Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

SAP Labs India to invest $125m for expanding operations

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

SAP Labs India, the wholly-owned development subsidiary of the $6.3-billion SAP AG of Germany, plans to invest $125 million in the next two years for expanding its existing operations, which includes setting up its own state-of-the-art facility in Bangalore, India's own Silicon Valley.

Unfolding the subsidiary's plans in Bangalore, SAP AG board member Dieter Matheis said during the current year, the company would be investing $26 million in the development activities of its flagship division mySAP.com as it is the e-business platform of the global company.

"The focus areas of the Labs this year will also be in customer relationship management (CRM) and marketplace development. About 30-40 per cent of the proposed $26 million will go into e-CRM projects, while the rest of 60 per cent would be spent on enhancing mySAP.com solutions," Matheis disclosed.

As a result, the strength of the development facility will go up to 580 people from the present 400. The company had so far invested $23 million in its Indian operations.

"But in the next two years, we will be investing around $125 million in setting up our own infrastructure facility which will be ready for occupation by the third quarter of 2002. The headcount will cross the 1,000 mark, and will be the largest such SAP Labs facility in the world."

SAP Labs India co-director Clas Neumann said the Bangalore facility was stepping up the localisation of R/3 products developed by SAP worldwide. "We are also developing mySAP.com solutions for the Asia-Pacific market, besides customising the R/3 products to the Indian industry sectors."

Set up in 1998 at the International Technology Park in Whitefield on the outskirts of the city, the subsidiary has been growing over 100 per cent every year to have a customer base of 244 in India alone.

Being a cost centre, the company officials declined to reveal the revenues generated from the Indian subsidiary as the billing is done by the parent company in Germany, which also accounts for royalty.

Complementing the main development centre at Waldorf in Germany, the Indian facility is the fifth of its kind with four other in the US, Japan, and France.

"As the development centre for the South Asia-Pacific region, SAP Labs India is set to play a leading role in all of SAP's worldwide initiatives, including customisation of its entire range of products to suit country and industry specific needs," Neumann claimed.

By deploying the best technology, services, and development expertise, SAP has delivered an e-business platform that unlocks valuable information resources, improves supply chain efficiencies, and builds strong customer relationships.

"The mySAP.com is open and flexible, supporting databases, applications, operating systems, and hardware from almost every major vendor as its collaborative e-business platform allows employees, customers, and business partners to work together successfully anywhere, anytime."

Money

Business News

Tell us what you think of this report