Jan 24
The Boom Bell
The Boom Bell
LTIMindtree steps aboard the stock-market, marks the start of a new chapter in India’s IT landscape
 
LTIMindtree, India’s fifth largest IT services company by market capitalisation, was born on 14 November   2022, with the merger of LTI and Mindtree, two leading technology consulting and digital solutions companies of the L&T Group.
 
LTIMindtree marked the commencement of trading on the Indian stock market by ringing the opening bell at the BSE on 5 December.
 
The iconic bell was rung by Mr AM Naik (Group Chairman of L&T Group and Chairman of LTIMindtree), Mr SN Subrahmanyan (CEO & MD of L&T and Vice-Chairman of LTIMindtree), Mr R Shankar Raman (Whole-time Director & CFO of L&T and Non-Executive Director of LTIMindtree) and Mr Debashis Chatterjee (CEO & MD – LTIMindtree). Mr SS Mundra (Chairman – BSE) was also present on the occasion.
 
LTIMindtree is a scaled-up IT services provider with a client portfolio of over 750 global enterprises and a team of nearly 90,000 professionals, with a presence in over 30 countries across five continents.
 
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Naik said, “It is a proud moment for us. LTIMindtree furthers L&T’s strategic vision of growing IT services into one of the core pillars of our overall business. It combines LTI’s engineering and Mindtree’s software DNAs, blending their problem-solving and digital-first strengths into a unique value proposition, further reinforcing L&T’s acclaimed tradition of innovation, excellence, trust and empathy.”
 
Complementing the Group Chairman’s observation, Mr Subrahmanyan underscored that blessed with a rich heritage of growth and innovation, LTIMindtree is all about reimagining the future for the stakeholders, and making it bigger, better, and bolder.
 
“LTIMindtree endeavours to tap into the significant opportunity ahead to not just live the future but shape it too. We look forward to delivering on our promise to our stakeholders by turning our differentiated strategy into sustainable value,” he added.

In his turn, Mr Chatterjee identified the commencement of LTIMindtree share trading as the start of a new chapter in the history of India’s IT services industry.
 
“As a rapidly converging world gives rise to newer business models and revenue streams, LTIMindtree brings the diversity of scale and digital capabilities required to get businesses faster to the future,” he said.
 
As part of the merger, all shareholders of Mindtree have been issued shares of LTI in the ratio of 73 shares of LTI for every 100 shares of Mindtree. The parent company, L&T, holds 68.73% of LTIMindtree. The Record Date to determine the eligible shareholders of Mindtree for issue of equity shares of LTI pursuant to the scheme is 24 November 2022.
 
Marking It Green
 
Celebrating its inception, LTIMindtree planted 100,000 saplings — one for each member of the company.
 
The company implemented this unique green initiative in December across six states – Assam, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana and West Bengal – in partnership with NGO SankalpTaru Foundation.
 
To make it memorable, the company is also issuing personalised certificates of plantation to all its staffers, along with photographs and location details of the saplings planted in their names. Through a web-based, blockchain- powered backend system, the employees will be able to monitor the growth of their saplings.
 
“We believe a green gesture is the most appropriate and responsible way to celebrate the historic inception of LTIMindtree. This articulates our commitment to driving positive change and presents a great opportunity for our talented professionals to actively participate in the green movement,” said Mr Chatterjee.
 
The green cover resulting from this initiative will lead to improved carbon balance, air quality and biodiversity, while providing crucial impetus to rural lives and livelihoods.
Jan 23
Anniversary with Aplomb
Anniversary with Aplomb
The City of Pearls’ metro railway touched a milestone recently
 
Hyderabad Metro, the world’s largest metro railway venture in public- private-partnership, turned five on 29 November. L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd (L&TMRHL) and Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMRL) celebrated the 5th anniversary with pomp and gaiety, as befits such a momentous occasion.
 
Mr NVS Reddy (MD – HMRL) and Mr KVB Reddy (MD & CEO – L&TMRHL) kicked off the celebrations by lighting the auspicious lamp at a glittering ceremony at Ameerpet metro station. Metro commuters and officials from L&TMRHL, HMRL, Keolis, PhonePe, and other dignitaries were present.
 
