PM Narendra Modi's vision is right, give him six more months: Anil Manibhai Naik, Larsen & Toubro
"The 'Make in India' campaign should have been done 20 years ago. Almost everything got imported from China," he says.
MUMBAI: By his own admission, Anil Manibhai Naik, group executive chairman of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has made 2,500 employees millionaires through a generous stock option programme. It helped that the company's market capitalization is up 60 times in the last 12 years. On March 15, he will be the first employee of the Indian engineering giant to finish 50 years. In an exclusive interview with TOI, he talks about the new government, defence opportunities and the future of L&T. Excerpts:
How would you rate the performance of the Narendra Modi-led government over the last nine months?
The high-voltage election campaign raised expectations of people. Normally, such questions would not have been asked if the Congress had come back to power. We are talking about 6.4% growth (previous GDP calculations) in 2015-16 and we are not that excited. The government's vision, direction and strategy are right. I have always said give him another six months as it takes time for all policies to percolate down. The 'Make in India' campaign should have been done 20 years ago. Almost everything got imported from China, due to which hundreds of small companies died. Thanks to the policy of importing everything (earlier) we lose Rs 500 crore per year.
Given the problems of doing business in India, what are some of the things you would like the government to address?
The mother of all industries is infrastructure. Even for the service sector to grow, you need a world-class airport. China has built a world-class infrastructure, while we are at least 25 years behind. Steel production has slowed down with lots of imports taking place. At least 20-30 million tonnes of production got stuck. India must be export hub for four-wheelers and two-wheelers.
How big is defence in L&T's scheme of things?
Defence is now 2% of L&T and we want to take it to 10% in the next five-seven years. There are six submarines which were supposed to have been ordered in 2000.
What does the order book position look like?
Project business is going on. Infrastructure business in India is slow, so we went ahead and got orders worth $7 billion in the Middle East. So, even in the worst of times, our order book improved - 18-20% each year while that of everybody else went down. Right now, our order book is close to Rs 2 lakh crore. But I need Rs 2.5 lakh crore as I grow.
How would you rate the performance of the Narendra Modi-led government over the last nine months?
The high-voltage election campaign raised expectations of people. Normally, such questions would not have been asked if the Congress had come back to power. We are talking about 6.4% growth (previous GDP calculations) in 2015-16 and we are not that excited. The government's vision, direction and strategy are right. I have always said give him another six months as it takes time for all policies to percolate down. The 'Make in India' campaign should have been done 20 years ago. Almost everything got imported from China, due to which hundreds of small companies died. Thanks to the policy of importing everything (earlier) we lose Rs 500 crore per year.
Given the problems of doing business in India, what are some of the things you would like the government to address?
The mother of all industries is infrastructure. Even for the service sector to grow, you need a world-class airport. China has built a world-class infrastructure, while we are at least 25 years behind. Steel production has slowed down with lots of imports taking place. At least 20-30 million tonnes of production got stuck. India must be export hub for four-wheelers and two-wheelers.
How big is defence in L&T's scheme of things?
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Defence is now 2% of L&T and we want to take it to 10% in the next five-seven years. There are six submarines which were supposed to have been ordered in 2000.
What does the order book position look like?
Project business is going on. Infrastructure business in India is slow, so we went ahead and got orders worth $7 billion in the Middle East. So, even in the worst of times, our order book improved - 18-20% each year while that of everybody else went down. Right now, our order book is close to Rs 2 lakh crore. But I need Rs 2.5 lakh crore as I grow.
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