Germany's SAP sees 'phenomenal growth' in India, will increase hiring

Company considering 'specific investment' in the country for sustainability solutions

German business software giant SAP sees "phenomenal growth" for itself in India and will hire more than a thousand people here in 2023 despite macro-economic uncertainty and layoffs in the technology industry elsewhere.

“We are hiring here and it's also fitting very well together with our strategy,” Thomas Saueressig, Executive Board, SAP Product Engineering, SAP SE, told 'Business Standard' in Bengaluru. “We're building a second campus here in Bengaluru which would be able to house 15,000 people.”

The 41-acre campus, in Bengaluru’s Devanahalli, will be set up by 2025 and have a seating capacity for 15,000 people. “We are already very big in AI (artificial intelligence). We want to scale it even further,” said Saueressig. “We also see a specific investment with regard to sustainability solutions.”

He didn’t reveal the amount that SAP plans to invest in the country.

Sindhu Gangadharan, Managing Director and Senior Vice President of SAP Labs India, said the company is doubling down on its India plans. Last year, the firm said it would hire 3,600 people. This year the company would hire more than 1,000 people, Gangadharan said.

“India is clearly seen as the place where we're looking at growth,” said Gangadharan. “It is our fastest growing market region.”

“40 per cent of the global R&D for SAP is happening here,” he said. “One-fourth of SAP’s patents filed come from India. That also explains the reason for doubling down on India.”

According to tech industry estimates, India's digital economy is expected to be worth $800 billion by 2030 on the back of rising internet penetration and increasing income. Such an economy will provide opportunities for companies such as SAP, according to experts.

“The growth we see in India is phenomenal,” said Saueressig. “We doubled the cloud revenue year-over-year and we continue to do that. It is a massive growth.”

Almost 80 per cent of SAP customers in India are mid-size organizations and they are likely to continue to drive its growth in the country.

“We see the significance of SAP India. We have an obligation to further help and support the digital transformation,” said Saueressig. “The mid-market (small businesses) of India is unlimited. That's where we want to help these companies to thrive with our software and scale up and also grow globally.”

The company recently announced a service, Grow with SAP, for mid-sized customers in India to provide end-to-end solutions such as cloud computing, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and software-as-a-service (SaaS). SAP India has over 10,000 customers in the mid-market.

At a time when the world is looking at a China-Plus-One diversification strategy, and companies are planning to diversify investments to other locations like India, Saueressig said SAP’s software can help them. This would depend on the strategy that companies use for certain countries or geographies. For instance, he said to increase the resiliency in the supply chain, one needs to have more options.

“That's exactly where our network can help because you can flexibly change supplier structure more easily,” said Saueressig.

SAP Labs has completed 25 years in India and has evolved into a global innovation hub. The firm said the R&D workforce forms the "backbone" of the company. SAP Labs India, is the firm’s largest research and development centre outside its headquarters in Germany’s Walldorf.