SAP to Invest Heavily in India: CEO on Growth & Hiring

New Delhi, Nov 6 (PTI) India is among the fastest-growing markets for SAP and poised to become one of the largest markets in future, CEO Christian Klein said on Wednesday adding that the German software maker plans to "overproportionally" invest and hire here.

SAP is betting big on the country's engineering talent and digitisation push and given its thrust on "overproportional growth" Klein said it is only a matter of time before India becomes the largest base for SAP Labs in terms of sheer number of people.

On sales and revenue side, India is among the top 10 markets for SAP globally, and the company expects the market here to grow "heavily and faster" than some of its top markets.

Klein was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of SAP supervisory and executive board's ongoing visit to Bengaluru.

India market is set to climb further up the chart for SAP, Klein said during the media roundtable.

Given the "rapid growth", a large share of SAP investments in R&D and operations will be ploughed here, the top honcho said but did not quantify the investments.

"It is not that we are not investing in Germany, it is just a matter of fact that we will of course 'overproportionally' invest here in India and no one is surprised by that," he said. SAP has its business footprint across 130 countries today.

"India is in the top ten, growing heavily and faster than some of our top markets and it will further climb up the rank. It is very strategic," he said.

On the R&D side, SAP has over 15,000 people in India.

"SAP Labs in India is already the largest in terms of number of engineers, and when you count all job profiles Germany is number one and India is second position," he said adding that India will "very soon" become the largest hub overall given the "overproportional growth".

"We will 'overproportionally' hire here versus all our other Labs," he informed.

Terming the country as a key market, Klein lauded the Modi government for creating a strong foundation for tech companies and prioritising digitisation, education and skilling.

AI has now become mainstream, and offers exciting opportunities, SAP said describing AI talent in India as "phenomenal".

Geopolitical complexities and macroeconomic challenges across various geographies have spurred tech-driven transformations across businesses, SAP said adding the company is infusing AI in its offerings and processes.

"In Q3, 30 per cent of our deals included AI... Generative AI has been a massive booster for our AI business," Klein said.

Klein further noted that SAP's traditional licensed business will continue to decline as it successfully transitions to the cloud.

"The speed of innovation in the cloud is much faster, which is why many customers, especially in India, are using our cloud software," he said.

SAP -- which has outlined plans to expand its campus to accommodate 15,000 more people -- says its AI strategy focuses on India since it "can scale the best here". "While AI drives productivity, we will still need more developers as our business grows," he said.

On regulations in India, he said the company made a decision almost a year ago to invest in a sovereign cloud in India to adhere to data privacy standards. Complying with local regulations in various markets gives the company "competitive advantage", he said.