Together with Mr Rakesh Kumar (Head - Transit & Government Business, PhonePe), they subsequently felicitated top 15 loyal commuters of Hyderabad Metro with gift vouchers.
 
The audience was mesmerised by the Telangana Oggu Katha folk dance and classical music rendition by the KK Sisters. The performance was organised in collaboration with Tatvaa Arts under the aegis of Metro Medley - Hyderabad Metro’s signature programme dedicated to promoting art and culture.
 
Speaking on the occasion, Mr NVS Reddy expressed gratitude to the commuters and to L&TMRHL for creating “this engineering marvel” and providing the best-in-class travel experience to Hyderabad. Expressing joy at the increase of metro commuters by the day, he reiterated the commitment to facilitating an excellent and engaging experience in the years ahead.
 
Mr KVB Reddy showered appreciation on the commuters, metro employees, HMRL, operations & maintenance partner Keolis, and the state government. Hyderabad Metro is committed to providing superlative services to the city as its most trusted green mobility partner, he said.
 
Congratulating the metro team, Mr Rituraj Rautela (Director – PhonePe) said that his company was proud of its role in enabling hassle-free digital tickets and recharge of smart card since 2020.
 
As it rides into its 6th year, Hyderabad Metro is poised to offer an even more value-added travel experience to the people of the City of Pearls.
Jan 23
Growing in Hyderabad
Growing in Hyderabad
LTIMindtree opens a superior collaborative workplace in the City of Pearls
 
LTIMindtree has expanded its Hyderabad operations by setting up a new, state-of-the-art digital experience centre in the city. Telangana’s IT Minister Mr KT Rama Rao inaugurated the facility on 18 November in the presence of senior officials of LTIMindtree.
 
Located in HITEC City, the new facility is spread over 1 lakh sq ft carpet area and can seat more than 1,000 professionals. It portrays the rich culture, heritage, and modern outlook of Hyderabad.
 
The centre is designed as a modern, agile workplace to provide a superior, collaborative working experience to drive cutting-edge research and innovation by leveraging the power of digital to help LTIMindtree’s global clients gain unique customer experiences.
 
It is equipped with the latest technology and automation capabilities and will enable clients to rapidly envision, prototype and implement new-age digital solutions that meet the needs of tomorrow.
 
Commenting on the occasion, Mr Rama Rao thanked LTIMindtree for its continued commitment to invest, grow and create more technology jobs at a record pace in Hyderabad. “Telangana government remains focused on its efforts to make Hyderabad the most preferred hub for technology companies, and LTIMindtree is a true example of how these efforts are paying off,” he said.
 
LTIMindtree COO & Executive Board Member, Mr Nachiket Deshpande, underscored that this new digital centre in Hyderabad will provide further impetus to the company’s endeavour to innovate, solve complexities and deliver simplified, yet seamless solutions to its customers.
 
"Hyderabad is one of India’s leading entrepreneurial, industrial and R&D hubs withrobust educational infrastructure, a rich talent pool and a forward-looking work ethic. We remain committed to leveraging our presence in the city to build cutting-edge digital solutions and foster innovation. We are thankful to Telangana government for its vision, focus and support in enabling companies such as ours to bring their vision to life,” Mr Deshpande added.
 
LTIMindtree has more than doubled its headcount in Hyderabad in the last one year and currently has a staff strength over 16,000 there.
Jan 23
Clinching Competitiveness
Clinching Competitiveness
L&T leadership delivers a crucial message at the annual F&A Meet and CFO Awards 2022
 
The L&T Group’s Annual Finance & Accounts (F&A) Meet 2022 and the 21st CFO Awards were hosted on 8 December at AMN Tower – the conglomerate’s corporate office at Powai in Mumbai.
 
The day-long event, presided over by L&T Whole-time Director & Chief Financial Officer Mr R Shankar Raman, was attended by the Group’s F&A professionals, while several others joined in virtually.  The event was graced by several key leaders of the conglomerate, including the CEO & MD Mr SN Subrahmanyan (SNS), Whole-time Director Mr Subramanian Sarma and Advisor Mr JD Patil.
 
