and is currently developing a bigger engine for the same.
"While we have a demand (for Nano in India) far exceeding our ability to supply, we recognise that there is a market not only in developing countries but also in developed countries," Tata said.
Tata Motors is augmenting the production Nano, he added.
"We have plans to add new capacities to add to the production of Nano. Our intention is to maximise the production of Nano," Tata said.
Tata further added, "For the US, we need a car with larger engine, an additional crash test, we are doing that...the time could be about three years."
The company, last year, had showcased the European version of the Nano, the world's cheapest car, at the Geneva Motor Show and plans to launch the car in select international markets within the next two years.
Last year, Tata Motors had launched the Nano in India and selected about 155,000 customers through a draw of lots for delivery in the first two phases.
Currently, the company produces the Rs-100,000 wonder from its Pantnagar facility, which has a production capacity of 50,000 units per annum.
Tata Motors is constructing the mother plant for Nano at Sanand in Gujarat after being forced out of Singur in West Bengal following a violent protest led by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee.
The Sanand plant will have an initial capacity of 350,000 units a year.
'Stimulus packages should not be withdrawn'
Tata said the stimulus packages provided to the economy to cushion the impact of the global economic downturn should not be withdrawn.
"Obviously, I have great self interest in saying it should not be (withdrawn) because buoyancy in the market, which is somewhat a barometer also of the economy, has been stimulated greatly with the incentives that have been given," Tata said.
He was responding to a query on whether the government should withdraw the stimulus packages in the backdrop of economic recovery.
"Certainly, I would not be a party to say it (the stimulus packages) should be withdrawn," Tata added.
Earlier, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the fiscal stimulus given to the industry to combat the adverse impact of the global financial meltdown would not be withdrawn before the budget next year.
Image: Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata. Photograph: Reuters
