SN Subrahmanyan, Chairman and Managing Director of Larsen & Toubro, has sparked another controversy with his remarks on relocation and job migration. Speaking at the CII’s Mystic South Global Linkages Summit 2025 in Chennai on Tuesday, he highlighted that many Indian workers, including those in the tech industry, are reluctant to relocate for jobs posing challenges for the sector.
Highlighting the labour shortages in the construction industry, Subrahmanyan pointed out that while many countries struggle with migration issues, India faces a unique challenge: people are unwilling to relocate for work. The L&T Chairman noted that workers are increasingly reluctant to take up jobs due to the availability of welfare schemes and financial assistance.
Relocation Issues
He added that the issue goes beyond construction labourers and extends to engineering professionals as well. Subrahmanyan recalled, “When I joined L&T in 1983, my boss said, if you are from Chennai, you go to Delhi and work. Today if I take a guy from Chennai and tell him to go to Delhi and work, he says bye.” He pointed out that the reluctance to relocate is even more evident in the IT sector, where employees prefer remote work over returning to office environments.
Opposition Of Work From Office
He also pointed out that if you ask any tech worker to come to the office today, they would resign. “If you tell him (IT employee) to come to the office and work, he says bye. And that’s a different world altogether. Therefore, it is a funny world which we are trying to live in and many of us wearing slightly more white hair are trying to understand it. We have to see how to live with this world and have policies which are flexible to understand all this and take it forward,” he said, according to a The Economic Times report.
90-Hour Workweek Controversy
Recently, the L&T chairman faced widespread criticism from netizens for his controversial “stare” and 90-hour workweek comment made last month. In a viral video, he asked his employees, “What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife?” He also proposed a 90-hour workweek, including Saturdays and, if possible, Sundays.
Also Read: ‘I Regret Not Being Able To Make You Work On Sundays’: L&T Boss On Work-Life Balance
