HCLTech and Guardian Life Insurance expand partnership with seven-year AI modernization deal

HCL Tech shares in focus after signing 7-year deal with Guardian Life Insurance

HCL Tech shares: The company signed a seven-year agreement with Guardian Life Insurance to expand their partnership. HCL Tech will drive Guardian's AI-led modernization by enhancing technology and operations, improving efficiency, reducing operational friction, and developing AI-powered solutions to support the insurer's long-term growth. Shares of IT major HCL Tech will be in focus on Friday after the IT services company announced a new seven-year agreement with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), expanding its existing partnership to accelerate AI-led modernization across the insurer's technology and operations. Under the expanded agreement, HCLTech will help Guardian scale its AI-powered transformation to support long-term business growth. The partnership aims to improve efficiency, accelerate value creation, reduce operational friction and develop AI-led solutions and intellectual property for the insurance industry. HCL Tech's 7-year dealThe company said it will drive technology and talent transformation across data, applications and engineering, while enhancing operational excellence across Guardian's group benefits, individual protection, retirement and wealth management businesses. The initiative is expected to help reduce costs, shorten time to market and improve experiences for customers, advisors and distribution partners. Also read: HCL Tech's Rs 3,500 crore AI data centre foray: A new growth engine or capital-intensive diversion? HCLTech will also expand the use of its AI Service Transformation Platform, AI Force, to create and deploy agentic capabilities for Guardian. These capabilities will align with Guardian's product operating model and support a more resilient delivery foundation that can scale with the business. As part of the agreement, HCLTech will acquire Guardian India, the insurer's global capability centre that supports technology, operations and shared services. The company said nearly 2,000 employees will join HCLTech as part of the transaction. HCLTech will establish a dedicated Strategic Business Unit focused exclusively on supporting Guardian's technology innovation, engineering excellence, operational transformation and product capabilities. Karunakaran Azhisur, Country Head of Guardian India, will join HCLTech to lead the new Strategic Business Unit. HCL Tech Q1 snapshotEarlier this week, the company reported a 20% year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 4,624 crore in the first quarter. The same stood at Rs 3,843 crore in the last year quarter. Revenue from operations in the reporting June quarter increased 13% YoY to Rs 34,579 crore, compared to Rs 30,349 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The company retained its FY27 constant currency guidance. It expects company revenue growth of 1-4% year-on-year in constant currency, services revenue growth of 1.5-4.5%, and an EBIT margin of 17.5-18.5%. HCL Tech shares have tumbled over 27% in 2026 and about 30% in the last six months. In the last one year, the HCL stock price has declined 22%. (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

HCLTech and Guardian Sign New Expanded Partnership for AI-powered Modernization Across Technology and Operations

HCLTech today announced a new seven-year agreement with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America® (Guardian), one of the largest mutual companies in the U.S. and a leading provider of insurance, retirement, wealth management and employee benefits solutions. The new agreement builds on the companies' previously announced partnership and expands their collaboration to advance Guardian's AI-powered modernization across technology and operations to support long-term business growth. Through this partnership, the companies aim to accelerate value realization and efficiency for Guardian through differentiated experiences and reduced friction, while creating AI-led solutions and IP for the insurance industry. Additionally, HCLTech will accelerate technology and talent transformation across data, applications and engineering while also driving operational excellence across group benefits, individual protection, retirement and wealth management, resulting in reduced costs, faster time to market and continued delivery of high-quality experiences for customers, advisors and distribution partners. HCLTech will expand the use of its AI Service Transformation Platform, AI Force to create and deploy agentic capabilities for the business, and further advance AI adoption and innovation. These capabilities will align with Guardian's product operating model and help create a more resilient delivery foundation that can scale with the business. As part of the expanded strategic partnership, HCLTech will acquire Guardian India, a high-impact global capability center with a large pool of specialized talent supporting technology, operations and shared services playing a vital role in advancing Guardian's transformation. Nearly 2,000 employees will integrate into HCLTech with the establishment of a dedicated Strategic Business Unit focused exclusively on supporting Guardian to drive technology innovation, engineering excellence, operational transformation and maturity across Guardian's products and services. Karunakaran Azhisur, Country Head of Guardian India, will join HCLTech to lead this Strategic Business Unit. "This partnership is an important step in advancing our operating model and scaling AI across our enterprise," said Steve Rullo, chief digital and technology officer at Guardian. "Together with HCLTech, we are strengthening how we operate to drive greater consistency and scalability while continuing to invest in the capabilities that differentiate Guardian, strengthen operational excellence, and create value for our customers, policyholders and distribution partners." "This expanded partnership is another testament to our continued leadership in the insurance industry and reflects the strength of our relationship with Guardian to further drive their AI-enabled journey, as well as a shared focus on scaling AI and modernizing operations," said Srinivasan Seshadri, chief growth officer and global head of financial services at HCLTech. "We are excited to welcome the talented team joining us from Guardian. Together, we have a unique opportunity for us to partner to co-create products and intellectual property that will deepen HCLTech's domain expertise, further strengthen our AI-intrinsic platforms and help clients achieve sustained business growth."

HCLTech and The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America Sign New Expanded Partnership for AI-Powered Modernization Across Technology and Operations

HCLTech announced a new seven-year agreement with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, one of the largest mutual companies in the U.S. and a provider of insurance, retirement, wealth management and employee benefits solutions. The new agreement builds on the companies' previously announced partnership and expands their collaboration to advance Guardian's AI-powered modernization across technology and operations to support long-term business growth. Through this partnership, the companies aim to accelerate value realization and efficiency for Guardian through differentiated experiences and reduced friction, while creating AI-led solutions and IP for the insurance industry. HCLTech will accelerate technology and talent transformation across data, applications and engineering while also driving operational excellence across group benefits, individual protection, retirement and wealth management, resulting in reduced costs, faster time to market and continued delivery of high-quality experiences for customers, advisors and distribution partners. HCLTech will expand the use of its AI Service Transformation Platform, AI Force to create and deploy agentic capabilities for the business, and further advance AI adoption and innovation. These capabilities will align with Guardian's product operating model and help create a more resilient delivery foundation that can scale with the business. As part of the expanded strategic partnership, HCLTech will acquire Guardian India, a global capability center with a large pool of specialized talent supporting technology, operations and shared services playing a vital role in advancing Guardian's transformation. Nearly 2,000 employees will integrate into HCLTech with the establishment of a dedicated Strategic Business Unit focused exclusively on supporting Guardian to drive technology innovation, engineering excellence, operational transformation and maturity across Guardian's products and services. Karunakaran Azhisur, Country Head of Guardian India, will join HCLTech to lead this Strategic Business Unit.