New Delhi: IT services provider HCL Technologies will increase the salaries of its employees by 0-10 percent from October 1, which will result in a drop in its gross margin by 130 basis points. "We have decided to increase the wages of the employees effective from October 1, 2009 by 0-10 percent and this will result in our gross margin dropping by 130 basis points for the next two quarters," said HCL Technologies CEO Vineet Nayar after announcing the first quarter results. At the end of September 30, HCL Technologies' total employee strength stood at 54,443. The company added 665 professionals in the IT services segment during the period. Further, the company is looking at acquisitions aggressively to 'fill in the gap' in its service areas and offerings. "Acquisition is a part of our growth strategy. You will see acquisitions hopefully in BPO, enterprise application space, engineering and cloud computing side," said Nayar. Stating that there is no fixed price tag for the acquisition, Nayar added, "We have successfully managed five acquisitions in the last 3-4 quarters. Our margins are back to its original level of 19 percent." For the first quarter ended September 30, HCL Technologies today reported 18.50 percent growth in its net profit at 300.75 crore. Shares of HCL Technologies were trading at 317.80, down 0.56 percent in afternoon trade on the BSE.