L&T targets Rs.25,000 crore by year 2005

Larsen & Toubro is planning to create two subsidiaries for power and infrastructure projects. While addressing the shareholders of the company at the 54th annual general meeting in Mumbai, the company''s managing director and chief executive officer A.M. Naik said that the new subsidiaries are planned to "leverage financial resources".

L&T is already operating in the power and infrastructure sectors. How these will be incorporated with the new subsidiaries is yet to be clarified.

The company will also set up "world-class capabilities" in areas such as engineering and construction, cement, electricals, construction equipment and information and technology, Mr Naik said. These areas have been identified by the company as thrust areas.

Mr.Naik also said that L&T''s cement capacities will be increased to 12.6 million tonnes per annum from 12 million tpa through a de-bottlenecking exercise. He added that the company will target a turnover of Rs.25,000 crore by the year 2005. For this purpose the management has appointed the Boston Consultancy Group to review the company’s business portfolio. It has also assigned William M Mercer the task of advising the company on human resource issues.

L&T has spun off its excavators manufacturing division into a joint venture with Komatsu, sold off its shipping business and discontinued manufacturing of footwear and computer peripherals.