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Global treasury, minimal team: how HCL’s Vineet Sood redefined efficiency

Published: Feb 2026
Adam Smith Awards Asia 2025 logo

Corporate Treasurer of the Year

Overall Winner

Vineet Sood, HCL Technologies

Photo of Vineet Sood, HCL Technologies.

Vineet Sood

Executive Vice President, Head of Treasury & Finance
HCL Technologies Ltd logo

HCL Technologies is an Indian multinational information technology and consulting company providing services in digital, engineering, cloud and AI. Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Noida, India, it offers IT services, software products, and R&D services across industries such as financial services, manufacturing and life sciences. With over 223,000 employees in 60 countries, HCL Technologies is a global leader, focusing on driving client progress through its comprehensive technology portfolio.

Redefining treasury at global scale

Vineet Sood, Executive Vice President, Head of Treasury & Finance at HCL Technologies leads treasury operations across 178 entities scattered over 50 countries with a team of just 20 professionals. He has built a centralised, highly automated treasury function that combines efficiency with scaled and institutionalised innovation that now spans tokenisation and blockchain technology.

Under Vineet’s leadership, the treasury function has rolled out a comprehensive financial modelling of cyber risks management programme and employee benefit programmes. Integrating cyber risk management involved financial valuations, assisting contracting teams, modelling data and risk scenarios creating protective structures in a process that showcased treasury’s growing role in creating enterprise resilience.

Vineet has also been instrumental in integrating market‑first financial structures. A prime example is the innovative US$100m receivables finance deal HCL structured with Citi, which incorporated a discounting facility for HCL’s long-term receivables for efficient management of working capital, liquidity and credit risks.

Respected industry voice and collaborator

Vineet is also a sought-after thought leader. He contributes to forums and industry organisations to help build best practice in treasury and foster collaborative industry initiatives and standards. He engages with peers, regulators and financial partners, and his career milestones and treasury strategies are cited in case studies as examples of innovation. His journey from modest beginnings also serves as an inspiration for future finance leaders and the next generation of treasurers: he leads by example, mentors emerging talent – many of the people he mentored are now holding senior positions – and has embedded a culture of integrity, curiosity and transformation.

HCL’s expansion into new global markets has been underpinned by the treasury team’s skill and ability to assess capital requirements, mitigate regulatory, contractual and financial risks, and mobilise funding. Whether supporting a cross-border acquisition or entering newer geographies, the team has provided financial clarity and real-time guidance. Treasury works alongside the M&A and business teams to assess currency exposure, fund repatriation constraints, and assess sovereign risk frameworks feeding into smarter and faster market entry decisions.

Treasury is also positioned to navigate global volatility that often triggers tighter liquidity. The 24/7 treasury operation ensures uninterrupted cash access, rapid scenario modelling and real-time stress testing. Meanwhile a control framework enables senior leadership to monitor exposure, coverage and contingency buffers daily. His emphasis on agile liquidity and capital planning ensures HCL can sustain business continuity across 60+ countries.

Under Vineet’s leadership, the treasury division has accelerated digital transformation, embedding industry-leading automation and positioning treasury as a data-enabled strategic partner. A cloud-native TMS connected through bank agnostic APIs powers real-time dashboard and forecasting.

The team has also embedded treasury risk models into commercial deal design. The team can now project hedging costs and FX risk into pricing, preserving and mitigating HCL’s gross margins and ensuring that volatility doesn’t impact growth in a hedging programme spanning 30+ currencies across multiple time zones. This integrated approach set a new standard for strategic treasury involvement in core business development.

“Winning the Adam Smith Award Asia for Corporate Treasurer of the Year is deeply gratifying. These awards represent the gold standard in treasury excellence worldwide. To be recognised on this platform, especially from among a record number of nominations across 30+ countries, is an incredible honour. But more than a personal achievement, it’s a collective one. It reflects the vision, courage and discipline of my entire treasury team at HCL – the people who have turned strategy into execution, and complexity into clarity, day after day.”

Vineet Sood, Executive Vice President, Head of Treasury & Finance

Treasury also engages with stakeholders including the board committees and executive leadership, positioning treasury front and centre in financial planning and decision‑making. Vineet presents quarterly risk assessments, funding strategies and FX sensitivity analysis to the CFO and board and ensures treasury plays a central role in long‑term capital planning. Beyond internal impact, Vineet has extended HCL’s treasury capabilities outward, advising on structuring risk frameworks and asset light structures. This unique cross-pollination model positions HCL not just as a service provider, but as a partner with embedded treasury intelligence.

Some of the challenges Vineet has addressed and overcome in his role as Executive Vice President, Head of Treasury & Finance include:

Operating in capital-controlled environments – navigating treasury operations in a highly regulated capital control regime balancing compliance with flexibility. Despite external constraints, the team ensured seamless liquidity movement and funding, while supporting business expansion without disruption.

Navigating complex insurance markets – treasury has established strategic relationships with reinsurers globally, such as Lloyd’s syndicate, to structure bespoke coverage for large programmes. The team also led one of the largest insurance programmes across developed and emerging markets, including India (where insurance maturity is still evolving) balancing compliance, client assurance and cost efficiency.

Regulatory complexity and cross-border compliance – HCL’s treasury has rolled out a compliance‑first framework and invested in regulatory intelligence to ensure business continuity and audit‑readiness, globally.

Global liquidity management across multiple jurisdictions – managing fragmented cash across diverse banking systems required a consolidated, real-time view. The team implemented centralised visibility tools and rationalised accounts, unlocking trapped cash and enhancing yield. This was done across 45+ countries and 30+ currencies leading to streamlined liquidity management globally.

Vineet’s leadership is a blueprint for what modern finance leadership should look like in an era of constant change. He demonstrates technical ability and digital foresight and has elevated treasury at the company from a support function to a board-level enabler. He has done this with a lean team, within the high-velocity, low-margin world of IT services.

Vineet is a respected voice in the global treasury ecosystem. He mentors upcoming professionals, collaborates with banking partners to co-create solutions, and consistently pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in risk, funding and automation. His thought leadership is frequently featured in industry publications and recognised by global award platforms. He represents the next generation of treasurers – tech-forward, strategically anchored, and globally respected and is a most deserving Corporate Treasurer of the Year 2025.

Adam Smith Awards sail

The Adam Smith Awards Asia are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards-asia

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