AM Naik steps down from LTIMindtree & LTTS posts, rules out merger plans

L&T group says at any point it faces workforce gap of 40,000-45,000 labourers and engineers

Chairman Emeritus of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) group AM Naik on Wednesday announced that he is stepping down as non-executive chairman and member of the Board of its IT subsidiary firms LTIMindtree and L&T Technology Services (LTTS). Scotching rumours about an impending merger of the two tech firms, he also denied any churn in the senior leadership at LTIMindtree.

At the same time the group announced SN Subrahmanyan (vice-chairman) as its chairman with effect from June 27, 2024.

“We are very focused on engineering, it’s our core competence. We believe that by mixing IT services and engineering, we will not be able to bring expertise in the engineering segment. We would like to keep these two separate,” Naik said in a media briefing after the annual general meeting (AGM) of LTIMindtree and LTTS.

In 2022, the board of LTI and Mindtree had approved an integration of both the companies, making LTIMindtree the sixth-largest IT services company by revenue and fifth-largest in terms of market cap.

On rumours that LTIMindtree is going through a senior leadership churn, Naik said: “I do not see any change in leadership. We have all of our people, we have a CEO, president of sales and a COO. I do not see any change coming in near future.” Naik was replying to a question that if Debashis Chatterjee, CEO, LTIMindtree, is on his way out as his term comes to an end on November 13, 2025.

Recently, media reports had suggested that LTIMindtree is looking for leadership change with Chatterjee’s tenure coming to an end. Naik said Chatterjee is still with the company for the next 15 months and it is too early to start looking for a replacement.

Meanwhile, the group — which has interest in infrastructure, services, manufacturing, green energy and defence — acknowledged that it is facing workforce challenge.

At any time, the group faces workforce gap of about 40,000-45,000 labourers and engineers. The group, which is also focusing on generative AI and upskilling employees, said that within the ITeS segment, it sees skills gaps of around 20,000.

“At the moment, including attrition, we will need 20,000 engineers for the IT and ITeS business and another 25,000-30,000 labourers for L&T group,” said Subrahmanyan, who is also non-executive chairman of LTIMindtree and LTTS.

Asked if LTIMindtree will look for acquisition, Subrahmanyan said: “We want to grow organically. That is how most of the businesses at L&T have grown and that will be our thrust at LTIM as well. But if there is a very sensible opportunity, we will consider. At the moment, there is nothing on the cards.”