LME-listed Sage Software bullish on India business

London Stock Exchange-listed Sage Software is bullish on its business from India where it recently acquired the Pocket range of Payroll and Human Resource Management Software (HRMS) and all customer contracts from Crystal Info Solutions.

Thirty-four employees of Crystal have joined Sage in its Payroll and HRMS business group. Based in Chennai, Crystal has over 300 customers across India and Sage plans to double this number in next twelve months. Sage has bought Crystal’s assets of trademarks, copyrights and customer contracts, apart from its movable assets.

“It is our first acquisition in India and a step towards increasing our presence in the Indian market with a localised product and R&D facility. The acquisition allows Sage to offer a comprehensive solution comprising ERP, CRM, Payroll and HRMS to meet the needs of the Indian SMB and mid-market customers,” said Thomas Abraham, managing director, Sage Software India, without disclosing the size of the acquisition.

Expaining about Sage’s India plans, Abraham said, “Our business is not headcount-linked but is based on the partner model. We aim to have 20-25 partners in India for the HRMS business.” Sage currently has over 14,800 employees worldwide with operations in the UK, Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, India and China, where it provides business management software solutions to small to medium enterprises.

The company is seeing traction in the payroll and HRMS business and plans to open centres in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi in six months to offer end-to-end solutions in the segment.

For the six months ended March 31, 2008, Sage recorded global revenues of £640.4 million (around Rs 4,900 crore).