When six young engineers quit their jobs in 1976 to build a computer company in India, the odds were firmly stacked against them. Startups were barely a concept, venture capital did not exist and computers were still largely unfamiliar to the country. Yet, armed with Rs 1.87 lakh, a small office in Delhi and a belief that microprocessors would transform the world, the six co-founders embarked on a journey that would eventually create Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL).
As HCL celebrates 50 years, co-founder Ajai Chowdhry has revisited the company's unlikely beginnings in a post on X, recalling the risks, setbacks and early victories that shaped the technology major.
Chowdhry recalled that the founding team comprised Shiv Nadar, Arjun Malhotra, Yogesh Vaidya, Subhash Arora, D.S. Puri and himself. "We quit our jobs," Chowdhry wrote, recalling how the six pooled their resources to start the business.
Between them, they raised Rs 1.87 lakh by borrowing money, pooling savings and, in one case, selling a car. Their first office was a small barsati in Golf Links, Delhi. The venture was initially called Microcomp, with the ambitious goal of building an Indian computer. There was, however, a major obstacle: the company did not have a manufacturing licence.
The founders eventually partnered with UP Electronics Corporation, which had the required licence while the team brought the technology. The partnership eventually led to the birth of Hindustan Computers Limited.
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Perhaps the most remarkable part of the early HCL story was that the company began selling its computer even before the machine had been fully designed. "We had a brochure and a mock-up of the machine. That was it," Chowdhry recalled. Sales teams travelled across India trying to convince businesses to invest in a technology they had never used before.
The first orders came from IIT Kharagpur and IIT Madras. The founders then had to persuade commercial customers to take a chance on the fledgling company. Chowdhry recalled one such contest in Coimbatore, where HCL was competing against DCM DP, a much larger and established name. After sitting through the rival's pitch at Premier Mills, the HCL team made its own presentation. "We went in second. And we won," he said.
That order led to five more, followed by 10, marking an early turning point for the company. Chowdhry said HCL's early years were defined by its willingness to identify opportunities, take risks and challenge established players. The company hired people with what its founders described as a "cowboy" spirit and focused on making technology useful and accessible rather than intimidating.
HCL soon expanded beyond India. Chowdhry recalled the company's move to Singapore when HCL was only four years old, marking the beginning of its journey towards becoming a global technology company. Today, HCL has evolved from its early hardware ambitions into a major global technology and IT services business.
HCL's journey has also translated into significant value creation for shareholders. Since its listing in January 2000, HCL shares have risen 1,285%. Looking back at five decades, Chowdhry said the defining memories were not just about the technology HCL built, but about the circumstances in which the company began — six people in a small Delhi barsati, a brochure for a computer that did not yet exist and the courage to approach the next customer.
"Dream big. Take the risk. And above all, Just Aspire," Chowdhry said.
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