His hope, as he told Indian financial website moneycontrol.com, is to make Tata one of the top five steelmakers globally in terms of research and development.

"We have a team working on that," he told moneycontrol, adding that POSCO is an example of how investment in research and development can lift a company. "Today they are one of the leaders," he said.

He also said he wants the company to become more agile.   

"Tata Steel is a battleship; you can’t drive it like a power boat. But at the same time the world is becoming more volatile, so you need to be agile ... So, to me these are the changes that we want to drive in Tata Steel over the next few years."

Narendran, who in a lengthy interview reflected on his first six years leading the company, has other goals, too. You can read more about them here.