Larsen & Toubro as a company is known for its abbreviations. Each business division is referred to in an abbreviated form.
It is the same with its executives. It is AMN for Mr A.M. Naik, Chairman and Managing Director. His successor as CEO and Managing Director, Mr K. Venkataramanan, is known simply as “KV”.
As AR – or Mr A. Ramakrishna, former Deputy Managing Director of L&T – put it, at one time when there was another KV in Chennai, he was referred to KV Chennai and Mr Venkataramanan as KV Mumbai.
According to Mr Ramakrishna, Mr Venkataramanan is a technically sound and knowledgeable person and a deserving candidate to succeed Mr Naik. He could have been made MD and CEO a little earlier, says Mr Ramakrishna.
He brings with him sound project execution skills combined with technical expertise. The Engineering and Construction division accounts for a bulk of L&T's business.
But, more than the technical capability, what is required are networking skills, which Mr Naik has in plenty.
Therefore, says Mr Ramakrishna, the combination of Mr Naik as Chairman and Mr Venkataramanan as CEO should work well for the company.
The immediate task before Mr Venkataramanan is to grow the overseas business substantially, especially in the context of slowing down of large infrastructure projects in India.
However, Mr Ramakrishna does not feel that there will be a slowdown in the domestic market. Infrastructure expenditure in the 12{+t}{+h} Plan is expected to double over the previous Plan period and L&T with its all-round engineering and project execution capabilities is best suited to execute them.
The bigger challenge before the management, according to Mr Ramakrishna, is to nurture and develop the next level of leadership. There is plenty of young talent in the company and this has to be identified and groomed to take over when the old guard steps down.