HCLTech Q2 FY27: PAT +21% YoY to ₹5,132 Cr (consolidated), margins expand, beats Street

HCLTech's consolidated revenue rose 11.5% YoY (3.0% QoQ) to ₹35,620 Cr, with PAT climbing 21.2% YoY (10.9% QoQ) to ₹5,132 Cr — comfortably ahead of the ₹4,901–4,910 Cr PAT brokerages (Kotak Institutional Equities, Axis Direct) had pencilled in ahead of the print, even as revenue landed marginally below Kotak's ₹36,013 Cr estimate. Basic EPS came in at ₹18.96 against ₹15.63 a year ago, and the Board declared a ₹12/share interim dividend (record date Oct 16, payout Oct 26). No exceptional item was recognized this quarter — a clean read versus FY26's full year, which absorbed a ₹956 Cr New Labour Codes charge. Margins expanded on both counts: EBITDA margin (OPM) rose to 20.9% from 20.5% YoY and 19.9% in Q1 FY27, and net margin improved to 14.3% from 13.1% YoY, driven chiefly by a lower employee-cost ratio (55.7% of revenue vs 57.3% a year ago) as wage-hike drag eased. EBIT margin works out to ~18.0%, sitting inside management's FY27 guided band of 17.5–18.5%, so that piece of guidance holds. Part of the bottom-line beat is a tax-rate tailwind the company itself calls out (note 6): the effective tax rate fell to 20.7% from 25.7% a year ago on benefits from recent business-combination tax assets, resolved uncertain tax positions and the new tax-regime transition — strip that out and PAT growth normalizes to roughly 13.4% YoY (in line with 13.4% PBT growth), versus the 21.2% reported. Management's 1–4% FY27 organic constant-currency revenue growth guidance was reiterated per our prior concall notes, but this Ind AS filing reports only consolidated INR revenue with no USD or organic-vs-acquisition split, so that specific line can't be directly verified from the statement. The quarter closed with three acquisitions consummated for an aggregate ₹3,635 Cr consideration (₹1,481 Cr goodwill, ₹1,949 Cr identified intangibles) — inorganic additions that likely padded the topline alongside organic growth; guidance had flagged the Jaspersoft deal adding ~$10–15 Mn/quarter from this quarter, though the filing doesn't name the three acquisitions individually. The print landed the same week as a cluster of AI-linked announcements — a partnership with Anthropic, the launch of 20 industry AI solutions, and HCLSoftware's Robotiq.ai acquisition (Sept 28) — consistent with management's AI-native/AI-amplified strategy from the last concall, though none of these appear as distinct revenue lines here. Standalone PAT of ₹4,302 Cr was up a sharp 62% YoY, but that parent-only figure is inflated by higher other income (₹653 Cr vs ₹325 Cr) and the same tax benefit; it diverges materially from the consolidated growth rate and shouldn't be read as the operating trend — consolidated remains primary. No management press release or call commentary was available in our records for this analysis, so management's own framing can't be cross-checked beyond the filing notes. With margins inside guidance and a profit beat against Street, the next checkpoint is whether EBIT margin holds near 18% through H2 FY27 as the tax-rate tailwind normalizes, and whether the newly closed acquisitions show up as disclosed revenue contribution against the 1–4% organic growth band next quarter.