The Meet took off with Mr Sajjid Z Chinoy (MD & Chief India Economist - J P Morgan India) and Mr Nilesh Shah (MD - Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Ltd) sharing their views on the event theme – “Growth Amidst Turbulence”.
 
Both of them predicted robust GDP growth for India over a five-year horizon, provided the economy copes well with the impending volatility over the next year. While complimenting L&T for its commendable performance over the decades, Mr Shah emphasised on the need for L&T to lead “policy advocacy in the infrastructure sector”, concluding with the comment that “what is good for L&T is good for India”.
 
In his opening remarks, Mr Shankar Raman underscored the ‘subtle but strong’ role of F&A in every business function. Urging everyone to challenge the status quo and undertake a thorough review of the cost structure across businesses, he called for waging a war on costs, especially the fixed components, so as to remain competitive.
 
Apart from maintaining an asset-light and capital-light model, Mr Shankar Raman suggested the use of cost accounting to track expenditure and to assess the true contribution of capital. He said that the conglomerate should ideally aim only for those ‘impact projects’ which are critical in terms of realising the Group’s revenue and profit targets as outlined in the Lakshya 2026 plan, but only after thorough stress-testing of all assumptions.
 
He emphasised the need for F&A functions to intensely focus on productivity, aggressively automate processes, and use shared services extensively to put all repetitive processes in a machine-learned format. This would give the business’ F&A teams an opportunity to upskill themselves into an analytical strategic role.
 
Delivering the valedictory address, the CEO & MD Mr SN Subrahmanyan echoed the CFO’s sentiments, saying: “All our business is contractual, we cannot escape L-1”. Reiterating the need to cut cost, he called for resource rationalisation by looking at a shared services model. He underscored that L&T needs to be thorough about the terms and conditions before taking up a contract.
 
Mr Subrahmanyan suggested that an F&A professional be assigned to every project site. Along with the Project Manager, the F&A professional would correctly assess cost, avoiding any last-minute surprises. Additionally, s/he should train youngsters on such assessment skills, he added.
 
The day concluded with the CFO Awards, an annual ceremony felicitating outstanding performers in the F&A fraternity across L&T Group. Growing in stature with each passing year, it provides the employees a great platform to showcase their talent and achievements. The Awards comprise two segments – Contested and Adjudged.

 
CONTESTED CATEGORY
 
  • Young Achiever Award
  • Outstanding Teamwork Award
  • General Proficiency Award

 

This year was exceptional as 129 nominations were received for the contested category, the highest since the Awards were instituted. The nominations were received from across 50 centres comprising of sites/units/offices pan- India, as well as from international locations such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Muscat, Malaysia, Nepal, etc.

The nominations were meticulously screened by Mr WP Parthasarathy and Mr Satish Shenoy, and graded ranging from A+ (highest) to C (lowest). Top three nominations each from the Young Achiever and General Proficiency categories and the top five teams from the Outstanding Teamwork category were given an opportunity to make a presentation at the Award function and were judged by the delegates present, through e-polling. The winners were announced immediately based on the e-results.
 
The rise in the number of high-quality nominations over the previous years was an evidence of the excellent talent pool within the organisation and each of their contributions add value. Mr Subrahmanyan, Mr Sarma and Mr Patil handed over the awards.
 
 
ADJUDGED CATEGORY
 
  • Excellence in Financial Reporting - Projects, Manufacturing & Others Award – L&T Energy -Hydrocarbon
  • Excellence in Financial Reporting - Services & Concessions Award – L&T Financial Services
  • Excellence in Working Capital & Resource Management Award – Heavy Civil Infrastructure
  • Special Award for Excellence in BG
    Reduction – Buildings & Factories
 
The CFO Special Award for Functional Leadership was conferred on Mr WP Parthasarathy (Head - Corporate Audit Services) for upholding the value system of L&T.
 
The event concluded with the customary vote of thanks and a display of in-house talent in which the delegates participated wholeheartedly and enjoyed immensely.
 
