Roshni Nadar Malhotra

Chairperson — HCLTech

About Roshni Nadar Malhotra

Key facts Role: Chairperson Organisation: HCLTech and HCL Group Country: India Sector: IT services Headline figures: About US$14.7 billion in annual revenue; US$620 million in annualised advanced-AI revenue Roshni Nadar Malhotra is betting one of India's biggest technology companies on artificial intelligence at the moment the business model of Indian IT is being questioned. In HCLTech's 2025-26 annual report she described a "tectonic shift" in the industry as AI reshapes how work gets done. The company ended the financial year with US$620 million in annualised advanced-AI revenue (CNBC-TV18/PTI, 21 July 2026). In July 2026 it signed a deal with the Odisha government to build its first AI data centre, in partnership with the Indian AI start-up Sarvam, with a planned outlay of ₹14,257 crore. The role As chairperson of HCLTech and of the wider HCL Group, Nadar Malhotra presides over a company with about US$14.7 billion in annual revenue, according to Fortune. HCLTech says it has more than 223,000 staff working from 60 countries. Chief executive and managing director C Vijayakumar runs operations. Her authority rests on both the chair and ownership. In March 2025 her father, HCL founder Shiv Nadar, gifted her 47 per cent of his holdings in the promoter companies Vama Sundari Investments (Delhi) and HCL Corporation. According to exchange filings reported by The Indian Express, that gave her control of the promoter entities and made her the largest shareholder of HCLTech. The Indian Express said the filings described the move as part of a "private family arrangement intended to streamline succession". “We see AI and its adjacent technologies as a powerful tailwind, one that will open larger opportunities and accelerate our growth,” — Nadar Malhotra, in the annual report Background She succeeded her father as chairperson in July 2020. She holds an undergraduate degree in communications from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. She is also a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which HCLTech says has invested US$1.85 billion in educational institutions. She chairs VidyaGyan, a leadership academy for talented rural students in Uttar Pradesh, and founded The Habitats Trust, a conservation foundation, in 2018. France made her a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 2024. The AI strategy Her strategic push over the past year has been to reposition HCLTech from a scale-driven services firm into what Fortune calls an "AI-native enterprise". Her pillars are the HCLSoftware intellectual-property arm, a full-stack AI portfolio sold alongside services, and new industrial bets such as a semiconductor joint venture with Foxconn. "We see AI and its adjacent technologies as a powerful tailwind, one that will open larger opportunities and accelerate our growth," she wrote in the annual report. She said the company recorded the fastest constant-currency revenue growth among comparable peers for a third consecutive year. She has also set the goal of making HCLTech the world's best AI solutions provider. Under her chairmanship, Fortune reports, half the board is now made up of women, one of the highest proportions at any major global technology company. The pressures are real. Fortune noted that HCLTech shares had lost more than a quarter of their value in 2026 as of 19 May, as fears that AI would disrupt software and services spread to India's IT consulting sector. How the company converts its AI investment into revenue will be closely watched by an industry that, according to Fortune India, earns close to US$315 billion a year. Global reach Her reach is international. HCLTech's clients are largely global enterprises. She sits on the boards of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum and The Nature Conservancy, is an independent director of HDFC Asset Management, and advises the MIT School of Engineering and Kellogg. The Odisha data centre positions the group as a supplier to India's push for sovereign AI capacity. What to watch: whether AI revenue grows fast enough to offset slower traditional services demand, progress on the Odisha AI park and the Foxconn venture, and how the stock recovers. She ranks sixth because she combines the chair and the controlling stake of a global technology company, and is using both to steer it towards AI. Sources Fortune, Most Powerful Women 2026: Roshni Nadar Malhotra CNBC-TV18 (PTI), AI to accelerate HCLTech growth as technology industry undergoes tectonic shift: Chairperson Roshni Nadar , 21 Jul 2026 HCLTech, Leadership page (bio of Roshni Nadar Malhotra; 223,000 staff, 60 countries; Shiv Nadar Foundation US$1.85bn) The Indian Express, HCL founder Shiv Nadar transfers 47% stake to daughter Roshni , 8 Mar 2025 Entrepreneur India, We are an Enabler of India's Sovereign AI Ecosystem: Roshni Nadar Malhotra , 24 Jul 2026 Fortune India, India's Top 100 Billionaires 2026: Roshni Nadar Malhotra bets on 3A strategy , 27 Sep 2026

Why this entry is on the list

She ranks sixth because she combines the chair and the controlling stake of a global technology company, and is using both to steer it towards AI. HCLTech has about US$14.7 billion in annual revenue and more than 223,000 staff, and her father's 2025 gift of 47 per cent of his holdings in the promoter companies made her its largest shareholder.