The Hindu : Business : SAP to pump in $1 billion investment in 5 years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 03, 2006

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Business

SAP to pump in $1 billion investment in 5 years

New Centre of Excellence inaugurated in Gurgaon

NEW DELHI: German software major SAP will invest $1 billion (nearly Rs. 4,500 crore) and double headcount in India over the next five years, the company CEO, Henning Kagermann, said here on Wednesday.

The company has already invested half-a-billion dollar so far in India, where it has two outfits in operation — SAP Labs and SAP India.

Headcount to be doubled

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Kagermann said the company would increase the headcount in India to 4,000 by the end of this year and hoped to double the number over the next five years, riding on the demand for SAP's products.

Earlier in the day, he inaugurated the company's new office in Gurgaon, which would operate as a new Centre of Excellence for catering to customer requirements in India. The new office would have 250 employees by the end of 2006. "An increase in India's contribution to global research and product development is a natural progression and by the end of this year, India will make up a significant 20 per cent of the global R&D pie,'' Mr. Kagermann said.

India was a vital component of SAP's research and development, global services and support network, he said, adding that "we are seeing phenomenal growth in demand for the company's solutions from Indian enterprises.'' He, however, did not give specifics regarding how much investment would go into SAP Labs or SAP India and the plans to raise headcount.

Brushing aside reports that SAP considers Indian labours costs as too high, Mr. Kagermann said: ``We are not concerned with cost... Indian costs are comparatively lower, India is highly competitive and we want good talent, which is available here.''

"The quality of talent, innovation and performance coming from India is very impressive and our additional investments are designed to harness it more. We will further leverage India's present performance as well as future potential through all our initiatives,'' he said.

SAP India, which completed a decade of operations in India this year, has empowered over 1,050 Indian companies and signed 200 new customer partnerships in 2006 so far. — PTI

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