 
******************************************
THE CFO AWARDS SCOREBOARD

 

General Proficiency

45 Nominations received

Shortlisted:

• Nishant Kapadia - HE
• Karthik Rajan - LTIMindtree
• Sachin Raut - Corporate Audit Services

Winner:  Sachin Raut, DGM - Corporate Audit Services

 

Young Achiever

27 Nominations received

Shortlisted:

• P R Janani - HC
• Vaishali Rizwani - PT&D
• Sujeet Santosh Dalvi - Corporate Accounts

Winner:  P R Janani, HC - Indirect Taxation

 

Teamwork

57 Nominations received

Shortlisted:

• LTMRHL & Corporate Finance Team
• LTI International Tax Team
• Divisional Corporate – Treasury Team
• Corporate Accounts, Powai
• L&T Finance Holdings Team

Winner:      Divisional Corporate - Treasury Team
Runner-up: LTMRHL & Corporate Finance Team

**********************************************

Jan 23
Saluting the Stars
Saluting the Stars
L&T’s Construction & Mining Machinery arm commends its dealers at annual gala
 
Instituted by L&T’s Construction & Mining Machinery business (CMB), Star Awards commend the customer focus of its dealers in terms of operational and service excellence. The awards are presented at a gala ceremony which follows CMB’s annual All India Dealer Conference.
 
The awards measure a dealer’s performance on both business and process parameters – such as man-machine ratio, mean time to respond and restore, machine-touch activities and first- pick rate. The competence of a dealers’ service engineers, as measured by an annual Skill Inventory Test (SIT), is also considered.
 
SIT is a rigorous evaluation process, involving practical and written tests to check the skillset of the service engineers. SIT alone is considered a prestigious competition, prompting the service engineers to brush up their knowledge and hone their skills to ensure excellent pre- sales and after-sales service to customers.
 
L&T’s rigorous scrutiny and evaluation makes the Star Awards a highly coveted honour, and every dealer aspires to be a ‘5 Star’ dealer. This year, the Dealers Conference and the Awards ceremony was hosted at Jodhpur in Rajasthan on 24 November.
 
L&T CEO & MD Mr SN Subrahmanyan presented the 5 Star Award – the highest in the category – to Mr A Ramasubramanian of GP Enterprises, which is based at Madurai in Tamil Nadu. The 3 Star, 4 Star and Performance Awards were presented by L&T Prayas Trust president Ms Meena Subrahmanyan, Komatsu India MD Mr Y Fujii, CMB Head & Sr VP Mr Arvind K Garg and L&T Sparsh Ladies Club president Ms Sandhya Garg.
 
Mr and Ms Subrahmanyan also jointly presented Mr D Vijayan of Aaycee Excon the Long Association Award for completing 20 years as an L&T dealer.
 
Appreciating the volume of business generated by the dealers, the L&T CEO & MD said that their presence in every nook and cranny of the country has fostered growth.
 
He commended the dealers for consistently offering best-in-class sales and after-sales services as well as readily-available spares to keep the machines up and running. Extolling their dedication in delivering exceptionally high machine uptime, Mr Subrahmanyan lauded their commitment to providing the much-required human touch to CMB’s operations.
 
In his address, Mr Garg underscored that this year’s conference theme ‘Together, We Win’ reflects the joint efforts of L&T, Komatsu and the dealer teams, making L&T the most respected entity in the construction & mining machinery sector.
 
“Thirty CMB dealers employ more than 1000 service engineers, looking after thousands of machines in the field, day in and day out, to keep them running. The dealers create value for customers, which, in turn, strengthens customer confidence in L&T and Komatsu,” he pointed out.
*********************************
CMB STAR AWARDS GALAXY

 5 Star 

G P Enterprises, Madurai

 4 Star 
A S Engineering Associates, Lucknow
Gajanan Motors, Jhansi
Abhinav Industrial Products, Jaipur/Kota
I Equip Corporation, Guwahati

 3 Star 
M S Engineers, Salem
Hiralal Industrial Technologies, Ranchi
AIMS Sales & Service, Ahmedabad
NKB Industrial Products, Bhubaneswar
SRL Earthmoving Solution, Durgapur
SRL Earthmoving Solution, Kolkata
*********************************
Jan 23
A Case for Case Studies
A Case for Case Studies
L&T IPM takes yet another initiative to strengthen the culture of knowledge sharing
 
L&T Institute of Project Management (IPM) has set up a dedicated case centre at its Vadodara campus in Gujarat. Dr C Jayakumar (EVP & Head – Corporate HR) inaugurated it on 2 November.
 
