Vodafone chief Arun Sarin has announced his retirement after five years in the hot seat. It’s been five rather torrid years, with shareholders baying for his blood. Eventually, however, he retires at a new high for the company. The acquisitions in India and Turkey have proved lucrative. And various other decisions, panned at the time, have proved correct. Sarin retires, at only 53, in a halo of accomplishment and glory. In his place, few would.

“Power is an aphrodisiac,” says Mumbai-based HR consultant Shashi Rao. “It often gives you a fresh lease of life. Remember the late former prime minister Narasimha Rao. He was brought back from his sick bed to lead the country. It would be an exaggeration to say that he became a young man overnight. But he managed very competently for five years. The CEO of a large company has the same hunger for power,” continues Rao. “Retirement is like ending a whole lifestyle. That’s why very few CEOs believe in succession planning. They go through the motions but take great care to see that they cannot be replaced.”

In the West, there are hardly any examples of CEOs retiring before their time. In India, which is supposedly less worldly, there are a few more. Vivek Paul quit as CEO of Wipro a few years ago to become a venture capitalist. N.R. Narayana Murthy and, after him, Nandan Nilekani stepped down as CEO of Infosys. But they still have a role in the company. Nobody seems to retire to play golf, bridge or lead a life of leisure. The rich and the powerful have their own motivations. But would Bannerjee from Behala retire if given a chance? On anecdotal evidence, the answer seems to be “no”.

Take a look at the voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) that banks and companies introduced in the post-liberalisation phase. They have been welcomed only by the people who expect to get a new job post-VRS. “There is still a great deal of insecurity,” says Rao.

The recent HSBC Future of Retirement Report, the fourth of its kind, reinforces this view. The study was conducted among 21,000 people in 21 countries. It goes into several issues, but relevant to this discussion is the preparedness for retirement. Consider some of the highlights on this score:

• In most transitional economies, between 50 per cent and 80 per cent fear a lack of money in later life.

• Globally around 70 per cent fear illness and disability in old age; this reaches a high of 90 per cent in France, but falls to around 50 per cent in India, China and Taiwan.

• Some 60 per cent around the world fear being dependent on others in later life; this figure falls to 30-50 per cent in the Asian economies and rises to 60-85 per cent in Denmark, France and Germany and in transitional economies like Brazil and Russia.

The earlier 2007 study had focused on the age of retirement. According to business and financial portal Finfacts of Ireland: “The research also indicates that the trend of taking early retirement in mature markets, with the exception of Germany, is declining. People not only expect, but want, to continue working. Worldwide, seven out of 10 people (71 per cent) currently in work, who expect to continue working rather than retiring early, say it is because they want to. Only in Russia, India, the Philippines and South Korea, is there a strong feeling that individuals have to work longer than they would prefer.”

What do these numbers indicate about India? First, ageing Indians are not as fearful of the future as there is a tradition of taking care of the elderly. Second, work is still imposed on Indians; they take up a job because they have to, not because they want to. Perhaps Sarin learnt a thing or two from his formative days at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

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Ten reasons to retire early

10 I want to spend more time with my family

9 I want to spend more time on leisure activities

8 I want to lower my golf handicap

7 Work interferes with what I really want to do with my life

6 I’m not interested in working nights and weekends

5 Once I’ve retired, every day will feel like Saturday

4 In this company, looking busy means more than being productive

3 It’s the ultimate in employee empowerment

2 Instead of contributing to my company’s pension plan, I should be shorting company stock

1 I’m sick of kissing the great white corporate behind

Source: John P. Greaney, The Retire Early homepage