Indian IT firms are not embarking on massive external hiring sprees for their new generative AI partnerships. At the new HCLTech Anthropic partnership business unit, the workforce consists almost entirely of re-badged bench staff. Instead of hiring new machine learning engineers, HCLTech renames existing software developers to protect margins.
How is the HCLTech Anthropic partnership unit actually staffed?
The HCLTech Anthropic business unit is staffed almost entirely through internal transfers rather than external hiring. To build its new Anthropic Centre of Excellence, HCLTech is pulling from within its existing ranks of unassigned software developers, industry personnel commonly known as the bench.
The math leaves little room for external experts. Out of 6,450 net employee additions reported in the company’s Q2 FY27 earnings, 6,136 were entry-level graduates, according to HCLTech’s quarterly financial results.
This translates to exactly 314 lateral hires globally across a 230,000-person company. A massive influx of specialized external machine learning engineers simply does not exist in the payroll data.
What training do developers need to join the Anthropic business unit?
Transitioning from a legacy developer to an Anthropic Centre of Excellence engineer requires only a short internal certification track. Employees who pass the internal portal’s final assessment are immediately cleared to join the dedicated unit.
The program does not require advanced machine learning mathematics. It trains existing IT workers to deploy models that Anthropic has already built.
How does generative AI hiring compare to the October announcement?
This internal staffing reality contrasts with the public framing of a massive artificial intelligence expansion. On October 12, 2026, HCLTech announced the dedicated Anthropic unit to build agentic AI solutions for enterprise clients.
During the Q2 earnings cycle, Chief Executive Officer C. Vijayakumar promoted the enterprise AI integration. He stated that the company’s combination of global systems integration capabilities and software products gives it an advantage in deploying agentic AI at scale.
Yet internal job requisitions run entirely counter to the public narrative of building a new, highly specialized AI workforce from the ground up.
Why do IT vendors upskill bench staff instead of hiring AI engineers?
Upskilling existing staff preserves IT service margins by avoiding the premium salaries commanded by native AI talent. Generative AI integrations rely heavily on third-party API token costs, which eat into the profit margins IT vendors traditionally enjoy on software projects.
By avoiding external hiring costs, HCLTech preserves its margin spread on these new enterprise contracts.
HCLTech leadership maintains that this strategy serves clients best. The company’s position is that enterprise AI integration requires deep knowledge of legacy IT systems and specific industry domains, expertise their existing staff already possesses, more than it requires pure machine-learning research skills.
What does this mean for enterprise AI buyers?
Clients paying premium rates for dedicated AI integration often receive re-badged legacy developers learning generative AI frameworks on the job. Enterprise buyers are beginning to recognize the gap between vendor promises and deployed technical depth.
The long-term performance of these enterprise AI deployments now depends entirely on whether a short internal certification translates into reliable corporate software.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does HCLTech hire external AI engineers for its Anthropic unit?
No, the HCLTech Anthropic business unit is staffed almost entirely by transferring existing software developers. According to Q2 FY27 earnings data, the vast majority of the company’s net new hires are entry-level graduates rather than specialized lateral machine learning experts.
What training do HCLTech employees receive for the Anthropic partnership?
Employees transition into the new unit by completing a short internal certification. Internal documents reveal that this curriculum focuses on prompt engineering and API integration rather than advanced mathematical model training.
Why is HCLTech using existing staff for enterprise AI integration?
Upskilling existing employees helps HCLTech preserve its profit margins on software projects. Generative AI involves high third-party API token costs, so avoiding the premium salaries of native AI researchers keeps integration projects profitable.
Praseetha K
Praseetha K is the Managing Editor of Clarity Times. She edits, verifies and publishes the newsroom's articles, and also writes analysis on policy, law, business and technology. Articles she writes are edited by the Editor-in-Chief before publication.
