THE NATION BUILDER AT L&T

A.M. Naik has built L&T to its impressive size, the behemoth of today, added new lines of businesses, and unlocked huge value for shareholders.

- P.B. JAYAKUMAR

“WHILE CREATING value for our shareholders, we never lost sight of our overarching goal — we are here to serve the nation,” says A.M. Naik, the 80-year-old, who stepped down as group chairman of L&T on September 30. Naik, who wears the Indian national flag on his chest on most occasions, has also designed a golden flag with L&T’s logo in the middle, which he proudly displays in the middle of two national flags at the company’s select office conference rooms in Mumbai and other L&T offices.

Naik takes pride in the national assets L&T made or continues to make — stadiums, refineries, airports, metros, bullet train, marquee buildings, space and nuclear programmes, defence and shipyards. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2009 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2019.

“I never took leave. I worked even on Sundays and about 16 hours every day,” Naik tells Fortune India at his colonial bungalow, High Trees, in Mumbai’s Pali Hill area.

Naik joined Larsen & Toubro in 1965 as a junior engineer with a salary of ₹650 a month, became its CEO in 1999, and chairman and MD in 2003. Even his critics agree that Naik built a large part of the L&T of today — from just ₹6,883 crore in net sales in 1998-99 to ₹1.83 lakh crore in 2022-23. Market capitalisation grew from ₹5,815 crore to ₹3.04 lakh crore during the period. The company has entered all possible business adjacencies, many from scratch, while selling off 16 non-core businesses. L&T, which was in over 80 businesses at one time, now operates as 9-10 ‘independent companies’, as Naik fondly says.