SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced significant successes in the fast-growing Indian market that are helping the company better execute its vision for 2010. In the space of just one year, SAP has doubled the number of Indian customers to 2,000, highlighting a level of growth unprecedented for the company around the globe. The announcement was made during the first-ever visit by the entire SAP Executive Board to India, reflecting the rising importance of the country to SAP both as a vibrant market as well as a technology development and services-support delivery center.

SAP Grows Indian Customer Base from 1,000 to 2,000 in One Year
In a sign of overwhelming acceptance among Indian customers, SAP announced that it has doubled its customer base in India from 1,000 to 2,000 since August 2006. SAP was also the first enterprise software vendor in India to cross the 1,000 customer mark, which further reinforces the company’s leadership in India.

“The unprecedented growth that we are seeing from India is one of the best examples of how our 2010 strategy translates into action,” said Henning Kagermann, CEO and chairman of the executive board, SAP. “Markets like India are at an inflection point when it comes to the adoption of technology by businesses of all shapes and sizes. For instance, it took us nine years in India to reach the 1,000 customer mark, and only one to double it.”

Globally, SAP has set itself a goal of reaching 100,000 customers by 2010. In order to achieve this goal, the company plans to significantly expand the addressable market for enterprise software solutions by aggressively targeting small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) and emerging markets. Markets such as India and China will play a central role in helping the company achieve its vision.

Reaffirming $1 Billion Investment for India, SAP Labs India Set to Grow in Gurgaon, Focusing on Global Service and Support
Validating the continuing importance of India to SAP, the company reaffirmed the investment of $1 billion in the country by 2010. The announcement was originally made in 2006 coinciding with the elevation of India as a ‘strategic hub’ for SAP, enabling the company to draw more attention, resources and focus required to sustain and build upon its momentum in the country.

A major portion of SAP’s investment in India is targeted at expanding the company’s global development and services and support hub in India, SAP Labs. Originally established in 1998 in Bangalore, India became the first region for SAP worldwide to have development and services and support centers in multiple cities when it opened a center in Gurgaon in 2006. The Gurgaon center delivers a full set of services to the company and its global customers across multiple product categories.

“SAP Labs India is today the largest research and development hub and support presence for us outside Germany,” added Kagermann. “While the Bangalore center will continue to play a central global leadership role, we now foresee the Gurgaon center focusing on global service and support scaling up significantly in the next few years to enable us to meet our aggressive goals for India.”

Indian SMEs a Significant Source of Growth for SAP
Small businesses and midsize companies are the fastest-growing segments for SAP in India. Through its SAP® All-in-One solution targeted at fast-growing midsize companies, and SAP® Business One solution targeted at small businesses, SAP is a market leader in the Indian SME enterprise software space.

“Today, Indian SMEs are as aggressive and confident in their business outlook as their larger counterparts and demand enterprise solutions that are powerful and robust enough to handle strong growth,” said Léo Apotheker, deputy CEO and member of the executive board, SAP AG. “SAP provides a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for small businesses and midsize companies and is continuing to invest in its existing portfolio to bring value and innovation to its customers.”

Customers ranging from Subhiksha Retail, SAP’s 1000th SME customer in India, which is using the SAP All-in-One solution as a foundation to expand its store presence in India from 750 to 1,500 in two years to Masaurhi Petrol Station, which is implementing SAP Business One to automate its processes and improve customer service support, show that SAP is today the overwhelming choice by Indian SMEs.

NTPC and ITC Papers to Join Extensive Index of Indian Businesses That Run SAP
SAP also announced two significant additions to its customer base in India. The first is NTPC, India’s largest thermal power generating company and one of the officially identified high-potential public sector companies, called ‘Navratnas’ in India. The company is up and running on a comprehensive SAP implementation based on the SAP® for Utilities solution portfolio, capping one of the largest-ever projects in the utilities industry that will see the replacement of the company’s disparate legacy system.

“Given the large scale of NTPC’s operations and the complexity of our structure, we wanted to implement a business software solution that would establish uniform business processes, improve decision support and control over operations,” said T. Sankarlingham, chairman and managing director, NTPC.

SAP also announced that ITC Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division (ITC-PSPD), a division of ITC Ltd., has selected a comprehensive SAP® Business Suite implementation covering a range of areas such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM), supplier relationship management (SRM), product lifecycle management (PLM), business warehouse (BW) and radio frequency identification (RFID). Once live, the SAP solution will allow ITC-PSPD to integrate and automate units across its entire business leading to a fully integrated geographical workflow.

SAP Ecosystem in India Continues to Deliver and Expand
SAP also emphasized the role of the Indian ecosystem in the company’s growth. Through an ecosystem of more than 200 partners across locations and categories, SAP is able to deliver comprehensive solutions to Indian customers that incorporate world-class best practices together with functionalities specific to the Indian business environment.

To access an audio replay of the press conference with members of the SAP Executive Board in India, please visit http://www.sap.com/company/press/index.epx.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. More than 41,200 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small and midsize enterprises to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at )

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

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