Case centres are popular with leading business schools across the globe. The IIMA and IIMB case centres offer various case study-related services right from providing guidance in writing cases to sales and administering awards for top cases.
 
The newly set up L&T Case Centre will serve as an in-house repository, rather than serving as a platform for external publication. To create the repository, IPM has extended an open invitation to all L&T employees to pen and submit case studies. One can refer to the related FAQs on L&T IPM - K@W (https://kb.lntipm.org).
 
The launch of L&T Case Centre was part of Knowvember, an event that IPM hosts each November to strengthen the culture of knowledge-sharing. It’s a month-long festival that provides an opportunity to L&T’s in-house experts to share within the organisation their rich experience in executing mega projects and portfolios and discuss diverse issues pertaining to the future of mega projects.
 
Organised in association with L&T’s Corporate HR (Learning & Development) wing, the theme of this year’s Knowvember was Strategies for Future Ready Project Management Talent. This is to help L&T’s businesses groom world-class future-ready project professionals who can home in L&T’s strategic plan LAKSHYA 2026.
 
The event kicked off on 1 November in the presence of Dr C Jayakumar (EVP & Head – Corporate HR), Chief Guest Mr Rajesh Mendiratta (MD – Fluor Daniel India Pvt Ltd), Guest of Honour Mr Jagdish Salgaonkar (Chairman – Merchant Ventures), Mr MVN Rao (Head – Corporate L&D, Corporate-HR), and Prof VTCS Rao (Dean – L&T IPM).
 
This followed a series of events through November – panel discussions, talks, enablers for project automation, and so on. Two panel discussions – ‘Dealing with uncertainties in project execution’ and ‘Powering the project management talent’ – were attended by L&T seniors from across verticals.
 
Then, the Watch and Win event enabled participants to visualise the challenges and lessons learned from megaprojects such as the Motera Stadium and the Mauritius Metro. Talks and enablers for project automation proved excellent opportunities for exchanging knowledge on cutting-edge technologies and tools in engineering and construction.
 
Distinguished  international  author Mr Jeremie Averous discussed his book Practical Cost Control Handbook for Project Managers.
Jan 23
Dazzling at DefExpo
Dazzling at DefExpo
L&T’s spectrum of high-end defence offerings creates a buzz at India’s arterial defence show
 
DefExpo 2022, the 12th edition of the biennial marquee event hosted by India’s Ministry of Defence, showcasing land, naval, air as well as homeland defence systems, was held at Gandhinagar in Gujarat from 18-22 October.
 
In addition to the various defence platforms and equipment used in conventional warfare, the event saw the display of advancements in deep sea technologies, cyber warfare, underwater swarm drones, artificial intelligence and space warfare.
 
L&T, India’s largest private-sector defence player, put up a magnificent display of transformational systems, platforms and solutions in the naval, land, unmanned, military communication and space domains at the five- day exhibition.
 
The theme of the L&T pavilion – Digitalise, Globalise,  Customise – complemented the DefExpo 2022 theme Path to Pride. Showcasing a confluence of both conventional and futuristic technologies, L&T’s pavilion was a huge crowd-puller.
 
The spectrum of defence offerings from various L&T verticals – L&T Defence, L&T Valves, Heavy Civil Infrastructure and Smart World & Communication – displayed the benefits of L&T’s bandwidth of solutions. L&T-MBDA Missile Systems, a joint venture led by L&T, also displayed its offerings in a dedicated enclosure adjoining the L&T pavilion.
 
