HCL Technologies has announced a strategic leadership appointment, elevating company veteran Sandeep Saxena to Chief Growth Officer – Growth Markets 2. The appointment underscores HCLTech's commitment to strengthening its presence in India and other key strategic markets including the Middle East and Africa.

Strategic Focus on India Market

The leadership change reflects HCLTech's strategy to sharpen its focus on the India region, recognizing the country's significant growth potential. Saxena will be based in Mumbai and will report directly to CEO & Managing Director C Vijayakumar.

Commenting on the appointment, C Vijayakumar emphasized HCLTech's role in shaping India's technology growth story through sustained innovation and global leadership. He highlighted India's position as one of the world's fastest-growing economies, presenting significant opportunities for the company to leverage its global scale, deep expertise, and full-stack capabilities.

Leadership Experience and Background

Sandeep Saxena brings extensive experience to his new role, having joined HCLTech in 1998 and held multiple positions across various geographies during his tenure with the company. His career highlights include:

• Playing a key role during the rapid growth phase of HCLTech's European business
• Leading the Retail-CPG, Travel, Transportation & Logistics, Energy & Natural Resources segments for Europe
• Managing all non-financial services verticals for France, Italy, and Iberia
• Delivering major client wins and strengthening HCLTech's market position

Expressing his commitment to the new role, Saxena stated that the focus will be on driving client relevance through innovative, future-ready solutions that deliver measurable and transformative impact.

Alignment with National Vision

The appointment aligns with HCLTech's commitment to advancing the Government of India's Viksit Bharat and Digital India vision. The company aims to drive public sector digital transformation and build globally relevant intellectual property from India, leveraging its position as a leading global technology company.

Company Overview

HCLTech operates as a global technology company delivering industry-leading capabilities centered around AI, digital, engineering, cloud, and software, supported by a broad portfolio of technology services and products. The company serves clients across major verticals including Financial Services, Manufacturing, Life Sciences and Healthcare, High Tech, Semiconductor, Telecom and Media, Retail and CPG, Mobility, and Public Services.

HCL Technologies delivered exceptional performance in the December quarter, reporting total contract value (TCV) bookings of $3 billion driven by strong AI-led demand and large deal wins. The company demonstrated resilience in a selective spending environment, with management highlighting healthy pipeline growth and emerging AI services as key growth drivers.

Strong AI Revenue Growth Powers Performance

The company's advanced AI revenue reached significant milestones during the quarter, showcasing the shift in client spending patterns toward AI-enabling technologies.

According to CEO and MD C Vijayakumar, discretionary technology spending has shifted away from traditional areas toward AI-enabling and AI-adjacent services. The advanced AI revenues include specialized services such as AI data center build-outs, custom silicon for edge inferencing, robotics, and physical AI, rather than embedded AI used across routine service delivery.

Margins Remain Stable Despite Multiple Headwinds

HCL Tech maintained steady profitability metrics while navigating various cost pressures and currency fluctuations during the quarter.

CFO Shiv Walia noted that the quarter benefited from seasonally strong performance in the software business, which posted nearly 35% EBIT margins despite representing only about 10% of overall revenue. The company absorbed a one-time charge of $109 million related to new labor code implementation, with management expecting the annual margin impact to be limited to 10-20 basis points going forward.

Vertical Performance Shows Broad-Based Growth

The company demonstrated strong performance across multiple industry verticals, with technology services leading growth momentum.

Technology services grew 14% year-on-year, driven by demand for custom silicon and AI inferencing solutions across retail, industrial, and manufacturing sectors. BFSI remained one of the fastest-growing verticals with 8% year-on-year growth, while ER&D services posted over 3% sequential growth and double-digit annual growth.

Strategic Workforce Management and Future Outlook

Employee headcount rose by over 6,000 year-on-year while remaining flat sequentially, reflecting the company's strategic approach to workforce planning. Management indicated that future hiring will closely track revenue growth, with AI-led productivity allowing the company to deliver 4-5% growth without proportional workforce increases.

Vijayakumar emphasized the company's selective approach to pricing, stating that HCL Tech remains prepared to walk away from deals that do not meet profitability thresholds. Management expects margins to move back toward the 18-19% range in FY27 once one-time restructuring and labor-related costs subside, with restructuring costs for FY26 expected to be around 50 basis points for the full year.