Infrastructure conglomerate Larsen & Toubro is eyeing growth in green energy and plans to technology for sustainable progress in the coming years, S N Subrahmanyan said at the company's 79th annual general meeting on July 4.
"The proactive investment in digital technology and Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) to automate manufacturing processes paid off during the pandemic," Subrahmanyan said as part of his his first speech as the company's new Chairman & Managing Director.
He added that L&T had recognised the the importance of digitalisation in 2016 and currently it leverages a vast array of technologies across its various verticals.
Subrahmanyan said that soon L&T will complete the adoption of frontier technologies like advanced sensors, embedded software and robotics.
"The Company (L&T) has digitally connected over 15,000 assets across its global projects and manufacturing bases to a central IoT platform. All these initiatives enable the Company to make project execution faster, safer, cleaner, economical and more sustainable," Subrahmanyan said.
He added that as part of L&T's 'For A Better World' vision, the company in 2023-24 executed various projects like electrification of more than 3,400 track km of mass transit systems, commissioning 2.2 GigaWatt of solar capacity, 6.2 GW of nuclear power and 3.5 GW of hydel power and creation of 14.8 million sq.ft. of green buildings.
L&T had last year announced that it will invest $12 billion over the next five years, a third of which will be accounted for by green energy.
As part of the same, L&T will also invest at least $2 billion in its first green hydrogen project. The company intends to have 2-3 million tonnes of green hydrogen and ammonia capacity with an investment of nearly $4 billion.
Subrahmanyan also said that generative artificial intelligence has been a "game-changer" for the company and has helped L&T enhance its processes across the project life cycle.
He added that to further develop in-house generative AI capabilities L&T has launched a collaborative platform connecting data scientists with domain and technology experts.
The new L&T Chairman highlighted that L&T outperformed the Nifty 50 growth index with its stock achieving a growth of 77 percent in 2023-24.
He also said that L&T has mitigated geopolitical risk is through geographical diversification, with 62 percent of the company's orderbook being made up of domestic orders, 35 percent coming from the Middle East and the remaining 3 percent from the rest of the world.
"The Company's policy of wider geographical dispersal aids broad-basing the portfolio, yielding positive results, and de-risking exposure to a particular region," Subrahmanyan said.
He also added that L&T is aiming to increase the participation of women employees in the company to 10 percent by 2025-26 and for the same has launched exclusive career-assisting schemes for females and women-friendly facilities in offices.
L&T has also through its corporate social responsibility initiatives benefitted more than 1.6 million people. planted 4 million saplings globally and helped build resilience in rural communities through its Integrated Community Development Programme.
Subrahmanyan also said that in 2023-24 L&T has been a part of all iconic projects in India including the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, Mumbai Coastal Road Project, and Shree Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
Internationally, the Company delivered the 1.8 GWp Sudair Solar PV plant in Saudi Arabia, a gas compression facility in Algeria, and contributed to blue hydrogen infrastructure in The Netherlands, among various other projects.
Last month, Subrahmanyan has said that L&T was experiencing a "severe" shortage of skilled labor across various projects, attributed to factors such as extreme weather conditions and disruptions caused by elections.
S. N. Subrahmanyan took over as Chairman of L&T from A.M. Naik last year under who leadership between 1999 and 2023, the group revenues grew from Rs 5,000 crore to nearly Rs 1,83,000 crore and this surge was achieved largely through organic growth.
Over the same period, the company’s market cap climbed from Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 3,74,000 crore at a compounded annual growth rate of nearly 20 per cent. This enabled L&T to issue bonus four times to its shareholders.
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