In 1976, a group of eight engineers, all former employees of Delhi Cloth & General Mills, led by Shiv Nadar, started a company that would make personal computers.[8][9] Initially floated as Microcomp Limited, Nadar and his team (which also included Arjun Malhotra, Ajai Chowdhry, D.S. Puri, Yogesh Vaidya and Subhash Arora) started selling teledigital calculators to gather capital for their main product. On 11 August 1976, the company was renamed Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL).[10] HCL Enterprise developed an indigenous microcomputer in 1978,[11] and a RDBMS, networking OS and client-server architecture in 1983.[12] HCL Technologies began as the R&D division of HCL Enterprise.[12]
The company originally was focused on hardware but, via HCL Technologies, software and services became the main focus.[13][14] On 12 November 1991, HCL Technologies was spun off as a separate unit,[15] being incorporated as HCL Overseas Limited, a provider of software and technology development services.[16]
In July 1994, the company name was changed to HCL Consulting Limited.[16] On 6 October 1999, the company was renamed 'HCL Technologies Limited' for "a better reflection of its activities."[16]
Between 1991 and 1999, the company expanded its software development capacities to US, European and APAC markets.[16]
HCL went public on 10 November 1999, with an issue of 14.2 million shares.[16] By the early-2000s, its wholly-owned subsidiary HCL Comnet had expanded its offerings from VSAT to include network security and IT infrastructure services.[18]
In 2001, HCL formed a joint venture with Deutsche Bank by acquiring a 51% stake in the latter's Indian subsidiary Deutsche Software (later renamed DSL Software).[19] In 2004, HCL bought out the remaining 49% stake in DSL Software, which then became part of HCL's banking technology division.[20]
In 2003, HCL won a contract to develop embedded software for Airbus A340's flight warning system.[21] That same year, HCL sold its entire stake in HCL Perot Systems, a seven-year old IT services company, to joint venture partner Perot Systems for over $105 million.[22]
In 2005, HCL expanded its operations in Northern Ireland. At the 2006 UK Trade and Investment India Business Awards in New Delhi, the then UK Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the expansion.[23]
In 2008, HCL acquired the UK-based consultancy Axon Group for £440 million and merged HCL's enterprise application services (EAS) division into Axon. In the three years following the acquisition, the EAS division's revenue share within HCL increased from 9% to 22%.[24]
In October 2017, IBM and HCL announced a strategic partnership, with the latter taking over the development of IBM Lotus Software's Notes, Domino, Sametime and Verse collaboration tools.[25]
In 2018, US-based Actian was acquired by HCL and Sumeru Equity Partners for $330 million.[26] HCL America acquired the remaining 19.6% stake in Actian for $100.2 million in 2021,[27] making Actian the data & analytics division of HCLSoftware, but keeping it an independent company.[28]
In 2021, the company reached $10 billion in revenue.[30] In 2022, HCL Technologies rebranded as HCLTech.[31]
In May 2024, HCLTech announced the acquisition of select assets of Communications Technology Group, a business division of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), for $225 million.[32]
In August 2024, HCLSoftware announced its intent to acquire the French metadata management platform startup Zeenea for €24 million.[33] After the completion of the acquisition, Zeenea is expected to continue operating as an independent unit under Actian, HCLSoftware's data & analytics division.[34]
HCLTech operates in 60 countries, including its headquarters in Noida, India. It has establishments in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Morocco and Sri Lanka.[58] In Europe, it covers Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Romania,[59] Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, and United Kingdom. In the Americas, the company has offices in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, and United States.
HCLTech is the flagship company of the HCL Group.[63] Another HCL Group company, HCL Infosystems, was formed in 1976 to produce calculators.[64] HCL Infosystems later became one of the leading manufacturers of personal computers and laptops in India, but it eventually lost market share to foreign competitors like HP and Dell, and shut down its manufacturing division.[65]
In February 2014, HCL Group launched HCL Healthcare, which provides corporate health services.[66] HCL TalentCare is the fourth venture of HCL Group, which provided skilling and staffing services.[67]
^Linda A. Hill; Kent Lineback (2014). Be a Great Boss: The Hill Collection. Harvard Business Review Press. ISBN978-1625277824. A classic startup founded in1976 in an Indian garage by Shiv Nadar, HCL Enterprise flourished in the 1980s – "a golden period" for the company.
^"HCL". 31 August 2015. Founded in 1976 as one of India's original IT garage startups ...
^"HCL Technologies". microsoft.com. HCL Technologies Limited is an Indian multinational IT services company, headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. ... subsidiary of HCL Enterprise. Originally a research and development division of HCL, .. independent .. 1991 .
