Alan Rosling, executive director, Tata Sons Limited, said on Monday in New York that it will be a sad day for the Tatas if the project to manufacture Nano, the company's Rs 1-lakh small car that has generated worldwide interest, cannot succeed in Singur, West Bengal.

"I do not want to comment on the Nano project in Singur because my job is only to look after the Tata Group's internationalisation," Rosling, who had studied in India and had been living in the country for a long time, said.

In response to a question on Singur he said even if he was aware of what the company's step would be in Singur he would not have commented because the situation there is complicated.

"There are discussions and talks by many people over the project over there and, therefore, any comment by me at this time is not going to help the situation," Rosling said at the 5th Annual Investment Forum in New York where he was the luncheon keynote speaker.

He, however, admitted that setting up the Nano project in West Bengal was to help the state. "It was a genuine desire (on our part) to help in the reindustrialisation of the state. So if we do not have success -- and I do not know whether Nano will come out or not from West Bengal --  I think it will be sad (not just) for us but it will be sad for the people of West Bengal," he said.

"After all, I am married to a Bengali," he quipped.