Chennai: Larson and Toubro ltd, India's largest engineering and construction conglomerate, said it planned major forays into the highly competitive global construction market armed with the recently awarded ISO certification.

"Being the first Indian construction firm to get the ISO certification, the company is now confident of competing with the international giants in the field for major construction orders across the globe," A Ramakrishna, L&T's president (operations) and deputy managing director, said.

Ramakrishna said that the company now hoped to achieve a turnover of at least Rs 1000 crore from its international operations this fiscal as against Rs 430 crore during the last fiscal, thanks to the recently acheived ISO credentials.

He said that international operations which constituted just 6 per cent of the company's total turnover at present was certain to go up to 15 per cent in the coming years.

He said that though the company managed to have a presence in the international construction market, lack of a certification like that of ISO was a big hindrance to make major global forays.

"Now the engineering, construction and contracts division (ECC) of the company is all geared to benchmark itself to the demands of global competition," he said adding that the idea was to emerge as the first Indian construction multinational in the coming years.

Ramakrishna said that ISO recognition for the company's ECC operations cut across the entire country and overseas operations.

He said though the expertise and construction standards of Indian construction firms had been well recognised, lack of standardised practices stood in the way of registering a significant presence in the global construction market.

He said it was high time that Indian construction firms standardised their operational practices adding that this would ensure better economy and growth for the companies both at home and abroad.

He said the size of the construction industry in India was estimated at Rs 2,40,000 crore with its share of the gross domestic product (GDP) growth constantly on the rise. Its employment potential was 12 million in the organised sector and 30 million in the unorganised sector.

He said the entry of ready mix concrete into the construction scenario in the country would go a long way in achieving standardisation. "However ready mix concrete is yet to gain popularity in non-urban areas," he said.

Ramakrishna said that the company has keen interest in the developing Indian Ocean rim countries, Africa and Latin America.

Major international projects of the company currently under execution included a 415000 MTPA coke calcinations plant in Rotterdam, Netherlands, an indoor multi- sports stadium in Qatar, a 168 MW combined cycle power plant in Sri Lanka and a three 100 bed hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

PTI