HCL Technologies said its employee strength stood at 2,26,379 at the end of the December quarter, remaining more or less constant compared with the previous
quarter, despite a net decline of 261 employees.
The tech major added 2,852 freshers during the quarter, taking total fresher additions for the financial year so far to 10,032. This is almost two-thirds higher than the number of freshers added in the same period last year, in line with the company’s earlier indication that fresher hiring would be significantly higher this fiscal.
On the labour code, the company said the impact stands at $109 million as a one-time cost arising from obligations mandated under the code.
HCLTech CEO and Managing Director C Vijayakumar said, "Labour code has an impact of 109 million dollars. It's a one-time cost due to certain obligations that are mandated as per labour code."
Also Read: TCS Q3 Results: One-time labor code cost impacts net profit, margins meet estimates
He added that the company saw minimal ongoing costs, having already factored in the required provisions as part of the quarter’s pay changes. Further incremental costs are not expected, although some rules are still awaited.
For the last 12 months, diluted earnings per share stood at ₹63.35, up 0.7% year on year. Post the impact of the new labour code, diluted EPS came down to ₹60.70.
The board declared an interim dividend of ₹12 per share for the quarter, with January 16, 2026, fixed as the record date and January 27, 2026 as the payment date. This takes the company’s 12-month payout to ₹54 per share, representing an effective distribution of 88.8% of net income.
HCLTech recorded revenue of ₹33,872 crore, a 6% sequential increase, slightly above CNBC-TV18’s poll estimate of ₹33,360 crore.
Net profit declined 3.8% quarter-on-quarter to ₹4,076 crore, below the polled figure of ₹4,747 crore. The fall was primarily driven by a one-time cost of ₹956 crore related to new labour code provisions introduced during the quarter.
HCLTech shares closed at ₹1,667 on NSE ahead of the results, up 0.34%.
