Erp Major Sap Lines Up Software For Nbfcs

Leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) software developer, SAP India -- a subsidiary of the $3.4-billion German software major SAP -- is planning an ERP package for non-banking finance corporations (NBFCs). The move is in tune with SAP's new initiative -- SCOPE -- under which the company is focusing beyond industry applications towards financial and administrative processes.

This will mark a shift in SAP's ERP profile since nearly 75 per cent of the company's current packages are oriented towards manufacturing enterprises and the rest towards the service sector.

The company, which has been focusing more on the larger enterprises, has now set sights on targeting the small and medium class enterprises (SMEs) in the country and may come out with a reconfigured package in a few months. Last year SAP had announced 16 vertical industry focal areas.

As against an average cost of Rs 2 crore-plus for the ERP package, the reconfigured package for SMEs will provide a lot of flexibility on price and options. The ERP market in India grew at a rate of 118 per cent to Rs 225 crore in 1997-98 from the previous year's Rs 150 crore, according to estimates by Price Waterhouse. A 50 per cent growth is expected during the current fiscal. SAP dominates the Indian ERP market with a nearly 65 per cent market share in value terms. Of this SMEs account for 35 per cent of revenues. Currently, some of the major corporate houses like Reliance Industries, ITC and others are implementing SAP's ERP package. UTI is also gearing up for implementing the second phase of SAP's package which will deal with aspects relating to assets. Some of the major organisations implementing SAP ERP packages in the country are Tata-IBM, Price Waterhouse and Siemens Information Systems Ltd. The power utilities in the country are also being targeted for SAP/R3 solutions.

SAP feels that the top management of the power companies are aware of the importance of implementing ERP solutions. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Orissa State Electricity Board and Power Grid Corporation have evinced interest in ERP since it can bring down internal operational costs considerably.