[9] Henning Holck-Larsen and Søren Kristian Toubro were in India to represent the interests of the Danish dairy equipment manufacturer FLSmidth when they founded L&T through an oral agreement in 1938.

[7] The start of World War II in 1939 and the resulting blockade of trade, led Larsen and Toubro to undertake jobs and provide service facilities.

The war-time need to repair, refit, and degauss ships offered L&T an opportunity, and led to the formation of a new company, Hilda Ltd, to handle these operations.

The internment of German engineers in India who were to construct a soda ash plant for the Tata Group gave L&T a chance to enter the field of installation.

At the end of the war, large numbers of war-surplus Caterpillar equipment were available at attractive prices, but the finances required were beyond the capacity of the partners.

The Indian government would then assign the production work to a public sector defence unit or ordnance factory for manufacture.

[31] In November 2012, it was sold to Skanray Technologies Pvt Ltd.[32] Currently, L&T Mysore division manufactures Single-phase and Three-phase static solid-state Electricity Meters to various utilities in India.

The company was engaged in design & development, manufacture and supply of special welding electrodes, gas brazing rods and fluxes, welding torches and accessories, atomised metal powder alloys, flux cored continuous wires & wire feeders, polymer compounds & wear-resistant plates.

L&T sold its entire stake in unlisted subsidiary EWAC Alloys to UK-registered ESAB Holdings for a total consideration of Rs 522 crore.

In November 2009, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) sold its petroleum dispensing pump (PDP) business to Gilbarco Veeder-Root, a US-based payments systems company, for around Rs 150 crore.

With the completion of acquisition, L&T's PDP business will become part of a new division called Gilbarco Veeder-Root India Pvt Ltd.[34] This was a joint venture of L&T and Kobe Steel of Japan, to manufacture internal mixers and twin screw roller-head extruder's for the tyre industry.

L&T sold its entire 51% stake in L&T Kobelco Machinery Private to its joint venture partner in the company, Kobe Steel of Japan, for Rs 43.5 crore.

[44] An agreement has been signed by Nibe Space, a division of Nibe Defence and Aerospace on 9 September 2024, with Larsen & Toubro, Skyroot Aerospace, Centum Electronics, AgniKul Cosmos, SpaceFields, Sisir Radar and CYRAN AI Solutions for the launch of India's first constellation of multi-sensor, all-weather, high-revisit Earth observation satellites.

[53][55][54] Shortly after the video went viral, Meena Subrahmanyan, his wife, became the target of widespread trolling on social media due to her husband's remarks.

[56] Subrahmanyan justified this stance by citing a conversation with a Chinese individual who claimed that China's longer work hours could enable them to surpass the United States.

[53][54] However, his statements were contradicted by a 2021 United Nations report, which highlighted the detrimental effects of excessive work hours on mental and physical health.

[59] Prominent figures such as Harsh Goenka, Deepika Padukone, Anand Mahindra, Anupam Mittal and Cyrus Poonawalla expressed their disapproval of Subrahmanyan’s remarks on social media.

[63] Larsen & Toubro (L&T), an Indian multinational, has faced criticism for maintaining operations in Russia despite international sanctions imposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Critics argue that L&T's continued activities undermine global efforts to economically isolate Russia and exert pressure to end the conflict in Ukraine.

The company's lack of public clarity on its position has raised questions about its ethical responsibility and alignment with international norms.