THE NATIONALIST BY MINHAZ MERCHANT
The Nationalist by Minhaz
Merchant ; Published by Harper & Collins ; Pages 258 ; Price. Rs 799/-
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Minhaz Merchant is the Founder of the firm “ Sterling Newspapers
Ltd” which was absorbed by the Indian Express Group. A regular columnist,
Merchant has a number of books to his credit including the biographies of
Narendra Modi and Aditya Birla.
The book under review is the biography of a company and its maker.
It is about Anil Naik and Larsen & Toubro ( L&T)where he served for 53
years and was the Leader for the last 18 years. L&T was founded by
two Danish engineers in 1938. Soren Kristian Toubro and Henning Holck -Larsen.
The two knew that when India achieved Independence indigenous industry would
present entrepreneurs the opportunity of a lifetime.
L&T’s business include high-end technology and engineering
services, finance and global infrastructure. L&T has an impressive breadth
of operations, range of heavy engineering skills and the ability to design,
develop and execute some of the world’s most challenging infrastructure
products.
The company is globally unique—it builds nuclear reactors, nuclear
powered submarines, systems for satellites and missiles, artillery guns, oil
and gas platforms, airports and metros. It has a large footprint in
infrastructure, infotech, finance, technology services and realty.
L&T played a huge part in the major products of India—the
Tata Chemicals plant ,Anand Milk Dairy and Reliance Refinery. It is important
to note that about 80 % of the gasoline processed in the U S and 90% of
gasoline processed in Canada has passed through the chemical reactors of
L&T in Hazira. L&T.s Hazira manufacturing complex, Vadodara’s Knowledge
City and the Kattupalli Shipyard symbols of world class.
When L&T bought land
for Hazira, 50 per cent of the land used to get covered with sea water during high
tides. L & T had transformed it into one of the greatest manufacturing
facilities in the world. L&T’s Kattuppali Shipyard near Chennai, built with
assistance of Japan has a 21,000 tonne shiplift—one of the largest in the
world. This enables it to pluck a ship out of water and place it on land where
it can be repaired. This is eloquent proof of their engineering skills and the
vision of one man—A.M.Naik.
With an annual
turnover of over $ 17 billion in 2016-17 and a market capitalisation of nearly
$ 25 billion. L&T is one of India’s ten largest companies on both
parameters. It has just under 1,00,000 full time employees and 2,50,000
others employed on ongoing projects. International projects contributed 34
percent of its annual revenue. In India only a few companies in the private
sector that are considered “strategic " and L&T is one of them
and an attempt to takeover the company was thwarted by the PMO.
Naik is the entrepreneurial professional who has risen through the
ranks without patronage, who treats his employees like stakeholders and has
created a culture of innovation and technological excellence. The combination
of toughness and a caring approach towards employees has made L&T one of
the most advanced companies of India.
Naik became CEO of
L&T at the age of fifty-seven. At 61 he became the Chairman. He
successfully demerged and the Company’s cement business to Aditya
Birla group. He set up the L&T Employees Welfare Foundation which ensured
the ownership of the company remained with the employees.
Naik’s philosophy and
thinking on take-over are worth recalling. “To me L&T is a temple and I
consider myself its keeper. If anyone tries to take over L&T, I’m like a
wounded tiger. I will do everything in my power to ensure that L&T stays
independent and adheres to the highest standard of governance. In fact it was a
takeover attempt that allowed me to unlock L&T’s value by demerging the
cement business and creating the L&T Employees Welfare Foundation. While
the cement demerger created a more focused L&T, it also yielded greater
value to the employees. They became stakeholders in a true sense and began to
see the need to increase the value of the company. The Welfare Foundation
ensured that the company was protected from further takeover bids”
Without doubt Naik
is not a part of day-to-day business but an important partner in nation
building. He has distinguished himself by his work-ethics, vision,
meticulousness and skill in dealing with people. Minhaz Merchant
successfully portrays the transformation of Naik from his ancestral village
Endhal near Kharel to the highly industrial city of Bombay. The nationalism
of Naik is one of economic development of India with an emphasis on security.
“The Nationalist is not about the nationalism that suffers from political
or ideological restraints” according to Merchant.
Shri. Gurumurthy’s
assessment of Naik is worth recalling. He wrote, “Naik’s capacity to understand
is amazing. He is always one step ahead of his financial people. One step
ahead of the tax professionals. He has an amazing mind and is a
multi-dimensional personality.” .
This is a good account of the life and times of a great man
and a great company of which he was the Father.
“Naik” and “L&T” are interchangeable.
P.P.Ramachandran.
28/01/2018
Tit bits
1.“Of the 104 satellites that were launched from a single rocket in
February 2017 by ISRO the central part was made by L&T.”—P 54.
2.The bridge in David Lean’s classic film “The Bridge on
the River Kwai” that was blown up was built by L&T.— P 148-9
PPR
28/01/2018
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