Shyamal Majumdar
While discussing the media plan for Trent in June 2009, Noel is heard saying what comes to his "rescue is the fact that he never speaks to anybody".
While no one knows what he meant by "rescue", the fact is Noel has indeed walked his talk: He has been low-profile and shy to the point of being a recluse from the media!To be fair, the shyness isn't restricted to the media alone; he also shuns the CEO cocktail circuit and is usually the last in and first out at any Tata group function that requires the presence of all CEOs.
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A low-profile successor to Ratan Tata?
Image: Naval Tata, Ratan Tata and Noel Tata (in the centre).Photographs: Courtesy, Outlook Business.
Ratan Tata will retire only in 2012 when he turns 75, but he wants his successor to work with him for some time before the anointment.
Will Noel be the one chosen to run the diversified Rs 280,000 crore (Rs 2,800 billion) Indian multinational?
A low-profile successor to Ratan Tata?
Image: Indra Nooyi.No one except former Tata Steel Chairman Russi Mody has hazarded a guess so far. It's ironic that Mody, the former Tata satrap who fought Ratan Tata bitterly over control of the steel giant and had to be eased out, considers Noel the best successor because men surnamed Tata have been good for the empire.
Though Noel may like to contest it, the fact is that the Tata surname is surely his best bet to enter the corner office in Bombay House, the headquarters of Tata Sons.
His well-wishers draw comparisons with Ratan Tata, who was just as shy and introverted and hardly set the Ganges on fire with his track record at sundry Tata companies before he took over as the legendary J R D Tata's successor. The rest is history.
A low-profile successor to Ratan Tata?
Image: Noel Tata.Noel's academic credentials are impeccable. He graduated from Sussex University, and earned an MBA from Insead in Fontainebleau, Paris. His mother Simone founded Lakme; Noel started Trent.
He likes to live out of a suitcase, travelling all over the world in search of new business innovations. He is credited with having pioneered private labels by Indian retailers.
His well-wishers also cite Noel's track record at Trent, which he steered for 12 years before stepping down as its managing director earlier last year.
Unlike its bigger competitors, Trent is a profitable retailer (it made a Rs 40-crore profit on sales of Rs 572 crore (Rs 5.72 billion) in the year ended March 2010) and has tied up with a giant, Tesco.
A low-profile successor to Ratan Tata?
Image: Tatas' Tashi brand.
A low-profile successor to Ratan Tata?
Image: Tata's Westside store.
A low-profile successor to Ratan Tata?
Image: Balasubramanian Muthuraman, Vice-chairman, Tata Steel.Technically they are eligible for the top post until they reach the age of 75. Both have experience of running far bigger companies than a mid-size retail chain which has been extra-conservative and missed the bus on big growth (in its 12th year, Trent has just 95 stores; even a Johnny-come-lately like Aditya Birla's More has more).
A low-profile successor to Ratan Tata?
Image: Ratan Tata.For the moment, however, everything is in the realm of speculation.
In just a few months from now, the world will know whether Noel, whose only passion for anything fast in life is his frequent 80 kmph drive on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, has made it to the finishing line.
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