HCLTech vs TCS Q1FY27 Results: AI Megadeals Surge as Constant-Currency Revenue Growth Lags

India's two largest IT services exporters have reported sharply higher artificial intelligence deal wins in the June quarter, even as headline revenue growth stayed in low single digits in constant-currency terms, according to disclosures from Tata Consultancy Services and HCLTech.

TCS, which announced its Q1FY27 results on July 9, said its AI business had reached an annualised revenue run rate of $2.6 billion. HCLTech, reporting on July 13, said AI revenue grew 62 per cent in the quarter. Both companies flagged record or near-record deal activity, but neither converted it into a materially higher growth print.

HCLTech vs TCS Q1FY27 Results: A Metric-by-Metric Comparison

1. AI revenue

TCS said its annualised AI revenue stood at $2.6 billion in Q1FY27, up 13.6 per cent sequentially. Chief Executive and Managing Director K Krithivasan said the company had scaled its AI business to that run rate on the back of strong deal conversion and expanding ecosystem partnerships.

HCLTech reported AI revenue growth of 62 per cent for the quarter, alongside record bookings. The company did not disclose an absolute AI revenue base.

2. Net income and revenue

TCS posted consolidated net income of ₹13,349 crore for the quarter, a rise of 5 per cent from the corresponding quarter a year earlier.

HCLTech reported consolidated revenue of ₹34,579 crore, or $3,650 million, representing year-on-year growth of 13.9 per cent in rupee terms and 2.6 per cent in constant currency indicating that a substantial part of the reported growth came from currency movement.

3. Order book and bookings

TCS closed the quarter with an order book of $9.5 billion. Executive Director, President and Chief Operating Officer Aarthi Subramanian said the company had signed six megadeals across five consecutive quarters, cutting across industries.

HCLTech said bookings for the quarter were a record, but did not publish a headline total contract value figure, citing instead the breadth of its AI deal wins.

4. Marquee AI deals

TCS's largest win in the quarter was an AI-led transformation mandate with Swedish industrial manufacturer SKF, valued at approximately $800 million, to redesign the client's enterprise operations.

HCLTech's largest disclosed AI win was an AI Factory programme worth more than $180 million with a global technology major, covering AI data-centre buildout. The company also reported Physical AI deployments across manufacturing, pharmaceutical and mining clients, and wins for its AI Force platform in application development, identity management, SAP implementation and site reliability engineering.

5. Strategy and outlook

TCS Chief Financial Officer Samri Seksaria said the company was investing in AI capabilities, talent transformation, partner ecosystems, platforms, domain solutions and go-to-market capacity, describing the spending as necessary as client demand shifts towards integrated offerings.

HCLTech Chief Executive C Vijayakumar said the company intends to benefit disproportionately from AI-native and AI-amplified opportunities, which he identified as the fastest-growing segment of enterprise technology spending. The company is positioning itself in sovereign AI and private-model deployments, targeting enterprises seeking zero-trust architectures where data remains within organisational boundaries.

6. Demand environment

TCS said spending by consumer-facing businesses, including airlines and non-essential retail, had been affected by geopolitical factors, while life sciences and automotive verticals also recorded a dip. Management said it expected these sectors to pick up speed by Q2.

HCLTech described its quarter as resilient despite what it called typical seasonal headwinds.

7. Headcount and market reaction

TCS reported workforce strength of 593,798, with last-twelve-month attrition in IT services at 13.6 per cent. The company declared a dividend of ₹12 per share.

HCLTech has more than 223,000 employees across 60 countries. Its shares rose 4.91 per cent following the earnings call.

What to watch in Q2FY27

Both companies have pointed to a recovery in demand from the second quarter, and both are carrying AI pipelines that have yet to show up meaningfully in constant-currency revenue. Analysts will be watching whether the AI megadeals signed over the past five quarters begin converting into billed revenue, and whether the soft consumer, life sciences and automotive verticals recover as TCS management has projected.

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