Larsen and Toubro is aiming to double the order book to Rs 15 lakh crore by FY31, a top official said on Wednesday.
As the engineering, procurement and construction company grows globally, the share of the revenues from India will decrease to 40 per cent in the next five years from the present 50 per cent, its president and whole-time director finance, R Shankar Raman, told reporters here.
“Our order book will double to Rs 15 lakh crore by 2031 from the present Rs 8.5 lakh crore, if the pace of new ordering grows at 15 per cent per year,” Raman said.
At present, the revenues from domestic business and global operations are evenly split, he said, adding that as we go forward, the share of overseas revenues will grow.
Currently, the company’s overseas order book stands at USD 45 billion, of which USD 30 billion is from the Middle East alone, he said, outlining that Saudi Arabia leads the pack among the Gulf countries and is followed by the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.
He said there has not been any impact of the Houthis’ attacks on Saudi Arabia, explaining that the rebel group is choosing existing assets and hence, the under-construction projects are safe.
The company has nearly 150 operational sites in the Middle East, and all of them are operating well since the start of the West Asia conflict, he said, admitting that there are challenges around sending shipments to the region and also higher logistics and insurance costs that the company has to deal with.
In the next five years, the India share of the revenues can slip to 40 per cent from the present 50 per cent, the Middle East will be 40 per cent, and there can be a third geography like Europe, Central Asia, Africa or Far East which can occupy the remaining 20 per cent, Raman said.
The company, which has shifted strategies to having stronger balance sheets and not bigger profits alone, has more comfort to execute projects in the Middle East over the ones in India, Raman said, pointing to execution challenges in its home market.
In the Middle East, the entire project is well documented with clarity on land acquisition, finance, etc., and the contracts are also “sacrosanct”, whereas in India, it “discovers nuances” as a project goes along, which lead to the timelines in execution getting extended by 20-25 per cent, he said.
As the proportion of the Middle East grows, the company has been able to reduce its net working capital ratio down to 1.7 per cent in the September 2026 quarter from over 30 per cent when India’s share of revenues used to be higher.
The return on funds employed is better in the Middle East, and over the last five years, it prefers balance sheet strength over the profit and loss account strength, he said.
Five years ago, India contributed three-fourths of revenues for the company, and only a fourth used to come from overseas markets, he said.
Amid concerns on the margins front, he said the operating environment was among the reasons for a contraction but added that the company’s margins are better than its global peers.
The company is a net exporter, and any depreciation in the domestic currency helps it, Raman said.
Among the global projects which are coming up, Raman said L&T is keeping tabs on a subsea power transmission line between Morocco and the UK via Germany, a four-year, Rs 50,000-crore opportunity in the wind energy sector in Europe to build a heavy platform to convert AC to DC power, and also an airport and data centre in Uzbekistan.
In India, it sees the wind and nuclear energy sectors throwing up good opportunities, according to Raman. In offshore wind, India has to solve a challenge where the eastern coast offers good ground to erect infrastructure while the wind is on the western coast, he said, adding that while the Shanti Act has addressed problems around liability, the industry is not fully convinced.
The company is also facing challenges with the Jal Jeevan Mission work, where it is handling a total of 69 contracts, he said, adding that the execution timelines are feared to double to six years because of stop-work orders due to some perceived troubles on the governance front in some of the contracts, which led to a payments freeze and a subsequent stalling of work by the company.
Underlining that the water space is important, Raman said the company has taken a call to stay off projects of taking water to the last mile but is very keen on implementing other projects like desalination plants which are bound to become very essential.
The company is burning about Rs 100 crore of cash per quarter on the semiconductors business, he said, adding that the investments are essential given the revenue potential it holds.
In India, a large part of its focus is on automating repeat tasks, which would include deploying robots for painting and welding, he said, adding that it has developed a Rs 300-crore centre in neighbouring Raigad district’s Khalapur centred around serving the business’ automation needs.
Efforts on automation will help reduce the worker shortfall of about 60,000 that it currently faces, Raman said.
It continues to hire engineers and post-graduates at the same clip as previously but has reduced the hiring of lower-level employees, he said. There is a mismatch between the skills taught at university level and the industry’s requirements, he said, stressing the need for concerted efforts to bridge the gap.
Published on October 28, 2026
