HCLTech Q1 Results: New hiring policy to focus on specialisation, to pay 4X more for 'elite cadres', says firm

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar:

-The differentiation between us and big tech is that we create solutions on top of LLMs

-Differentiation also lies in the creation of IP and platforms

Ram Sudararajan, CPO, HCLTech: Not looking to set a number on elite hiring, will depend on quality. But going by the current trends, it will be 15-20%. Can go hire, if we find better quality

HCLTech CPO Ram Sundararajan: Overall hiring will be significantly higher in FY26 from FY25. Recruiting specialised freshers in data & AI practice, cybersecurity, enterprise skills practice. They will command a premium.

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar: Restructuring plan is mostly for facilities outside India that we have not been utilising. There will be some talent ramp down in geographies outside India, that's a part of the restructuring plan. This will play out across Q2, Q3 and some parts in Q4.

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar: Two deals moved from Q1 to Q2, has nothing to with macro. These are processing delays, will conclude this month.

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar: We expect ER&D services to be our top growth drivers; telecom is the top performing sector. See continued pressure on manufacturing and retail verticals

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar: We are seeing mismatch in supply and demand, of skills and locations. That's impacting the bench size.

HCLTech's chief people officer Ramachandran Sundararajan: The focus on fresher hiring is now on specialisation and not numbers. We are talking about an elite cadre of freshers, who will be paid more. These elite cadre will be paid more, for example, services fresher will be hired at 3X higher pay and software fresher hires will be paid by up to 4X higher than regular fresher hires.

Kalyan Kumar, CPO, HCLSoftware

- Seeing significant traction in Agentic AI in software ISV

- Seeing new business models emerge in services software, where we need to drive more outcomes from using Agentic AI rather than traditional software-based models

Ram Sundararajan, Chief people officer, HCLTech: The decline in headcount is in line with we had expected

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar revealed that the company plans to execute restructuring program for both people and non-people assets that will drive one-time cost.

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar:

-Gen AI has become central to IT services

-We are investing into an AI-driven data management lifecycle platform

-Share of Gen AI/AI continues to grow as they become critical to every business

-AI client engagement sizes are increasing from PoCs to multi-million dollar deals

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar:

-We had a couple of large deals in the pipeline that were suppose to close in Q1, that's getting moved to Q2 now. But this has nothing to do with external or macro factors.

-We expect a strong TCV in Q2.

-Discretionary spending vary across verticals. Clients are spending into AI-led transformation

HCLSoftware had a weak quarter after several quarters of good performance, HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar said on July 14, adding that the company had an "impressive a client addition" across buckets.

He also said the annual recurring revenue of HCL Software grew, consciously growing the revenue for SaaS.

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar said the environment remains stable and it did not deteriorate as expected at the start of the quarter.

He also said-

-This was due to utilisation drop because of delay in ramp of a particular project

-Had a one-time impact of a client's bankruptcy

HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar on July 14 said the annual growth was driven by tech, telecom & media, CPG and financial services. He speaking during a post-earnings conference. He also said that the operating margin came in at 16.3 percent, lower than what was planned.

Q1 historically has been a soft quarter, said HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar. He added that the revenue increased by 3.7% YoY and declined 0.8% sequentially.

• Net loss at Rs 194 crore in Q1 FY26 vs net profit at Rs 77 crore in Q1 FY25
• Revenue from operations falls 87% YoY to Rs 202 crore

"HCLTech Q1 FY26 INR revenue grew an impressive 8.2% YoY. EBIT for the quarter came in at ₹4,942 Crores and Net Income (NI) at ₹3,843 Crores and at 16.3% and 12.7% of revenue respectively. Our cash generation remains robust with OCF/NI at 129% and FCF/NI at 121%, reflecting the underlying strength of our business model. Our commitment to capital efficiency has resulted in LTM ROIC improving for the company by 353 bps YoY to 38.1% and for Services business by 236 bps YoY to 45.2%," says HCLTech CFO Shiv Walia.

"We had healthy revenue growth of 3.7% YoY supported by good performance in our Services business with 4.5% YoY growth in constant currency. Our operating margin came at 16.3%, impacted by lower utilization and additional Gen AI and GTM investments. Our AI propositions are resonating well with our clients and have been augmented further by our partnership with Open AI. Our pipeline continues to grow as the demand environment was stable during the quarter. As the only service provider positioned as “Customer's Choice’’ in all 6 Gartner Voice of Customer Quadrant evaluations related to IT services, we are well positioned to grow in the AI era," said HCLTech CEO & MD C Vijayakumar.

