Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) has begun the process of revamping its top leadership team, as the retirement of chairman and managing director
A. M. Naik draws near.
Naik, who rose through the ranks to head the conglomerate, is set to retire in September 2012 and succession planning is on.
According to Naik , his successor would be named by March 2012 so that he would be able to groom the candidate for six months before his retirement. McKinsey & Co and other consultants are in the process of selecting the new leader.
To ensure operational efficiency Naik has decided to
split different businesses of the L& T into separate independent companies that would have separate boards, which would report to the L& T board. These structural changes would be completed before Naik calls it a day.
Meanwhile, as part of the succession plan, L&T has decided to elevate S. N. Subrahmanyan to the post of whole-time director on the board, with effect from July 1, 2011.
Currently, Subrahmanyan is senior vice president and head of independent companies in the buildings, factories and infrastructure areas.
Subrahmanyan will replace K. V. Rangaswami, whole-time director & president (construction), who will retire from the board in June, 2011. Rangaswami currently heads the construction businesses of L& T. Subrahmanyan, 51, is a civil engineer with post graduate qualifications in business management.
He joined L& T in 1984 as a project planning engineer and was soon handpicked for senior responsibilities, the company said.
He played a pivotal role in securing and managing EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contracts for construction of four major international airports at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai.
Subrahmanyan is the second new inductee on L& T's board.
Earlier, Ravi Uppal, who was hired to head L& T's power business a couple of years ago, was also elevated to the board. At the time, Uppal was also seen as the likely successor to Naik.
Courtesy: Mail Today 
L&T chairman A M Naik 
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