India's third-largest IT services company is having a very good week.
HCLTech on Monday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 5,132 crore for the July–September quarter, up nearly 21% from a year earlier and comfortably ahead of analyst estimates — and followed it with a Rs 12-per-share interim dividend that sent its shares jumping as much as 6% in Tuesday trading.
The Noida-headquartered company also credited its expanding AI portfolio, including a freshly announced partnership with Anthropic, for the momentum in deal wins and client conversions.
A beat on both profit and revenue
Net profit rose 10.99% quarter-on-quarter from Rs 4,624 crore in the June quarter, beating the ET NOW poll estimate of Rs 4,861 crore. Consolidated revenue climbed 3.01% sequentially to Rs 35,620 crore, marginally ahead of the Rs 35,597 crore analysts had pencilled in.
The board declared an interim dividend of Rs 12 per equity share of Rs 2 face value for the financial year 2026–27, with October 16 fixed as the record date and October 26 as the payment date.
Investors welcomed the payout: the stock opened with a 2.3% gap-up gain and touched an intraday high of Rs 1,294.40, up 6% from the previous close of Rs 1,220, on volumes nearly five times the normal level. Its market value stood near Rs 3.5 lakh crore.
Agentic AI becomes the growth engine
The results arrive alongside HCLTech's new dedicated agentic AI business unit built around Anthropic's models, announced earlier this week, which packages AI agents with enterprise software and a support contract for large clients.
The company says the partnership spans agentic AI solutions, cybersecurity and responsible AI governance.
Analysts remain positive on the company's execution, bookings and AI monetisation, though cautious on a broad-based recovery in IT demand.
One brokerage raised its target price for the stock, saying the key things to watch are organic growth acceleration, deal conversion and whether AI monetisation can offset productivity-led revenue deflation.
What comes next
For India's $250-billion IT sector, HCLTech's quarter is the latest sign that enterprise AI spending — particularly on agentic AI systems that can handle multi-step business workflows — is translating into real revenue.
With the Anthropic unit now formally launched and the dividend rewarding shareholders, the company has set a high bar for its peers reporting in the coming weeks.
Whether the AI-led growth story can sustain double-digit profit expansion through the rest of the fiscal year will depend on how quickly large clients move from AI pilots to production contracts — a conversion the company's deal pipeline suggests is finally underway.
By Hamza Faisal
