HCL Infosystems Limited

Technology — Electronics & Computer Distribution · NSE

₹10.13+₹0.01 (+0.10%)

DalalBaazaar Score

19 / 100

🔴 Poor

Verdict

HIGH RISK

Risk

Very High

Driven by negative shareholders' equity — the company owes more than it owns, short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, negative free cash flow.

In simple words: The company owes more than it owns — years of losses have wiped out its net worth, but sales are shrinking. Solvency — whether it can keep funding itself at all — is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:03 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of HCL Infosystems Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

HCL Infosystems Limited provides information technology support services in India. The company's primary activities include annual maintenance contracts related to enterprise distribution customers; and system integration services.

IndustryElectronics & Computer Distribution

SectorTechnology

Employees70

Annual revenue₹22 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹22 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-152 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹-105 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 70 employees supports ₹30.9 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹30.9 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT, INFOSYS LIMITED, HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD, WIPRO LTD. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved -31% while net margin moved +23% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect-31%

Margin effect+23%

DalalBaazaar Score

19/ 100

Poor

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Shareholders' equity is negative — accumulated losses exceed the capital in the business

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

18/ 100

Weak

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

30/ 100

Expensive

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

Weak on business quality and not cheap enough to compensate.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Not enough peers with a usable P/E

vs. generic bands

N/A

Multiples unreliable — equity base is negative

EV/EBITDA

—

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from -173.5% to -105.5% over 3 years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

5 items require attention · 4 high · 1 watch

🔴Negative shareholders' equityFinancial
Liabilities exceed assets — accumulated losses have wiped out the company's net worth.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -6.1x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 3 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹33 Cr in the latest reported year.
🟡Short-term liquidity is tightFinancial
Current ratio of 0.34 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from -173.5% to -105.5%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Solvency comes before everything else
Liabilities exceed assets. Until net worth is rebuilt, the equity is a claim on a business that owes more than it owns, and further losses or a funding squeeze can leave shareholders with nothing.
Size brings its own risk
Micro Cap businesses are thinly traded, so exits are harder in a falling market and single events move the price more than they would for a larger company.
Several serious flags at once
4 high-severity checks triggered. Individually each has an explanation; together they raise the chance that something structural is wrong rather than a one-off.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1EBITDA margin holds above -107%✓ -105.5%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹1 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -6.1x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.

Investment Checklist

2 / 9 checks passed

✗ Shareholders' equity is positive (assets exceed liabilities)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✗ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✗ Revenue growing year-over-year
✗ Profit growing year-over-year
✓ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✓ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

0 good · 4 neutral · 7 weak

Market Cap

₹333 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

Loss-making

Earnings are negative, so a P/E multiple can't be read here

P/B Ratio

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

EPS (TTM)

₹-1.38

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Return on equity can't be read when equity itself is negative

ROCE

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

Debt/Equity

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Shareholders' equity is negative, so this ratio can't be read

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-40.5%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-55.9%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹1 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

-330.4%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-240.4%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

0.34

Tight

Tight short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.82

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

15%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

10.2 / 10.6

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

31.8

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹31 Cr	₹32 Cr	₹25 Cr	₹22 Cr	-11.7%
EBITDA	-₹55 Cr	-₹15 Cr	₹8 Cr	-₹23 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	-173.5%	-46.5%	31.4%	-105.5%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹39 Cr	-₹16 Cr	-₹21 Cr	-₹33 Cr	—
EPS	₹-1.18	₹-0.48	₹-0.64	₹-1	—
Total Debt	₹355 Cr	₹355 Cr	₹355 Cr	₹333 Cr	-2.1%
Free Cash Flow	₹73 Cr	-₹36 Cr	-₹29 Cr	-₹1 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 11.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from -173.5% to -105.5% over 3 years (+68.1 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 2.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹73 Cr to -₹1 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹440 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹737 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹8 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹0 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

63.1%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

03 May 2012

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT	17.3x	45.6%
INFOSYS LIMITED	15.8x	32.0%
HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD	20.4x	24.6%
WIPRO LTD	14.5x	15.9%

Recent News

6 general

HCL Infosystems (NSE:HCL-INSYS) soars 12% this week, taking five-year gains to 61%

Simply Wall Street, 11 Feb

HCL Infosystems vs Nifty 50: Share Price Performance Compared

Univest, 25 Sept

HCL Infosystems subsidiary loses arbitration objection petition

scanx.trade, 06 Oct

HCL Infosystems Share Price Forecast: 3 Year Outlook to 2030

Univest, 17 Jul

HCL Infosystems Q1FY27 loss widens to ₹1,668 Lakh on finance costs

scanx.trade, 06 Aug

HCL Infosystems up 8% after promoter transfers 47% stake via Gift Deed

Business Standard, 10 Mar

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-40.5%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
2 metrics couldn't be retrieved for this stock — this is more common for smaller or thinly-covered listings.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Avoid until solvency is resolved

HCL Infosystems Limited owes more than it owns. Whatever the operating numbers show, the equity is a residual claim on a business with negative net worth, and that question has to be settled before any of the rest is worth weighing. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

2 of 3 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive; Interest cover stays above 3x · see Key things to watch ↑