Dr Irani, who will turn 65 this June, will step down from the post of managing director of India's oldest and most profitable steel company. Dr Irani on Wednesday said at a press conference that his successor will be announced before he retires.

It has been learnt that the coveted post - at the helm of Tata Steel - will go to an insider. A senior Tata group official said that Dr Irani himself is in favour of his successor being a "Tata Steel man" rather than an outsider.Company officials said that there are four strong contestants running the race for succeeding Dr Irani. These are the four executive directors (ED) who have been recently appointed, insiders point out.

Among the hot favourites are Feroz Vandrevala (50) - the youngest among the EDs - who is also the man in charge of marketing and sales. Mr Vandrevala carries with him a vast experience of operations and plant management at the same time he has been recognised as the person who has revolutionised marketing at Tata Steel.

Another ED, B Muthuraman (57), who is in charge of the cold rolling (CR) mill project, has the distinction of being the project implementor at Tata Steel. He has successfully implemented the CR mill in record time, and the task ahead of him right now is to finish the galvanised CR mill which will manufacture high quality galvanised steel for the automobile sector and the white goods sector.

The two other contestants in the fray are Dr T Mukherjee (58), who is an ED and the force behind the operations of the Jamshedpur plant. Tata Steel sources say that Dr Mukherjee is essentially `a person from the shopfloor'.The fourth person in the race for the top job at Tata Steel is Mr AN Singh (54) - an able administrator, skilled in government dealings. Mr Singh is presently in charge of the Jamshedpur township and also looks after the social services carried out by Tata Steel.

The ultimate decision will be taken at the Bombay House board room in due course, sources said. Even as the succession plan is being carried out in hushed tones, Tata Steel sources said that whispers in the Bombay House corridors of Mr Vandreval making it to the top are beating loud. Though Dr Irani has been very reticent about speculating on his successor, he is said to have internally expressed his inclination that the successor be an old time Tata Steel person, a top official close to Bombay house said.