SAP to increase headcount to over 6,000 here

KOLKATA: Germany’s SAP, the E8.5-bn global enterprise software solutions vendor, is expanding headcount at both its Indian operations — SAP India and SAP Labs. In the next few years, employee headcount at SAP Labs is poised to double from 3,000 to 6,000, while at SAP India, it is slated to grow from 300-500. This was confirmed by Alan Sedghi, president & CEO of SAP (India sub-continent), in a telephonic chat with ET.

SAP Labs is the India R&D hub of the German enterprise software giant, while SAP India as the field operation manages the sales, marketing, consulting and customer-support functions. Both companies are 100% subsidiaries of Waldorf-headquartered SAP.

According to company circles, the latest decision to ramp up headcount at SAP Labs and SAP India is barely the tip of iceberg in terms of SAP’s ambitious India game plan. But the development is linked to the recent SAP global management board decision to confer the status of ‘strategic hub’ and invest $1-bn in SAP’s Indian operations over the next five years. Before this, SAP India was part of SAP’s South Asia hub which also included the Asean countries.


“The SAP board has realised the Indian operation needs to be a hub in its own right and not be bundled with other countries, especially since it is our fastest-growing market in the world. In step with plans to commit more resources to India, the headcount at SAP Labs will be doubled to 6,000 in the next few years. The headcount at SAP India will also rise to 500 from the present 300-strong employee pool,” said Mr Sedghi.

Elaborating, he said “The objective is to build self-sufficiency and critical mass across major industry verticals to enhance the business development capabilities of the SAP India team. The SAP global board believes the Indian subsidiaries will no longer need to import resources from other key Asia-Pacific operations like SAP Singapore or SAP Australia.”

Significantly, SAP India is one of five strategic hubs in A-PAC region. The others are SAP Australia-New Zealand, SAP South East Asia (Asean bloc), SAP North Asia (China,Taiwan and Korea) and SAP Japan.

Bulk of SAP’s investments in India will be in expanding infrastructure, employee base and reinforcing its partner network. The objective is to deepen the company’s business development capabilities in key industry verticals — oil & gas, telecoms, defence, aerospace, utilities and retail.