Governance

As newspapers the world-over splash headlines of corporate mismanagement and accounting adventures, HCL prides itself in maintaining the highest level of integrity in corporate practices and governance. Our corporate governance framework is value centric and ensures fairness, accountability and most importantly - transparency. By functioning ethically and by pursuing profitability while embracing all the laws and regulations, we make sure that our stakeholders always feel proud at being associated with HCL.

The Framework

• Strictly adheres to Security & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) guidelines - Clause 49
• Is certified by Statutory Auditors
• Complies with Organization of Economic & Corporate Development (OECD) Principles
• Adheres to Corporate Governance Guidelines 2000

• HCL has an audit committee made up of only Independent Directors, and also has a compensation committee.

• HCL works with the Nomination Committee, which does succession planning for positions such as CEO, COO and CFO.

• There is a Risk Management Committee, which comprises of the CEO and other Independent Directors who are responsible for identifying, evaluating and mitigating operational, strategic and external environmental risk.
• For the sake of shareholders HCL introduced several new initiatives such as: strict norms with a no-trading window for 14 days prior to the declaration of the quarterly results; audit of all assets of the company and assets like cash & cash equivalence; retirement age of Directors [fixed at 75 years] and the tenure of Independent Directors at 9 years; voluntary preparation of results using US GAAP in addition to Indian GAAP; review by one more Big 4 auditor; and introduced the twin audit system.

• HCL is fully compliant with OECD measures and recommendations from Corporate Governance guidelines 2000.

The Stakeholders

While our good governance practices are getting attention, we are more concerned with whether our customers believe in us; whether they are able to rely on us for long-term engagements and complex service delivery; and whether they can depend on our people to create value for them. This is what constantly redefines the purpose of our existence, of our governance and of our ways of working.

1. Investors and Shareholders:

• To increase transparency we provide statutory disclosures and voluntary disclosures of all kinds.
• Disclosures include cash & cash equivalents, new customer wins, and treasury investments.
• HCL reports numbers on constant currency and also provides its distribution across services and geos.
• HCL’s statutory auditor is PWC, and KPMG for due diligence. This ‘twin audit’ is the first of its kind in the industry - also work with E&Y for taxation.

2. Analysts:

• We allocate special dialogue days, have developed a dedicated portal for interaction and hold strategy discussions periodically.
• The annual “Directions” meet where the CEO of HCL Technologies interacts with all employees to arrive at the strategic direction the company needs to take, and the “HCL Global Meet” where our customers, investors and analysts all interact together in a free flowing discussion, are just two examples of how transparency has become a part of the HCL culture.

3. Customers:

• HCL has developed a single interface, which is called the Service Delivery Platform where customers can access and analyze all kinds of information about projects; people, performance and can even raise a service ticket.
• Other initiatives include the Value Portal that captures innovative ideas and implements cost savings and performance improvement, C-SAT surveys to get regular feedback on customer expectations and HCL targets; the HCL Global Meet where global thought leaders and customers convene and debate on current and future business issues; Advisory Councils that allow top customers advise HCL on areas of improvement; and GRRP that encourages shared ownership – both in rewards as well as risk.

4. Partnerships and joint ventures:

• We have over 150 years of partnerships with the Global 500 companies. 
• We have successful JVs with some of the most respected technology firms in the world

5. Employees

• Our “Employees First” philosophy enables employee-centric initiatives such as the Five Fold Path to Individual Enlightenment. It ensures that our employees are informed, involved, engaged, recognized and transformed for larger purposes and perspectives.
• The Employees First transformational initiative is a renowned case study at Harvard Business School

Accolades on Transparency

• GMI has rated us at 6 compared to our peers at 4.1 on parameters of accountability and disclosures.
• Business World has placed us third among 500 listed companies for confidence on reported numbers.
• Asiamoney voted HCL as the best company for investor relations in India.

To sum it up, all the rules and regulations are imperative. But what is pivotal is that we continue to create value for our customers and provide dynamic solutions in an honest and accountable manner.