Veteran British industrialist Buckley in race for top Tata job

One of Britain's leading industrialists has emerged as a surprise candidate to lead Tata, the giant Indian conglomerate that is among the UK's largest inward investors.

Sky News has learnt that Sir George Buckley, the chairman of FTSE-100 engineer Smiths Group (Frankfurt: QS2A.F - news) , has been approached about replacing Cyrus Mistry, who was unceremoniously ousted from the chairmanship of Tata Sons last month.

Sir George's emergence as a potential contender to lead Tata, which owns Jaguar Land Rover and the Port Talbot steelworks, makes him the first non-Indian to be linked to the post.

Discussions with him are at an early stage, according to insiders, and are also continuing with other candidates including Harish Manwani, the former chief operating officer of Unilever (NYSE: UL - news) .

Sir George is one of Britain's most seasoned and accomplished businessmen, but is also a rarity in having forged a successful executive career at the helm of a number of large US corporations, including 3M, the global technology company.

His range of experience - encompassing the steel, power and chemicals industries - is understood to have put him on Tata's radar at a time when the Indian company is facing challenges across several of its largest operations.

One source said that, if appointed, Sir George's role would include mentoring a tight group of Indian executives, one of whom would be expected to succeed him in four years' time.

The Smiths chairman's CV is more comprehensive than that of Mr Manwani, but his status as a non-Indian could hamper his candidacy amid growing political pressure in the country to appoint an Indian to one of its flagship companies.

Sir George is also on the boards of Hitachi, Stanley Black & Decker (Frankfurt: SWF.F - news) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP - news) , and his previous employers included Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC - news) and Emerson Electric Company (NYSE: EMR - news) .

Reports in Indian media have suggested in recent days that the company is considering splitting the unified chairman and chief executive job at Tata into separate roles, with the group's chief executive also potentially assuming the chairmanships of subsidiaries such as Tata Power, Tata Motors (BSE: TATAMOTORS.BO - news) and Tata Steel (BSE: TATASTEEL.BO - news) .

It was unclear on Tuesday whether Sir George and Mr Manwani could both be appointed to the two roles if the decision to split them is pursued.

Mr Mistry's exit following a bust-up with colleagues including Ratan Tata, his predecessor, sent shockwaves through the Indian corporate establishment.

Members of the committee established to identify Mr Mistry's successor include Lord Bhattacharyya, the British-based industrialist.

Mr Mistry's defenestration after four years at the helm of Tata Group, which has annual sales of more than $100bn, sparked fresh uncertainty about the future of Tata Steel's UK operations.

After months of tentative talks with possible buyers for the British business, which employs roughly 11,000 people, Tata announced in June that it was entering discussions with the German steel producer Thyssen‎-Krupp about a joint venture.

Tata Steel UK's pension scheme, which has been the subject of a Government consultation over future increases to benefits, remains an obstacle to a deal, although the company announced this week that it had struck an outline agreement to sell its speciality division employing 1,700 people.

The Indian conglomerate was run by Mr Tata for decades, before he handed over the reins to Mr Mistry.

Mr Tata, who orchestrated Tata Motors' takeover of Jaguar Land Rover in 2008, has now returned as the interim chairman and has been the target of a sustained broadside by his deposed successor.

In a series of widely publicised attacks‎, Mr Mistry has accused Mr Tata of being driven by his ego, particularly in relation to Tata's $12bn takeover of the British steelmaker Corus in 2007.

The ousted boss said that five of Tata's biggest businesses faced asset write-downs valued at $18bn - an assertion contradicted by its board‎.

In response, Mr Mistry has been accused of undermining Tata Group's governance structure and presiding over a period of poor performance across many of its flagship operations.

The Indian group has been seeking to force Mr Mistry to step down from the boards of a number of its subsidiaries, including the beverages unit which owns Tetley Tea.

Neither Sir George nor Tata could be reached for comment.