Lunch with BS: Ravi Uppal

Powering L&T

L&T Power’s head is concentrating on growing the business just as he did at ABB India, and refuses to entertain gossip that he could be L&T’s group chief in the future.

As head of Global Markets at engineering major ABB from 2007 to 2008, Ravi Uppal was literally on top of the world. He had to fly 600,000 miles a year — this prompted Lufthansa to present him the HON Circle card that entitled him, among other things, to a limousine service right up to the tarmac without any security check. But the exalted existence meant long absences from home in Zurich, and Uppal felt he would not mind coming down to earth if a suitable homecoming opportunity came his way, writes Shyamal Majumdar.

So when Larsen & Toubro Chairman A M Naik offered him the L&T Power job, Uppal didn’t mind giving up his 18-year long association (in two stints) with ABB and made the trip from Zurich to Vadodara’s Knowledge City where he now lives. He received a welcome that is reserved for the jamai (son-in-law) in an Indian household — again, almost literally. Though Uppal expresses surprise when I tell him this, the buzz is that Naik introduces Uppal to his close circle of friends as someone who is like L&T’s son-in-law.

It’s obvious that both have a huge professional regard for each other. While Naik says it is a privilege to have Uppal around, the latter says Naik’s energy level and his contribution to L&T are simply astounding. No surprises therefore that the buzz in corporate circles is that Uppal is possibly being groomed for the L&T top job after a brief transitional arrangement following Naik’s retirement. Both vehemently deny this: Uppal says he is happy doing his bit at L&T Power and giving inputs to the management committee when required, Naik says this is all pure speculation as any decision about his successor can be taken only by the board. The buzz, however, simply refuses to die down, possibly because Uppal — the only MD in L&T’s subsidiaries — comes to the group with impeccable global credentials. But more on that later.

We are at India Jones at the basement of The Oberoi — a venue chosen by Uppal more for convenience than any particular liking for the food there. He had meetings nearby, both before and after lunch. Uppal says one of the key things he has been able to bring in during his eight-month stint as the MD & CEO of L&T Power is “a sense of urgency”. I had already got a taste of that ‘urgency’ as our lunch appointment had to be cancelled twice as he was stuck — first in Hyderabad and then in Vadodara — with important assignments, and the venue of the lunch had to be shifted thrice during the same day. The Grand Hyatt was the first venue, which shifted to Sahara Star, but he finally settled for The Oberoi as his meeting had shifted to south Mumbai.

Uppal’s urgency is evident once again as the menu comes. While I take my own time before asking the steward for help, Uppal’s ordering is over in a jiffy: Salad, steamed rice and red chicken curry.

Just nine months into his new job, Uppal says he is all charged up, it offers challenges like a start-up that are “tremendously exciting”. He sees power becoming a $5 billion business in the next five years, contributing almost a quarter of L&T’s expected revenues of around Rs 100,000 crore that time. The power business now accounts for 16 per cent of L&T’s revenues of Rs 40,000 crore.

“You should come to Vadodara to see the massive work that’s going on at the Knowledge City. I am planning to increase L&T Power’s manpower from around 2,000 to 10,000. It’s indeed a privilege to have got this opportunity,” Uppal says with visible excitement. Despite all the hype over renewable and nuclear energy etc, Uppal says the dominance of thermal power will continue for many years to come. Of the total power generated globally every year, 68 per cent comes from thermal, 14 per cent each from nuclear and hydel and around 4 per cent from renewable resources. The share of thermal may come down to 60 per cent eventually, but that’s still a huge number, for which L&T Power has to be ready for.

He shouldn’t have any problems in achieving his ambitious plans for L&T Power, considering what he achieved at ABB India. When he returned to the power and automation technologies company in 2001 after a five-year stint as the founder MD of Volvo India, ABB was chugging along morosely at what analysts dismiss as the Hindu rate of growth. He caught ABB by the scruff of its neck and dragged it, kicking and screaming, into the real world. Consider the results: In seven years, revenues grew to $1.5 billion from $227 million, and profits at a compound annual rate of 40 per cent — from $14 million to $125 million.

Uppal is also immensely proud of his five-year tenure at Volvo — a job offer that had surprised him as his knowledge of buses or trucks at that time was limited to, he says, the fact that these vehicles had four wheels. But the Volvo bosses were insistent as he knew Sweden and India well enough and selected him to set up Volvo’s operations in India from scratch. When the Asia Pacific region chief and he met the Volvo worldwide chairman to seek permission for manufacturing Volvo buses in India, the gentleman agreed reluctantly, with a warning: If the experiment failed, he would have to resign.

The rest is history, and Volvo became almost a generic name for Indian luxury buses in India. The profits were incidental, Uppal says. What was really “gratifying” to Uppal was the role he played in touching the lives and raising the self-esteem of a forgotten section of society, the truck drivers. Procurement managers first questioned why air-conditioned cabins for trucks were required, but when it was pointed out that looking after drivers well greatly increased productivity, they sat up and took notice. Volvo’s technology and products have changed the face of Indian bus travel and greatly hiked productivity in areas like mining and construction.

Fifty seven-year old Uppal is an extra-light eater (yoga and regular exercise are the other reasons why he looks so much younger), as he politely declines the steward’s offer for a second helping. He is in a mood to talk about his experiences of what has been a stupendously successful career. The son of a government officer (Uppal still misses those lovely quarters of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute where his father was posted), he was a topper all through in his academic career and followed the usual route: IIT Delhi and then IIM Ahmedabad. The latter was, of course, through happenstance as he was eager to go to Stanford for his post-graduation, but couldn’t as there was a tragedy involving a family member in the US and his parents wouldn’t let their eldest child go to the same country. Uppal made up for this much later in life by pursuing a management programme at Wharton.

Uppal says he was lucky to have landed his first job as an executive assistant to V Krishnamurthy, then chairman of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, who, he feels, was one of the greatest institution-builders he has ever worked with. He learnt from Krishnamurthy the need for levelling the hierarchical structure in a company. At ABB, for example, he did away with cabins in the offices and opted for open-plan seating. The other thing was the use of technology:

Following the organisation-wide implementation of enterprise software SAP at ABB, at 6:30 every evening, Uppal’s computer flashed a single-screen analysis of the day’s work, across 10 factories, six regional offices, 27 branches and nearly 40 projects. The real-time position on inventories, receivables, expenses and profitability was available at a glance. Uppal is eager to replicate the same in L&T Power too — soon.

The sense of urgency is visible as Uppal refuses dessert and starts looking at his watch as he is getting late for his next meeting. Even as we walk up to the lobby, Uppal says he is passionate about his work, but makes it a point to holiday with his family (his daughter is at the London Business School and son is an investment banker at Morgan Stanley) for 10 days a year. And Sundays are reserved entirely for his wife — last week, for example, he went to see the latest Bollywood flick Kaminey. “At least, the movie helped me to think about something other than work for three hours,” Uppal says. That itself should be a great achievement for the Bollywood potboiler.