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Our Bureau

Mumbai June 7 SAP India is betting big on the SME segment to expand its business in India.

Of the company's target client base of 15,000 by year 2010, 12,000 will be SME clients and 3,000 large enterprise clients, said Mr Alan Sedghi, President and CEO of SAP, Indian Subcontinent.

He was speaking at a news conference on the opening day of the SAP Summit in Mumbai.

The company's current client base in India is 1,800.

"Every year, more than 100 companies go from being small companies to medium-sized companies, and an equal number of medium-sized companies make the transition to the large enterprise category. Hence, we see tremendous growth potential in India," said Mr Jim Hagemann Snabe, Corporate Officer, SAP AG.

SAP has signed up retail chain Subhiksha as its 1,000th SME customer in the country.

The company is also looking at scaling up the number of SAP-certified consultants in India to 60,000 by 2010, from 40,000 now, said Ms Geraldine McBride, President and CEO, SAP Asia Pacific Japan.

"We also intend to double our India-specific headcount to 8,000 by 2010, from 4,000," she added.

Apart from the SME sector, SAP is also focused on providing services to the public sector.

"It is not possible for Government entities to innovate on their existing legacy platforms. This space is set to witness a lot of activity in the time to come," said Mr Sedghi.

SAP's Centre of Excellence in New Delhi, which is expected to go live in a month, will be instrumental in showcasing solutions for all levels of governance, he added.

Currently, the Asia-Pacific region accounts for about 13 per cent of SAP's revenues.

"By 2010, we have hope to get 20 per cent of our revenues from this region," said Ms McBride.

To achieve this, the company will continue with its `Glocal' strategy - i.e., leveraging global strengths with local expertise, according to Mr Snabe.

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