In size, L&T is unrivaled at home. With sales last year growing 35%, to about $3 billion, the company is nearly five times bigger than Jaypee Group, New Delhi, one of its nearest competitors. And its business scope is wider, not only than that of other Indian contractors, but also of most international firms.

At one end of the scale, L&T is building modest homes for former slum dwellers in land-strapped Mumbai. At the other, this month it completed and shipped a 2,400-tonne gas injection plant to Abu Dhabi from its Gujarat fabrication yard. Metros, bridges, buildings, nuclear powerplants, dams and just about every other piece of infrastructure are also in the company’s portfolio.