From a Newsroom to the Chair of HCLTech: Roshni Nadar Malhotra's Long Game

From Television Newsroom to HCL Corporation

Roshni Nadar Malhotra was born in 1982 and studied communication at Northwestern University, then took an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management. Before joining the family business she worked as a news producer at Sky News in the United Kingdom, according to a People Matters profile dated March 2025. It is an unusual start for the head of a technology group, and it shows in how she talks about stories, audiences and trust.

She joined HCL and became executive director and CEO of HCL Corporation, the holding company, in 2009. In 2020 she took over as chairperson of HCL Technologies from her father, Shiv Nadar, who became chairman emeritus. Several reports describe her as the first woman to lead a listed IT company in India.

Scale and Scope of the $14 Billion Enterprise

HCLTech traces its origins to 1976, when Shiv Nadar and a group of eight engineers began what became Hindustan Computers Limited. HCL Technologies itself came out of a 1991 spin-off, listed in 2000 and was rebranded HCLTech in 2022. It is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, with offices in 60 countries and more than 200 delivery centres. The company's reference page reports FY2026 revenue of Rs 130,144 crore (about US$14 billion), net income of Rs 17,361 crore, and 223,889 employees representing 161 nationalities as of June 2026.

Its chief executive and managing director is C. Vijayakumar, who has held the role since 2016. Its acquisitions include Axon Group (2008), several IBM software products (2019), Germany's ASAP Group (2023, US$279 million) and select assets of HPE's communications technology group (2024, US$225 million).

“My gratitude to Kellogg extends far beyond this award.”

Recognition on Fortune's Asia List and Foxconn Chip Venture

Fortune placed her at No. 8 on its 2026 Most Powerful Women Asia list. Its profile notes about US$14.7 billion in HCLTech revenue, advanced AI revenue of US$620 million in the last year, and the start of construction in February on a US$440 million chip-packaging plant in Uttar Pradesh through her group's joint venture with Foxconn. It also reports that half of HCLTech's board members are women, among the highest shares of any major global tech company, and that she remains India's richest woman on the 2026 Hurun India Rich List.

The 2025 Stake Transfer and Family Governance

In March 2025, reports said Shiv Nadar had transferred 47% of his stake in HCL Corporation and in Vama Sundari Investments to his daughter. Before the transfer he held 51% of those entities and she held 10.33%. The reports said it made her the largest shareholder in HCL Technologies and gave her majority control of the promoter entities. It is a rare, clean example of a founder handing over control while still active, and a useful case study for family businesses planning succession.

Size brings its own questions. HCLTech reports revenue above US$14 billion, with a workforce larger than many small cities, so leadership here is mostly about systems: how decisions are made across 60 countries, how attrition is managed (NDTV reported fourth-quarter attrition of 12.5% in 2026, with headcount up by 802), and how large clients are kept. One example from the reference page is a US$2.1 billion managed network services deal signed with Verizon Business in August 2023. As chairperson she sets strategy and board direction, while the CEO runs operations, and she chairs the board's CSR committee.

Philanthropy, Conservation and Key Lessons

She is a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which has established schools and universities, and chairs VidyaGyan, a leadership academy for economically underserved, meritorious rural students in Uttar Pradesh. She also founded The Habitats Trust, which works to conserve India's natural habitats and indigenous species. In 2023, Kellogg gave her its Schaffner Award, recognising alumni who have made major contributions to society. On receiving it, she said, "My gratitude to Kellogg extends far beyond this award."

What readers can take from her path: 1. Prepare the handover long before it happens. She was CEO of the holding company eleven years before chairing the listed one. 2. Pair business with a long-term social project. VidyaGyan is a decades-long bet on rural talent. 3. Board composition matters. A board that is half women is a stated aim, and a measurable one. 4. Pick a second language to lead in. Her media background gives her a different way to explain technology to the public.

Independent editorial profile built from public sources. We have not interviewed Ms Malhotra.