Shares of IT major HCLTech gained 3% to Rs 1,223 on the BSE on Friday after the IT services company announced a new seven-year agreement with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), expanding their existing partnership to accelerate AI-led modernisation 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 deal

The 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.

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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.

Earlier 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%.

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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%.