'Ajit is an extraordinary man'

Ajit Jain-rumoured to succeed Warren Buffett as head of Berkshire Hathaway-came in for praise with the legendary investor calling Jain an "extraordinary human being". HT reports.

Ajit Jain-rumoured to succeed Warren Buffett as head of Berkshire Hathaway-came in for praise with the calling Jain an "extraordinary human being".

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Jain, who has been with the Buffett-led conglomerate for over 25 years, is in charge of the Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group.

Buffet is in Bangalore to visit the local arm of TaeguTec, a unit of Israeli metal-cutting tool maker ISCAR Metalworking, in which Berkshire has a majority stake.

He told a news conference that "Ajit (Jain) was an extraordinary human being."

"I feel of him as a brother or a son ... Ajit has probably made more money for Berkshire than I have. He loves what he does, and I am thankful to the people of India for giving me Ajit," the Berkshire chief said.

This is not the first time the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur and Harvard University-educated Jain has come in for praise from Buffet.

"Ajit (Jain) insures risks that no one else has the desire or the capital to take on. His operation combines capacity, speed, decisiveness and, most importantly, brains in a manner that is unique in the insurance business," Buffett wrote in his 2010 annual letter to shareholders recently.