L&T’s systems and products which attracted the attention of senior dignitaries were the unmanned helicopter, close-in weapon system, high-power radar and 155mm/52 calibre gun, network-in-a-box and the rapid deployment communication system solutions.
 
The L&T pavilion was graced by not only the who’s who of India’s Defence establishment but also by defence delegations from other countries, business partners, vendors, industry delegates, media persons and interested citizens.
 
Among the VIPs who visited the L&T pavilion were Union Defence Minister Mr Rajnath Singh. He took keen interest in understanding various systems, including the unmanned vehicles. The L&T pavilion was also graced by the Minister of State for Defence Mr Ajay Bhatt, the Chiefs of Staff of the three services (the Navy, Army and Air Force), DRDO Chairman and the Defence Secretary among the other dignitaries.
 
During his visit, the L&T CEO & MD Mr SN Subrahmanyan appreciated the offerings displayed at L&T Pavilion.
 
Mr AT Ramchandani (Head – L&T Defence) and the senior leadership – including M/s S Ranganathan, Chandrashekhar Rao, Sanjiv Mulgaonkar, Anil Kulkarni, Mahesh Phadke, Laxmesh BH, Harshan Budke, under the guidance of Advisor Mr JD Patil – interacted at length with these dignitaries.
 
Structured business meetings were organised between L&T Defence officials and domestic as well as international customers. It was inspiring to witness young L&T-ites explain the functioning of the innovative platforms and systems to the dignitaries.
 
The learnings and takeaways from this event were high and will be evident in the days to come!
Jan 23
Bigg Boss of Safety
Bigg Boss of Safety
L&T’s Hyderabad Metro leveraging entertainment to augment safety awareness
 
People tend to imitate celebrities. And to leverage this, L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited (L&TMRHL) and Star Maa have jointly launched a public safety awareness campaign in Hyderabad Metro with Bigg Boss Telugu as the centrepiece.
 
Bigg Boss host and superstar Mr Akkineni Nagarjuna and Mr KVB Reddy (MD & CEO – L&TMRHL) kicked off the 100-day campaign – Bigg Boss Is Watching You – with a poster launch on 12 November. The campaign is to promote safety measures that one needs to adhere to while on Hyderabad Metro.
 
“Bigg Boss is genuinely entertaining and is a great vehicle for communicating the crucial message of safety. This initiative will certainly raise the safety awareness of the metro commuters. I’m glad to see that both Star Maa and L&TMRHL are committed to such a creative and subtle initiation,” Mr Nagarjuna said on the occasion.
 
Giving L&TMRHL’s perspective, Mr Reddy said: “As part of our third collaboration with Star Maa Bigg Boss Telugu, Hyderabad Metro rail is delighted to be the travel partner for the Bigg Boss Telugu Season 6. The ‘Bigg Boss is Watching You’ campaign as part of the partnership, and aims to increase safety awareness and safe travel practices.”
 
A Star Maa spokesperson underscored that Disney and Star India are committed to leveraging the entertainment platform for delivering communication that improves the lives of millions. The collaboration with Hyderabad Metro for the public safety awareness campaign is a step in that direction.
 
As part of the campaign, the entry-exit, concourse, and check-in areas of all the 57 metro stations in Hyderabad have been covered by awareness materials. Also, a customised jingle with safety message is broadcast in every metro train. 
Jan 23
Diplomat at the Metro
Diplomat at the Metro
As part of a ‘Corporate Connect’ programme, the new British Deputy High Commissioner to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Mr Gareth Wynn Owen paid a visit to Hyderabad Metro on 28 October.
 
Several senior officials of Hyderabad Metro joined Mr KVB Reddy (MD & CEO – L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Ltd) and Mr NVS Reddy (MD – Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd) in welcoming Mr Owen.
 
After a film on the journey of Hyderabad Metro Rail and a presentation, Mr Owen visited the Operations Control Centre where he was briefed. He later planted a neem sapling there to express commitment towards environmental sustenance.
 
On a guided metro ride from Nagole to Begumpet, Mr Owen enjoyed both the cityscape and a chat with the Metro officials. He was impressed by L&TMRHL’s focus and commitment in running the efficient green and clean metro railway system.

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