India will soon be among its top five markets, Alan Sedghi, president & managing director, SAP India Ltd, said. He refused to indicate the timeframe within which this would happen.

At the moment, Sedghi said, India is among the top ten markets for the German company, which is the world's largest provider of enterprise resource planning solutions. In the Asia Pacific region, India ranks among the top three markets for SAP along with China and Australia, he added.

That's not all. Sedghi disclosed that SAP India plans to triple its business over the next three years. "In 2003, we grew our overall revenues by 70 per cent in a market where all our competitors lost market share and revenue," he said.

At the moment, SAP India has over 550 customers in India including 220 from the small & medium business sector. Sedghi said the company added some 60 customers to its list during 2003 and hopes to add more than that in the current year.

As per IDC reports, SAP is the number one ERP company in the country with a 57.4 per cent share of the market. It is also number one in the customer relationship management market with a market share of 26 per cent. IDC estimates suggest that the total ERP market in the country is worth around $200 million.

Talking about SAP India's focus on the SMB sector, Sedghi said the company plans to raise the number of its channel partners from seven at present to 12 by the end of June 2004. Amongst the latest to become a SAP India partner is Tata Steel, Sedghi disclosed. Tata Steel will now sell SAP solutions to smaller steel mills.