Mr. Subramanian Sarma
M. Tech., 1981, Chemical Engineering

Mr. Subramanian Sarma is the fulltime Director (Energy) at Larsen & Toubro Limited. He is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro. He obtained his M.Tech. degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 1981.

Mr. Sarma started his career as a process engineer and assumed the role of ‘Shift-in-Charge’ for operations of a large petrochemical plant at Patalganga (in Raigarh, Maharshtra) at the young age of 26. Thereafter, while working for a renowned international design and consultancy firm, he grew from the rank of Senior Process Engineer to being the Deputy Chief of Process Engineering Department in less than three years. He became the first Asian to be put on par with Western nationals in terms of designations and remunerations at yet another EPC firm.

A seasoned professional with over 39 years of experience covering the entire oil and gas value chain including Executive Management, Business Strategy, Business Development, Project Management and Process Engineering, Mr. Sarma is currently responsible for L&T’s energy portfolio encompassing both hydrocarbon and power businesses and reconfiguring the integrated portfolio to address the global energy transition. Under his leadership, the L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering emerged as one of the leading EPC companies not only in India but also in its key markets globally. His near-instant success saw the firm achieve record financial results, doubling revenues, improving margins, and hitting record order book and Profit After Tax (PAT) numbers.

He is credited with changing L&T’s hydrocarbon and valves businesses within a span of two years. Mr. Sarma brought in the global best practices in health, safety and environment (HSE), governance mechanisms, HR and technology that have invigorated the two companies’ operations and reconfigured them for the next millennia.

For four consecutive years, L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering was ranked among the top 3 in the coveted ‘Top 30 EPC Contractors’ list published yearly by the Oil & Gas Middle East magazine – bagging the top spot in the year 2019. The company was also awarded the prestigious ‘EPC Company of The Year’ Award for 2020 by the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI).

Mr. Sarma is the recipient of the CHEMTECH CEW, Business Leader of the year 2017 for Engineering Services.

Special Memories

“I was overjoyed when I got elected as Mess Secretary for Hostel 2, but that joy was very short-lived. It did not take very long for me to realise that it’s not easy to please all the people all the time, no matter how hard you try. This is also when I learnt that management by consensus is not always possible and could be unproductive. I hugely benefited from these important learnings in my subsequent professional life”.