The Hindu Business Line : Larsen & Toubro: Blazing a trail in engineering capability

Another milestone: Mr Murli Deora, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas; Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra Chief Minister, and Mr A.M. Naik, CMD, Larsen & Toubro Ltd (centre), at a function to mark 70 years of L&T and the birth centenary of its co-founder Henning Holck-Larsen, in Mumbai on Friday. - Paul Noronha

S. Shanker

Mumbai, Dec. 21 They may have started out as a company importing cement machinery from Europe. Along the way they built up capability to fabricate some on their own. But today they are present a wide range of projects from constructing atomic power plants to highways.

Seven decades since inception, L&T is one the largest companies in India’s private sector with diversified interests across manufacturing, services and information technology.

An international presence, with a global spread of offices, with factories and offices across the country, this engineering giant enjoys an image and equity in virtually every district of India.

History was made the day the company was founded in Bombay in 1938 by Danish engineers Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro. Beginning with the import of machinery from Europe, L&T took to engineering and construction with increased sophistication each year.

And, today, the company sets benchmarks in terms of scale and complexity almost as a routine. The world’s largest coal gasifier was made in India and exported to China as also India’s first indigenous hydrocracker reactor, besides oil and gas platform projects executed to global standards.

The company built Asia’s highest viaduct for the Konkan Railway. It expertise extended to laying the world’s longest gas pipeline and building an international class football stadium in 260 days.

L&T is acknowledged as a leading fabrication company in the world. Operating at the higher end of the technological spectrum, L&T has led the way by introducing new processes, products and materials in manufacturing as well.

The shipyard segment is representative of the new thrust in strategic growth objectives. The focus is on construction of commercial vessels, warships for the navy and the coast guard.

In construction, ECC – the Engineering Construction & Contracts division– is India’s largest construction organisation. Many of the country’s prized landmarks –exquisite buildings, tallest structures, largest industrial projects, longest flyovers, highest viaducts and the longest pipeline have been built by L&T.

L&T is an acknowledged international manufacturer of a wide range of electrical and electronic products and systems. L&T also offers a wide range of meters and provides complete control and automation systems for industries. Its medical equipment and systems too are widely sold overseas.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd, a 100 per cent subsidiary, offers a comprehensive, end-to-end software solutions and services. It provides a cost cutting partnership in the realm of offshore outsourcing, application integration and package implementation.

L&T also manufactures, markets and provides service support for critical construction and mining machinery.

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