Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) on Tuesday said it is committed to making Indian industry self-reliant by building a strong domestic industrial ecosystem.
The engineering and construction conglomerate said it takes pride in being at the forefront of developing projects and products that are all made in India. The statement comes at a time of rising anti-China sentiment after a deadly border clash in Ladakh last week.
“With an unfortunate incident involving our brave soldiers at our border, sentiments are running high in the country. As a company involved in nation-building for more than eight decades, we firmly stand with the policy of manufacturing best-in-class products locally through ‘Make in India’," said S.N. Subrahmanyan, chief executive and managing director, L&T.
Shares of the company surged 6.68% on Tuesday to close at ₹967.8 on BSE after the announcement. Since the start of 2020, L&T has lost 25.49%, against a 14.12% fall in the benchmark Sensex. However, from the March lows, the shares have surged 46.41%, while the Sensex has risen 34.41%.
“We can drastically reduce our dependency on imported products, including those from China, by putting processes and systems in place to develop a large-scale, efficient and cost-effective domestic industrial ecosystem over a medium to long term. The atmosphere is right for that, and we should accelerate this," said Subrahmanyan.
L&T posted a consolidated net profit of ₹3,197 crore in the March quarter, a 6.5% decline year-on-year (y-o-y), despite lower tax costs. Consolidated revenue from operations grew by 2.2% y-o-y to ₹44,245.28 crore in the quarter.
L&T said it is building a strong supply chain of local vendor partners in its businesses, like it did to locally source more than 80% of the parts for its 155mm/52 calibre tracked, self-propelled K9 Vajra-T guns, supplied to the Army.
L&T is also helping the local manufacturing and construction ecosystem involved in producing efficient and cost-effective substitutes for the global market, the statement added.
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