Henning Holck-Larsen

Henning Holck-Larsen (July 4, 1907 Denmark — July 27, 2003 Mumbai) was a Dane who co-founded the Indian engineering firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T). Henning Holck-Larsen was educated at the University of Copenhagen (and what is now the Technical University of Denmark). He came to India in 1937 as a chemical engineer working for F. L. Smidth & Co. of Copenhagen. Partnering with his former schoolmate and fellow employee Søren Kristian Toubro, he set up Larsen & Toubro in 1938. The idea of L&T was conceived during a holiday in Matheran, a hill station near Bombay (now Mumbai). Holck-Larsen was a risk-taker while Toubro was more conservative. Larsen and Toubro saw opportunities in India at time, when few Europeans had realized the country's...