AT THE HELM
At The Helm - Sekharipuram Narayanan Subrahmanyan, CMD, L & T
- IBJ Bureau
- Nov 09, 2023
The man who sowed the
seeds of a new Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is now in charge of the
engineering and construction behemoth. Sekharipuram Narayanan Subrahmanyan –
better known as SNS – stepped into the big shoes of Anil Manibhai Naik as the
new chairman and managing director of L&T last month.
Yet Mr Subrahmanyan’s new L&T is unique in the sense that it is still
true to its core strengths of construction and engineering. Mr Subrahmanyan’s
commitment to L&T’s roots is but natural, given that the 63-year old new
L&T chief cut his teeth under Mr Naik, who was at the helm of the
engineering conglomerate for over two decades.
In fact, SNS’ new L&T began taking shape way back since 2017. The
changes coincided with Mr Subrahmanyan assuming the role of the CEO and MD in
July 2017. For the past six years as CEO, Mr Subrahmanyan oversaw many changes.
There has been massive expansion of services segment – including information
technology (IT) and financial services – accounting for about 28 per cent of
the company’s consolidated revenue of more than Rs 1,84,000 crore.
A fine blend of the old and the new has facilitated L&T’s core
strength of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model to move
seamlessly into new businesses, like solar energy and data centres, among
others. For instance, the scale of the Mumbai-headquartered company’s solar EPC
projects has grown manifold in the past six years from mere 25-50 mw to a
massive over 1.5 gw.
The courage and conviction behind Mr Subrahmanyan’s adoption of novelty
stem from his four-decade-long association with the company since 1984. Born in
Chennai, young Subrahmanyan completed his civil engineering from Regional
Engineering College Kurukshetra – currently National Institute of Technology,
Kurukshetra, in Haryana. He later pursued an MBA from Symbiosis Institute of
Business Management, Pune, and followed it up with an Executive Management
Programme from the London Business School.
Joining as a project planning engineer of L&T’s construction business
in 1984, Mr Subrahmanyan rose through the ranks of the company. Soon, he began
successfully helming L&T’s largest infrastructure business, including
construction of new airports in major cities, metros, freight corridors, other
major projects across India and expansion of operations across the world.
Besides, SNS was also involved in the successful setting up of ready-mix
business in India for the first time.
For all his achievements, his colleagues point out that Mr Subrahmanyan
is a down-to-earth, simple man, with an eye for detail. They add that he has a
deep understanding of technology, while also always concerned with the
well-being of his employees. With around four decades at L&T, Mr
Subrahmanyan certainly knows the engineering conglomerate like the back of his
hand. And now in charge of L&T, SNS is further set to change the face of
the engineering conglomerate in tune with the present times.
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