SAP to double investments in India, sees 'major growth': Executive

Indian talent is 'unbelievable', says Thomas Saueressig, who is a member of the German firm's executive board.

SAP, the German business software firm, is scaling up its investments in India where it says the R&D workforce forms the "backbone" of the company.

SAP Labs India, the firm’s largest research and development centre outside its headquarters in Germany’s Walldorf, will hire 3,600 people this year, said a top company executive on Thursday. SAP Labs India has already taken in 1,600 employees till May this year.

“We are actually doubling our investments in India,” said Thomas Saueressig, a member of the executive board of SAP SE, at a roundtable discussion along with Sindhu Gangadharan, MD, SAP Labs India. “The talent we see here is unbelievable.”

Saueressig, who leads the Board area SAP Product Engineering and has global responsibility for all business software applications, is on a visit to India. The company will set up a new India campus by 2025 at Devanahalli in Bengaluru.

“What that shows to you is that the R&D workforce we have in India is the backbone of SAP,” said Saueressig. “All of our innovations at scale come from here. This doubling (down on India), will be the major growth driver for SAP in the future.”

The company didn’t reveal the total budget it has allocated for building such infrastructure and hiring of resources in the country. The new campus, which will spread over 41.07 acres and have 15,000 seating capacity, will help SAP attract and retain talent.

“We absolutely believe in the great talent in India,” said Saueressig. “We don’t see it as a labour arbitrage.”

SAP has a total workforce of 14,000 in India spread across Bengaluru, Pune, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Hyderabad. “The new campus delivers on our commitment to the environment, employee well-being and inclusivity,” said Gangadharan.

“With SAP’s complete suite of products and solutions being represented out of one location, SAP Labs India is innovating for the world and further fueling SAP’s growth in the cloud,” said Gangadharan.

Saueressig said he didn’t see any direct impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the company’s cloud operations, or on productivity. “In the work from home (scenario), we saw that people going above and beyond to really deliver on the promises.”