L&T CMD bats for longer tenures for heads of public sector companies

New Delhi: Larsen & Toubro Chairman and Managing Director S N Subrahmanyan on Monday said that heads of public sector enterprises should be given longer tenures of around five years, arguing that the frequent leadership changes hurt the conception, planning and execution of large projects.

India has fantastic people with high pedigree and strong implementation capabilities in the government system, but short tenures of one or two years prevent them from taking a long-term view.

The remarks come at a time when the government has increased focus on infrastructure with total capex allocation of Rs 12.2 lakh crore for 2026-27, even as centrally-tracked projects face delays and cost escalations.


"If the term is just one year, two years, the person is coming in and is waiting for his retirement; he cannot have a long-term vision or plan," Subrahmanyan said while addressing the Indian Foundation for Quality Management (IFQM) Symposium 2026.

They should be given a tenure of five years or something like that to conceive and complete projects, he added.

Subrahmanyan contrasted the public sector with private companies, where project directors often remain in their roles for long periods and develop continuity in managing stakeholders and delivery.

"In the government sector, the changes really imperil project implementation ...cost, time, and quality," he said.

According to a monthly government report for August 2026, various infrastructure projects worth more than Rs 150 crore each recorded a cumulative cost overrun of around Rs 2,88,122 crore.

The report, based on an analysis of 1,731 ongoing infrastructure projects across 17 central ministries/departments, found that the total revised cost was Rs 33,60,069 crore compared to their original cost of Rs 30,71,947 crore.

The report, however, did not specify the actual number of projects that faced cost overrun.

The overall expenditure incurred on these projects stands at Rs 16.33 lakh crore, accounting for 48.59 per cent of the revised project cost, indicating steady progress in project implementation, a statement by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) had said.