L&T: Navigating a stormy world

There is always a technology, a client, or specialized people that you can acquire S.N. Subrahmanyan Chairman, Larsen & Toubro

- Nehal Chaliawala, Satish John & Ravi Krishnan

Larsen & Toubro (L&T), India's largest infrastructure builder and a prominent player in IT services, is developing a new five-year strategic plan amid an uncertain global business climate and rapid technological advancements that are prompting business leaders to reevaluate their strategies. In an interview, chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan said the company's focus will be on growth in India and the Middle East. While its core projects business is currently reaching new heights, the company has identified four key areas for growth. Edited excerpts:

How much risk do you think the international business is under, considering the US tariffs and the general volatile global environment?

Some of these issues are too big for me to understand or discuss. The way you need to look at it is, where you are, are you able to get business? And do you have a positive outlook? Wherever we are, we seem to be doing good, and we seem to be having a positive outlook. In some of the businesses, due to various reasons, there are supply chain, logistics and trade issues we are facing today. I have a feeling that in the end, rationality will prevail and many of these things will get sorted out. Because the world has to do business, and economies have to find their own fundamentals.

Besides the geopolitical issues, there are other big shifts happening, including the advent of AI. How is L&T navigating these?