India’s heavy engineering to infrastructure major, Larsen and Toubro may not be in a hurry to fill the post of chief executive and managing director, after the incumbent K.V. Venkataramanan retires this month.
““Normally, when the chairman is a non-executive chairman, the CEO and MD’s position is a must. But when there is a group executive chairman, the company may think of a different kind of structure. Whether that means that a CEO and MD is required or not, the board has not yet applied its mind to it. It will in due course,” A.M. Naik, group executive chairman, L&T said after the company’s company’s 70th Annual General Meeting, said,
Naik did not specify what the new structure could be.
“We are going to do a lot of thinking for the succession planning over the next few months. So in two-three months we should have an answer,” he said.
L&T, in April 2012, split the post of chairman and managing director with Naik becoming group executive chairman and continuing to hold executive powers. Venkataramanan, the then whole-time director and president of the hydrocarbon business, was elevated as the CEO and MD. Naik had been appointed chairman and managing director in 2003 but since 2012, Venkataramanan has been looking after the company’s day-to-day business.
Off late, speculations have been rife of SN Subrahmanyan, 54, currently whole time director and senior executive VP (construction and infrastructure) as the next man in waiting to take over from Venkataramanan.
Naik, has on many occasions indicated he has been grooming two insiders for the top job as well as working on building an entire team. However, on Wednesday, Naik did not name any person, who could be in the running for the positions at the helm.
At L&T, Naik said, infrastructure is its core and the segment will continue to grow not just on the back of L&T’s strong position as an infrastructure developer in the market, but also because “many of the company’s competitors are under financial stress”.
As for international presence, Naik said that the need for infrastructure continues to be there in the Middle East, where the company will continue to seek future opportunities. The company is also diversifying into other geographies like Africa and examining a few more.
On the plans of exiting its development projects, Naik said that in real estate the company is looking to sell its entire Chandigarh development, and a port in Kattupalli in Tamil Nadu.
Naik said that he was not too bullish to be disappointed on the pace of reforms taken by the Indian government,. “I am not a great optimist. My formula is think optimistically, spend realistically, but expect conservatively,” he quipped.