HCL Technologies on Monday joined a long list of companies that have offered to buy back their shares. The board of HCL approved the buyback proposal for an amount of R3,500 crore, for 3.5 crore shares.The offer represents 2.45% of the fully paid-up equity share capital of the company. In CY 2016 firms spent more than R26,853 crore on buybacks, the highest since 2011. The offer is for R1,000 per share, 16% more than its closing price of R863.30 on Monday on BSE. The company has cash and equivalents of R12,806 crore as of March 2017. The promoters hold 59.69 % shares in the company as on March 2017. Last Wednesday HCL Technologies in an exchange filing said that its board meeting on March 20 will consider a proposal to buy back its shares.Last month the board of Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS ) had approved a proposal to buyback 5.61 crore shares worth R16,000 crore. TCS's buyback is the biggest offer in 18 years.