HCLTech adds 6,450 employees in Q2, highest quarterly hiring in 16 quarters

New Delhi: HCLTech on Monday said that it has added 6,450 employees on a net basis in the September quarter, marking its highest quarterly workforce addition in 16 quarters and taking its total headcount to a record 230,339 as of September 30. The sharp increase reversed the decline recorded in the previous quarter, when the IT services major reported a net reduction of 3,292 employees.

Freshers accounted for the bulk of the hiring, with 6,136 new employees joining during the September quarter. This was significantly higher than the 1,056 freshers added in the June quarter and 1,712 in the March quarter, as per its stock exchange filing.

HCLTech’s workforce had remained relatively volatile over the preceding four quarters. Its headcount stood at 226,640 at the end of September 2025 before declining to 226,379 in December. Employee numbers subsequently rose to 227,181 in March 2026 but fell to 223,889 in June, before recovering sharply in the latest quarter.

The expansion in employee numbers came alongside a marginal increase in attrition. The company’s last-twelve-month attrition rate rose to 12.8 per cent in September from 12.7 per cent in June and 12.5 per cent in March. Meanwhile, women accounted for 30 per cent of the workforce at the end of September, up from 29.6 per cent in each of the previous two quarters.

HCLTech said its annual salary increments would take effect from October 1, a development that will add to employee-related costs in the coming quarters.

The hiring momentum coincided with an improvement in the company’s financial performance. HCLTech reported a net profit of Rs 5,132 crore for the September quarter, up 11 per cent sequentially from Rs 4,624 crore in the June quarter. Revenue increased 3 per cent to Rs 35,620 crore from Rs 34,579 crore in the preceding quarter.

The company also revised the lower end of its FY27 constant-currency revenue growth guidance upwards to 2.5 per cent from 1 per cent, while retaining the upper end at 4 per cent. Its board recommended an interim dividend of Rs 12 per share for FY2026-27.

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