HCLTech chief executive C Vijayakumar was greeted with chants of “we want hike” from employees at the company’s 50th anniversary event in Chennai, in a video that has gone viral.
The clip, shared widely on social media including X and Instagram, shows the auditorium erupting into the chant as Vijayakumar took the stage.
The chant continued for some time while the CEO remained on stage during the event.
The celebration formed part of HCLTech’s golden jubilee, marking fifty years since the company was founded.
The video has drawn mixed reactions online, with some viewers finding it funny and others linking it to broader pay concerns in India’s IT sector.
Some commenters praised the employees for speaking up openly, while others said the moment was inappropriate for the occasion.
The clip has continued to circulate and spark discussion since the celebration took place.
The chant broke out as part of HCLTech’s golden jubilee celebrations in Chennai, an event that also featured other planned elements to mark the company’s fifty years in business.
Social media users were divided in their reactions, with some praising the employees for candidly expressing workplace concerns in a public setting, while others felt the moment undercut the tone of a company milestone event.
The episode has been widely shared and discussed as part of a broader conversation around compensation trends and employee sentiment within India’s information technology sector this year.
HCLTech, one of India’s largest IT services companies, employs hundreds of thousands of people globally, making internal sentiment around pay and benefits a recurring talking point whenever such moments become public.
Similar viral moments involving employees publicly airing workplace grievances at corporate events have periodically surfaced from other large companies in India in recent years, often prompting comparable debates online about appropriate conduct versus genuine expression of concerns.
(Image: Itsbilluid (CC BY-SA 3.0))
