HCL Infosystems Ltd is India's premier information enabler and country's leading ICT system integrator and distribution company. The company is among the leading players in all the segments comprising the domestic IT products, solutions and related services, which include PCs, Servers, Imaging, Voice & video solutions, Networking Products, TV and FM Broadcasting solutions, Communication solutions, System Integration, ICT education & training, Digital lifestyle Solutions and Peripherals. They offer value-added services in the key areas such as system integration, networking consultancy and a wide range of support services.
HCL Infosystems Ltd was incorporated in the year 1986 as HCL Ltd. In May 1986, the company took over Hindustan Computers, Hindustan Reprographics, Hindustan Instruments and Indian Computer Software Company. During the year 1987-88, HCL Employees Investment Co Ltd and HCL Finance & Investment Ltd became the subsidiaries of the company.
In April 1991, the computer entered into a joint venture agreement with Hewlett-Packard Company of USA to align the computer operations of both companies in India. During the year 1991-92, Hewlett-Packard Company acquired 26% equity stake in the company. Simultaneously, the name of the company changed from HCL Ltd to HCL Hewlett-Packard Ltd.
During the year 1993-94, the company launched the entire range of HP peripherals with tremendous success. They set up two Software Technology Park units, one in Chennai, Tamilnadu and the other in Noida, Uttar Pradesh for software development and exports during the year 1994-95. Also, they commissioned their second state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Sedrapet in Pondicherry during the year 1996-97.
During the year 1997-98, the company acquired the business of HCL Infosolutions Ltd, HCL Peripherals Ltd and the Customer Support activities of HCL Automation Ltd. During the year 1999-2000, the company formed their internet subsidiary namely HCL Infinet Ltd. Also, they bagged some prestigious orders for high-end systems from organizations such as Sahara India, Western Air Command, ICICI, Mumbai Stock Exchange, NIC, C-DOT, Lucent Technologies, ST Microelectronics, EHPT, Southern Railways, Maharashtra Mantralaya, Karnataka Electricity Board, Kerala Treasuries, Karnataka Treasuries, EDCIL, Canara Bank and Dena Bank.
During the year 2000-01, the company bagged a major networking order from Indian Overseas Bank involving implementation of Wide Area Network in 11 cities covering 200 branches.
The software service business including the overseas operations was de-merged to HCL Technologies Limited from the appointed date of January 1, 2003. The Technical Help Desk business of the wholly owned subsidiary company namely, HCL Infinet Ltd was transferred to HCL Technologies BPO Ltd from January 1, 2003. Also, the office automation & telecommunication business of the company was transferred to HCL Infinet Ltd from January 1, 2003.
During the year 2002-03, the company bagged large System Integration and hardware orders in Enterprise business from Vidyavahini, Canara Bank, SBI, AP Transco, NIC, DACNET, Ministry of Defence, Dept. of Posts, Sahara India Parivar, Hindustan Aeronautics, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, BSNL, ITI & Indian Overseas Bank. They launched new products in enterprise security area namely HCL Infowall & HCL SecuMon during the year. Also, in the Peripherals business, they launched a slew of new models & new products that included CRT monitors & TFT LCD monitors, Multilingual keyboards, Ethernet Switches, Structured cabling components and Touch screen enabled information kiosks.
During the year 2003-04, the company launched some new products, which include Beanstalk with media center, Infiniti Indic PC, Infiniti Corporate PC, Infiniti Orbital PC and Beanstalk NEO. The company also launched next generation Xeon processor based Infiniti Global Line server 2700 series.
During the year, the company's Infrastructure Services (ISS) wing has bagged good business from Banks, Utility Services providers, PSUs, FMCG for IT security services and consultancy for Network design, roll out and management, Wide Area Network, Facility Management Services and Data Center Solutions. Also, they bagged orders from Tata Teleservices, Federal Bank, Central Depositary services for Infiniti Storage products.
During the year 2004-05, the company introduced new products, which include Konica Minolta printers, LCD TVs and Audio Visual System Integration (AVSI) solutions. They launched Toshiba LCD TV's, Ericsson range of solutions for Business conferencing, Broadband and Mini Link Radio. They also launched end-to-end solutions for IP telephony and Global IP VPN services. In the consumer PC front, the company launched several new models, which include 'EzeeBee Pride'
During the year, the company commissioned and handover the country's largest Internet backbone network to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. Also, they executed and handed over the School computerization project from the 'Department of School Education', Government of Punjab.
The networking business of the wholly owned subsidiary company, HCL Infinet Ltd was de-merged and transferred to Microcomp Ltd and the remaining Office Automation and Telecommunication business of HCL Infinet Ltd was amalgamated with the company with effect form April 1, 2006.
During the year 2005-06, the company in association with Nokia, announced a long-term distribution strategy for developing the rapidly growing Indian mobile phones market. Also, the company was awarded the 'Department of Electronics & Telecommunications (DET) Corporate Award' for Performance Excellence in the field of Computer & Tele-Communication System.
During the year 2006-07, Microcomp Ltd and Stelmac Engineering Pvt Ltd became the wholly owned subsidiaries of the company and the name of the Microcomp Ltd was changed to HCL Infinet Ltd. Stelmac Engineering Pvt Ltd was amalgamated with the company with effect from January 30, 2008.
