After 90-hour workweek lashings for L&T Chairman, InfoEdge founder comes to his defence, ‘humble, amiable, affable…’

After widespread backlash against Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Chairman SN Subrahmanyan for his comments on the 90-hour workweek for employees, InfoEdge Founder and Executive Vice Chairman Sanjeev Bikhchandani has come forward in defence of Subrahmanyan.

In a long post on X on Sunday, Bikhchandani detailed a meeting with Subrahmanyan in November 2024, praising the L&T leader for his “humble, amiable and affable” nature.

The Meeting With SN Subrahmanyan

Bikhchandani took to social media platform X on January 12, writing, “A couple of months back I got this email out of the blue. I had never met Mr. Subramanyan, however it is not everyday that the CMD of a giant company like L&T calls you for a meeting. So I went. He spent an hour with me.”

Detailing the meeting, he added, “He was curious about my story. Entrepreneurship. Investing in startup’s. All things digital etc etc. There was no agenda except that he wanted to learn. ”

Bikhchandani also shared his impression of the L&T Chairman, “He struck me as humble, amiable and affable. And he told me about his career and his family.”

On Exchanging Business Ideas, Thoughts

“At the end of the meeting I asked him how much cash L&T had. He gave me a wild number - Rs. 50000 crs I think (not sure). I advised him to deploy some if it judiciously in startup’s. India needs domestic Venture Capital I told him and a company with a balance sheet like L&T could take the lead,” Bikhchandani shared.

He added, “And then I explained the kind of returns Info Edge has earned on Zomato and Policybazaar. We agreed to meet again and discuss ideas.”

The founder said he was “impressed” with meeting Subramanyan, “I walked away impressed. He was decent enough to walk me to my car,” he ended the anecdote. He also attached the email invite for the meeting as proof.