MUMBAI (Bloomberg) -- Tata Sons Ltd. is searching for a successor to Chairman Ratan Tata, whose acquisitions of Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Group Plc charted India's emergence as a global economic power.
The 72-year-old Ratan, who built the group into India's biggest with revenue of more than $70 billion, will retire at the end of 2012 after two decades running the Mumbai-based company. A five-member committee will vet candidates for the role, Tata Sons said in an e-mailed statement this week.
The successful candidate will control a group whose 96 companies make cars from the $72,500 Jaguar XJ to the $2,500 Nano, produce steel and grow tea served at the Tata-owned Boston Ritz-Carlton. Tata accounts for almost 7 percent of India's gross domestic product.
