The successor of the diversified Larsen & Toubro's Group Executive Chairman A M Naik is expected to be announced by September 2017, and by all indications, the current Deputy MD and President S N Subrahmanyan is the front-runner.
"Since Subrahmanyan has been appointed the Deputy Managing Director and President and he is the only one at that level, anybody visibly can see him as number 2. I don't see anybody coming from outside to be able to run this company," Naik said while interacting with reporters.
"Therefore, you can surmise that he has a pretty good chance to be (the next Chairman). It may happen sometime next year before September." Naik, who has spent more than 50 years with L&T, will retire in September 2017 when he turns 75. He has also embarked on a "succession plan" to build a complete team and select his successor.
"Ours is a very complex structure with 82 businesses. So, we have to plan accordingly. I have groomed Subrahmanyan for the last 10 years and aggressively in the last three years," he let out.
Asked whether Subrahmanyan would take over as the Chairman and CEO, Naik replied, "There will definitely be a chairman. Whether it is an executive chairman or a non-executive chairman is yet to be decided." In 2012, when Naik was to retire and new leadership announcement was expected, the company split the post of chairman and managing director, retained Naik as chairman, extended his tenure and appointed K Venkataramanan as CEO and MD.
Later in 2015, when Venkataramanan was about to retire and an announcement on succession was expected, the company elevated Subrahmanyan as the deputy MD and president.
Subrahmanyan, who in 1984 started as a project planning engineer at L&T, was appointed on the company's board in 2011.
In his three decades at L&T, Subrahmanyan was instrumental in driving many of the company's large infrastructure and construction projects, including construction of international airports in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai.
He also headed major international projects, including metro systems in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
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