Five years ago, Kulkarni was unanimously chosen by a selection committee to take over as the CEO. The committee, which was chaired by SS Marathe (Sicom), had on its board Anil Ambani of Reliance Industries and the institutions' nominees on L&T board -- G Kharkanis, SP Subedhar and AS Gupta, chose Kulkarni from among MP Wagh, Naik, senior executive directors of L&T and an external candidate, NH Pherwani.

A former vice-president of L&T, Pherwani was with the World Bank then and was favoured by institutions. However, owing to strong resistance from within L&T, institutions opted for Kulkarni who was senior most on the board and acceptable to all. Naik, even then, was a strong contender for the apex position.

Sentiments against appointing an external candidate as the CEO still runs deep withinthe company. With Wagh, president (operations), who heads the switchgear business at L&T, due to retire in April this year, that leaves the 57-year-old Naik as the heir apparent to the post of CEO of the largest engineering and construction company in the country. Within industry circles, Naik is considered a sort of pioneer in ushering in the EPC concept to project execution in the country. He took over the reins of the group less than a decade ago and has been credited in setting up a grassroots world-class heavy engineering works at Hazira and a technology and engineering complex at Mumbai and Baroda. He at present heads the most profitable business in L&T that contributes over 50 per cent to the profits of the company.

What amazes people within and outside the company is that such an obvious choice for the CEO, as successor to Kulkarni, who is due to retire, should have been announced atleast six months to a year in advance as a precursor to a smooth transition as practised in all good companies aroundthe world.