News: SAP to invest $1 bln in India, double workforce

(RTR 02/08/2006) New Delhi - German software maker SAP said on Wednesday it would invest about $1 billion over the next five years in India, to expand operations in what its chief executive termed one of the firm's most important markets.

About 30 million euros ($38.4 million) would be spent on boosting research and development facilities. SAP will also increase its headcount in India to 3,500 by the end of 2006, from 2,750 now, and double the current number in five years.

"India continues to grow in its importance to SAP globally," Chief Executive Henning Kagermann told a news conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

"As one of our top eight strategic markets, and now a strategic hub in the region, we are seeing phenomenal growth in demand for our solutions from Indian enterprises."

SAP, based in the German town of Walldorf, has been in India for more than a decade, investing $500 million, and has more than 1,000 clients in the country. It aims to raise its customer-base to 15,000 by 2010.

By the end of 2006, India is expected to account for 20 percent of the firm's global research and product development, and a similar amount of its services and support business.

SAP was founded in 1972, and employs more than 34,000 staff globally. It has almost that number of customers in 120 countries.

Earlier in July, SAP reported weaker-than-expected second quarter results, which were blamed on delayed deals and technicalities that meant some orders could not be realised as revenue.

In response to a question whether SAP had closed some outstanding contracts at the end of the second quarter, Kagermann said: "Some of them have been closed".