TCS vs HCLTech: One bets on Gen AI, the Other raised guidance—Which is the smarter bet for 2026?

Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies are relatively muted in morning trade after their third-quarter results. Both tech majors saw a one-time impact of labour codes, but TCS’s investments in Gen AI and HCLTech continue to deliver the highest growth in the IT Services largecap space has taken centre stage. Here’s a detailed comparison between the Q3 performance of both companies-