Who is SN Subrahmanyan, L&T chairman under fire over 90-hour work week remark? His company built Ayodhya Ram Mandir and…

Larsen & Toubro is currently hogging the headlines after controversial comments made by its Chairman, SN Subrahmanyan, who advocated a 90-hour work week in India.

After Infosys founder Narayana Murthy’s ‘suggestion’ of a 70-hour work week for India’s working professionals, SN Subrahmanyan, the Chairman and Managing Director (MD) of Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), has come under fire for his remarks advocating a 90-hour work week in the country.

But who is L&T, India’s largest engineering firm and the country 12th most-valued company boasting a market valuation of Rs 497,150 crore? Here’s all you should know about the company which built the Ayodhya Ram Mandir and other landmark projects in India.

About Larsen and Toubro

Larsen & Toubro is an Indian multinational firm with operations in over 50 countries across the globe. L&T, according to its LinkedIn bio, is engaged in EPC Projects, Hi-Tech Manufacturing and Services. According to L&T, it was the first company in India in the engineering and construction space to publicly disclose its sustainability performance.

Founded in 1946 by two Danish engineers, Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro, L&T has been involved in the production of a range of hardware for every project of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). missions.

L&T started out as a private company but became a publicly listed firm in 1950, and over the years, leading business tycoons like Anil Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla, have tried to acquire it.

L&T built Ram Mandir, other landmarks

L&T has developed some of the most iconic landmark projects in India in recent years, including the grand Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya, the Statue of Unity– the world’s tallest statue– in Gujarat, the world’s largest cricket stadium– the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, the world’s largest hockey stadium — the Birsa Munda Stadium– in Rourkela, and the Atal Setu– India’s longest sea bridge– in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Apart from being a titan in the engineering and construction space, L&T also has business interests in the technology, financial services and IT sectors.

In addition to its recent landmark projects, the company has also built several major projects in the past, such as the Amul Dairy factory in Anand, Gujarat, and the blast furnace at the Rourkela Steel Plant, apart from numerous factories, metros and flyovers across the country.

Growth under AM Naik’s leadership

Larsen & Toubro is currently hogging the headlines after controversial comments made by its Chairman, SN Subrahmanyan, who advocated a 90-hour work week in India. However, its the company’s former Chairman, AM Naik, who is largely credited with transforming L&T into a global powerhouse in the engineering and construction space.

Notably, AM Naik, who headed the company for 24 years till his retirement last year, had once been rejected by L&T when he had applied for a job with the firm because preference was given to IITians. But Naik would later join the company as a junior engineer in March 1965, and the rest as they say is history.

Naik would go on to become the CEO of L&T in 199, and later the chairman of L&T Group in 2017. He is credited with taking the company to new heights under his leadership, with the firm’s assets surging to Rs 3.657 lakh crore. Additionally, L&T also diversified its business interests, foraying in defense, IT and real estate sectors, which today account for 90% of the company’s revenue.

AM Naik is currently the Chairman Emeritus of the L&T Group following his retirement last year.