Q3 Results Highlights: TCS, HCLTech Kick Off IT Earnings Season With Trimmed Profits

IT giants TCS and HCLTech kicked off the Q3 earnings season with a roar. The companies felt some weight of the new labour codes and registered lower than anticipated bottom-lines. However, eligible shareholders of both the firms are slated to receive generous dividends.

NDTV Profit will continue bringing you all the earnings updates over the season, till then, this is Khushi signing off.

Adios! See you tomorrow with a whole new buzz.

HCL Technologies Q3 Highlights

• Shares of the company ended 0.33% higher at Rs 1667.60 apiece

• The IT giant's net profit slipped and majorly missed analysts' estimates

• Bottom-line was down 3.8% at Rs 4,076 crore versus Rs 4,235 crore

• Revenue rose 6% at Rs 33,872 crore versus Rs 31,942 crore

• Both EBIT and margins also ticked higher

• The co narrowed its revenue growth guidance for FY26 to 4%-4.5% compared to 3-5%

• However, it upgraded service rev guidance to 4.75% - 5.25% compared to 4 - 5%

Tata Consultancy Services Q3 Highlights

• Shares of the company ended in the green, 0.84% up ahead of results

• Profit Misses Estimates: TCS reported lower than anticipated profit with a consolidated net profit of Rs 10,657 crore in the quarter ended December 2025, which indicated a 11.7% decline compared to Rs 12,075 crore in the last quarter.

• Bumper Dividend Announced: Investors in the IT stock, will be availing a a bumper dividend of Rs 57 per share for the third quarter of the ongoing fiscal, with a an interim dividend of Rs 11 per share and a special dividend of Rs 46 per share.

• One-Time Labour Cost Impact: The IT company was hit by a one-time provisioning of labour codes in the third quarter had a cost impact of Rs 2,128 crore.

• Firm Loses Over 11,000 Employees: TCS's total headcount reduced by 11,151 to 5,82,163 in third quarter of fiscal 2026. from 5,93,314 in the second quarter.

  The IT company's attrition rate marginally rose to 13.5% in the third quarter, compared to 13.3% in the previous quarter.

• Order book stood at $9.3 billion: TCS' order book stood at $9.3 billion in the December quarter as per a notification. The firm's annualised AI services revenue stood at $1.8 billion; up 17.3% quarter-on-quarter in Constant Currency.

Growth by domain (Q-o-Q Constant currency growth in %)

• BFSI -0.4

• Consumer Business 1.3

• Life Sciences & Healthcare 0.9

• Manufacturing 0.2

• Technology & Services -1.3

• Communication & Media 0.6

• Energy, Resources and Utilities 1

• Regional Markets & Others 4.6

Growth by markets (Q-o-Q Constant currency growth in %)

• North America 0.1

• Latin America 4.6

• UK -1.9

• Continental Europe 2.1

• Asia Pacific 1.1

• India 8

• Middle East and Africa 3.2

• We see continued momentum going forward.

• HCL software delivered very good performance

• Operating margin excluding one time cost came at 18.1%

• Cofindent of margin recovery

• Booking momentum driven by the application business

(Source: Post-earnings con-call)

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) made a notable splash in the markets, declaring its third quarter results for the financial year 2025 on Monday, as well as a bumper dividend, both of which subverted market expectations.

Here are the key takeaways:

1. Profit Misses Estimates

2. Bumper Dividend Announced

3. One-Time Labour Cost Impact

4. Firm Loses Over 11,000 Employees

5. Order book stood at $9.3 billion