In May 2008, the company acquired the entire share capital of Natural Technologies Pvt Ltd, a company engaged in the business of providing banking software products & solutions, for a consideration of Rs 8.39 crore.
In July 2008, the company made a tie up with Echelon Corporation of USA, to bring Echelon's Networked Energy Services advanced metering system to India.
During the year 2008-09, Natural Technologies Private Limited (NTPL), the wholly owned subsidiary was amalgamated with the Company effective from July 6, 2009. The Company launched a special MTV edition HCL Leaptop' with the latest NVIDIA Geforce graphics engine for improved gaming and multimedia applications. It also launched state-of-the-art co-branded ATM solutions for India. It launched HCL Touch, a a pioneering initiative in the Indian ICT sector for customer care services.
In 2009, the Company launched Beanstalk Media Centre, India's first Multimediaenabled PC for home users; it also introduced path breaking products like Ezeebee, Busybee brand of PCs and ME Laptops in the personal computing space. It incorporated a 100% subsidiary, named HCL Security Ltd., to provide integrated SI solutions in the field of Homeland Security & Surveillance. It further provided end-to-end solutions to its customers with the launch of HCL O'zone - a cloud-enabled services. It launched Enterprise Commercial Channel (ECC), a major initiative in its enterprise channel strategy. It launched 'Maza PC' in Maharashtra.
During the year 2009-10, on acquisition by the Company of the entire equity share capital of RMA Software Park Private Limited (RMAS), RMAS became the wholly owned subsidiary of the Company with effect from 7th July, 2009.
In 2010-11, it Launched HCL Care', a multiplatform lifecycle services for products like Set Top Box, Cameras, TFT & Peripherals, Desktops, Laptops and Mobile Phones. It launched India's first PVC & BFR free laptops in its Series 54; launched New Laptop and Desktop Series like HCL ME 1014 and HCL ME 1015 and desktop series - HCL Infi niti M A365 Pro.
The Company on 3rd February, 2011 acquired 20% equity stake in Techmart Telecom Distribution FZCO (Techmart), a Dubai based company, engaged in distribution of Nokia Smartphones in Middle East and Africa. The Company in 2010-11, transferred its Digital Entertainment business as a going concern on slump sale basis, to Digilife Distribution and Marketing Services Limited (formerly known as HCL Security Limited), the wholly owned subsidiary, for a consideration of Rs 35 Crores. It also acquired the Security and Surveillance business of Digilife Distribution and Marketing Services Limited as a going concern on slump sale basis for a consideration of Rs 6 Crores and the said transactions became effective from 1st August, 2011.
The Company in 2011-12, acquired content for the K-12 education segment from Attano Media and Education Private Limited at a negotiated consideration on June 29, 2012.
The Company launched two new laptops - HCL ME 1055 and 1065 on Intel 3rd Generation Platform. It also launched three new models of HCL Beanstalk All-In-One (AIO) PCs in 2013. It launched 'I am HCL' in March 2013 to increase customer orientation for all customer facing people. In 2013-14, it launched many productivity and customer service improvement initiatives including fi eld force automation, spares cycle time reduction, travel time reduction through optimal route planning and motor bikes enablement, remote resolution improvement, etc. It also launched two new products My IIT Tutor' and MyEduWorldDrive' to target the growing B2C and B2B2C market for quality educational content. HCL's Service business launched Tefilla Maestro and Tefi lla Astra, HCL owned Service Desk and Asset Management Tools. A Unifi ed Escalation Desk was launched for easy logging; tracking and SLA based closure of escalations. Qkonnect was launched with customized offerings at various levels across the organization.
FY 2014 saw a year of transition to a new business model. An important milestone in this transition journey was the completion of Company's restructuring plan consisting of a Composite Scheme of Arrangement, which it had initiated in FY 2013. Under the restructured organization, the Hardware Solutions Business, Services Business and Learning Business of the Company was transferred and vested into separate wholly owned subsidiaries namely HCL Infotech Limited, HCL Services Limited and HCL Learning Limited, respectively.
During the year 2018-19, HCL Touch Inc., US, the erstwhile step down wholly owned subsidiary of the Company ceased to be a step down subsidiary on its winding up w.e.f April 4, 2018. QDigi Services Limited (formerly known as HCL Computing Products Limited), a wholly owned subsidiary has ceased to be a subsidiary of the Company w.e.f April 11, 2018 on its sale to an independent buyer namely Quess Corp Limited. HCL Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, ceased to be the subsidiary of the Company w.e.f June 15, 2018 on its sale to M/s Karvy Data Management Services Limited, an independent buyer namely Karvy Data Management Services Limited. Gibraltar Technologies, LLC Dubai (formerly known as HCL Infosystems, LLC Dubai), Gibraltar Technologies, LLC, Abu Dhabi (formerly known as HCL Infosystems LLC, Abu Dhabi) and Gibraltar Technologies WLL (formerly known as HCL Infosystems Qatar WLL) were sold to an independent buyer w.e.f. November 27, 2018.
The Company in 2021-22, initiated a Scheme of Amalgamation of Digilife Distribution and Marketing Services Limited (DDMS) and HCL Learning Limited (Learning), wholly owned subsidiaries, with and into the Company and the said Scheme was noted from 1st April 2022.