HCLTech said that it net added 269 people during the quarter, with its employee count standing at 2,23,151 at the end of Q1. The firm added 1,984 freshers. LTM attrition rate stood at 12.8 percent, at par with the same quarter last year.

• Company Revenue growth expected to be between 3.0% - 5.0% YoY in CC
• Services Revenue growth expected to be between 3.0% - 5.0% YoY in CC
• EBIT margin to be between 17.0% – 18.0%

The firm reported that its Constant Currency (CC) Revenue rose 3.7 percent on-year, but fell 0.8 percent sequentially. Its EBIT stood at Rs 4,942 crore during Q1, marking an on-year rise of 3 percent. HCLSoftware Revenue down 3.0% YoY CC.

Along with the Q1 results, the company announced an interim dividend of Rs 12 per share for FY26. The record date to determine the eligibility of the shareholders who will receive the payment has been set on July 18. The interim dividend will be paid on July 28.

• Net profit falls 10% to Rs 3,843 crore in Q1 FY26, from Rs 4,257 crore in Q1 FY25
• Revenue from operations rises 8% to Rs 30,349 crore in Q1 FY26, from Rs 28,057 crore in Q1 FY25
• EPS falls to Rs 14.18 per share

• Net profit rises 5% YoY to Rs 170 crore
• Revenue from operations drops 2% YoY to Rs 1,244 crore
• Expenses rise to Rs 1,080 crore

• Net profit drops 60% YoY to Rs 1.8 crore
• Revenue from operations rises less than 1% YoY to Rs 74.79 crore
• Expenses rise to Rs 67.05 crore

Ola Electric shares closed 19.75 percent higher at Rs 47.66 apiece. Notably, the stock rallied over 20 percent after hitting a 52-week-low of Rs 39.60 apiece earlier in the day. This comes after the firm reported a sequential improvement in net loss to Rs 428 crore. The company’s auto segment turned positive on an EBITDA level in June and cash generation in this segment is ‘within reach’.

HCL Tech shares closed 1.5 percent lower at Rs 1,613.50 apiece. The IT company is set to release its results for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2026 today.

Tejas Networks shares were trading in the green with marginal gains at Rs 697 apiece. The company is set to release its results for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2026 today.

Sambhv Steel Tubes shares jumped 4 percent to trade at Rs 129.83 apiece. The newly-listed company is set to release its results for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2026 today.

Ola Electric shares rallied 17% to trade at Rs 46.69 apiece. This comes after the firm reported a sequential improvement in net loss to Rs 428 crore. The company's auto segment turned positive on an EBITDA level in June and cash generation in this segment is ‘within reach’.

Tata Technologies shares were trading in the red with marginal losses at Rs 705.25 apiece. The company is set to release its results for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2026 today.

HCL Tech shares fell nearly 2 percent to trade at Rs 1,612 apiece in the morning. The IT company is set to release its results for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2026 today.

"Rare earth risk is a major long term risk for auto OEMs. Because we engineer and manufacture the Motor, motor controller and software all in house we have multiple strategies to manage this disruption. For the short term, we have reasonable inventory levels and have been sourcing the rare earth magnets from two countries of origin to keep optionality in case this eventuality occurs. And since we are not reliant on intermediary motor suppliers, we’ve been able to change over quickly and ramp up other sources of rare earth magnets," the firm said.

Ola Electric expects to sell between 3,25,000 to 3,75,000 vehicles and generate revenue of Rs 4200 - 4700 crore. With Production Linked Incentive (PLI) benefits beginning from Q2 for Gen 3 product portfolio, gross margin is projected to rise to 35% - 40%, and the company anticipates full-year Auto EBITDA of above 5%. The company also expects the auto business to remain EBITDA positive from Q2 onwards.

The shares of Ola Electric jumped 9 percent to hit an intraday high of Rs 43.57 apiece. This comes after the company released its results for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2026. The company's auto segment turned positive on an EBITDA level in June and cash generation in this segment is 'within reach'. The firm's net loss also reduced sequentially.

Electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric has posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 428 crore in Q1FY26 as against a loss of Rs 870 crore in Q4FY25 and Rs 347 crore in Q1FY25. Revenue for the quarter fell to Rs 828 crore, marking a 49.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) decline from Rs 1,644 crore.