L&T may do away with the post of MD & CEO in top deck rejig

MUMBAI: Engineering major Larsen & Toubro aims to restructure its top deck as part of its succession plan and will do away with the position of 'managing director and chief executive officer' in its current form after incumbent K Venkataramanan retires in September, chairman AM Naik told ET on Monday.

The $15-billion company has been grooming executives from within the company for leadership roles and SN Subrahmanyan, board member and senior executive vice president (infrastructure and construction), is seen leading the race for the top spot. But people in the know said that the succession plan, to be announced in October, may see appointment of chief executive officers for different businesses who would report directly to Naik.

"There's no need for the post of MD and CEO and we will be making some changes to restructure our top management. Some people will be promoted for leadership roles but the structure of the management would be different," said Naik. L&T's succession plan has been closely tracked for the past five years as many of its top executives, who also hold board seats, begin to retire from this year.

The company was expected to announce new leadership in 2012, when the then chairman and managing director Naik was scheduled to retire, but the company surprised everyone by splitting the post and giving Naik an extension of another five years. Naik continued to be the chairman while Venkataramanan was then appointed as chief executive officer and managing director.

"We have already appointed a new CEO for our hydrocarbon business that was headed by Venkataramanan and we have a new CEO for Infotech. We will ensure that there is continuity in business," Naik said.

In the past two months, L&T has appointed former Infosys executive Sanjay Jalona as the CEO & MD of its wholly-owned subsidiary L&T Infotech and Subramanian Sarma, former Petrofac, onshore engineering & construction executive, MD and CEO of L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, as part of the restructuring. While these two executives were outsiders, the other appointments would be from internal candidates.

"Naik has been highly successful in driving the business and thwarting takeover bids. L&T's business is huge now and it seems he is reorganising it into smaller businesses which could have different chief executives.

This is a good move because then the company would not need a larger-than-life leader for the company as each business head can drive individual growth and the chairman and focus on governance issues," said Arvind Agrawal, former president-HR and corporate development at RPG Enterprises, who is now a managing partner at advisory Lead Associates.

Naik, 72, who completed 50 years with L&T, said earlier this year that before he hangs up his boots, he wants to simplify its complex structure comprising 21 companies into seven broad verticals and initiate and guide the new leadership team for a strategic plan for 2016-21.

In September, along with Venkataramanan, MV Kotwal, who is also a whole-time director and president (heavy engineering), also retires. Company insiders see SN Subrahmanyan, referred to internally and 'SNS' and CFO R Shankar Raman, fondly called 'RSR', both in their mid-50s, emerging as the next leadership team. "L&T's growth was driven by the engineering-finance mix that Naik and YM Deosthalee brought together. We feel RSR and SNS can duplicate that enviable team for its next phase of growth," a senior L&T executive said. Former L&T chief financial officer YM Deothalee now heads L&T Finance.