HCL Technologies Limited
Leadership History
3 leaders · 2013 to present
C Vijayakumar is the CEO of HCL Technologies, in the role since 2016. The first chief executive was Anant Gupta, from 2013.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roshni Nadar Malhotra | Chairperson | 2020 | Present | 6 |
| C Vijayakumar | Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director | 2016 | Present | 10 |
| Anant Gupta | President and Chief Executive Officer | 2013 | 2016 | 3 |
HCLTech is one of India's 'Big Four' IT services firms, alongside TCS, Infosys and Wipro. It works for global enterprises in financial services, manufacturing, technology, life sciences, telecom, retail and the public sector, with more than 220,000 employees in 60 countries. Its mix differs from peers because roughly a quarter of revenue comes from engineering services and owned software rather than traditional IT outsourcing. The company is headquartered in Noida, India.
HCLTech sells technology work to large enterprises under multi-year contracts, and it reports three segments. IT and Business Services (73.8% of FY2026 revenue) covers application management, cloud and infrastructure operations, cybersecurity, digital and business process services. Engineering and R&D Services (17.0%) designs software, firmware, chips and embedded systems for product companies in semiconductors, automotive, aerospace, telecom and medtech. HCLSoftware (9.5%) sells subscriptions, support, licenses and SaaS for products such as BigFix, AppScan, Unica, Domino and Actian, many of them bought from IBM in 2019. Most delivery staff work from India, which keeps costs below what clients would pay for onshore teams.
Chairperson
2020 – Present
6 years (current)
Malhotra successfully managed the massive leadership transition away from her father (Shiv Nadar), ensuring stability across HCL's global enterprise client base.
As Chairperson, she aggressively pushed HCLTech's ESG initiatives and managed the strategic capital allocation for the company's massive $10 billion revenue run-rate.
Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director
2016 – Present
10 years (current)
Became CEO in 2016 after leading HCL's infrastructure services business. Oversaw the 2019 IBM software purchase, the 2022 HCLTech rebrand and the FY2026-27 push into AI services and AI data centers.
Under his leadership, USD revenue grew from about $7 billion to $14.7 billion in FY2026.
President and Chief Executive Officer
2013 – 2016
3 years
Gupta pioneered the aggressive push into Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM), which became HCLTech's primary growth engine and key differentiator against TCS and Infosys.
As CEO, he scaled the company's global footprint and significantly expanded its engineering and R&D services division before resigning in 2016 to found a venture fund.
These officers report to the chief executive and are not part of the CEO timeline above.
HCLTech faces cautious enterprise technology spending, pricing pressure in IT services, AI-driven productivity disruption, currency movements, talent costs, and softness in HCLSoftware constant-currency revenue. It must convert AI demand into billable work without weakening margins.
Key leaders of HCLTech include founder Shiv Nadar (who led the group from 1976 until 2020), Vineet Nayar (CEO 2007-2013, author of 'Employees First, Customers Second'), Anant Gupta (2013-2016), C. Vijayakumar (2016-present as CEO/MD), and Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra (2020-present).
Under C Vijayakumar, HCLTech's revenue roughly doubled to $14.7 billion in FY2026. He oversaw the $1.8 billion IBM software deal, the 2022 HCLTech rebrand and the shift toward AI services.
Former CEO Vineet Nayar introduced the management philosophy 'Employees First, Customers Second' (EFCS), arguing that by empowering frontline employees and holding management accountable to the frontline, the quality of customer value delivery increases exponentially.
C. Vijayakumar joined HCL in 1990 as a founding member of its network infrastructure team. Over three decades, he pioneered HCL's Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) business into a multi-billion-dollar global industry leader before being appointed Chief Operating Officer and CEO in 2016.
Roshni Nadar Malhotra serves as Chairperson of HCLTech and Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation. A Northwestern University graduate, she drives long-term strategic governance, ESG sustainability initiatives, diversity and inclusion, and transformative educational philanthropy.
C. Vijayakumar is the current CEO. However, the absolute ultimate power resides with the Nadar family. The legendary founder, Shiv Nadar, stepped down as Chairman in 2020, passing control to his daughter, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, making her the first woman to chair a massive Indian IT services company.
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