MUMBAI, INDIA: A flurry of announcements topped the opening day at the ongoing SAP Summit 08 in the city. First, SAP India continues to have a strong presence, along with an ever-increasing tide of growth. Next, SAP Ventures investment in the country has added muscle to the Indian innovation. Third, SAP's Business ByDesign is now available in India. To top it all, SAP India is now undeniably, SAP's 'Jewel in the Crown'.

In a separate development, MRF Tyres has gone live with an extensive SAP ERP application across over 1,000 users. The SAP application replaces the entire footprint of Oracle applications previously deployed by MRF.

MRF replaced applications from Oracle and has gone live on SAP's leading ERP and CRM solutions based on the SAP NetWeaver platform. It covers the head office, six factories and over 100 sales offices to provide a comprehensive view of the factory information.

SAP India the star

Commenting on SAP India's achievements, Ranjan Das, president and CEO, SAP Indian subcontinent, said: "SAP India has been the fastest growing business division for SAP. We also had the largest ever Q1 (revenue) in SAP India's history in 2008." SAP India also signed its largest ever deal in Q1.

Re-iterating its leadership position, SAP India clocked 67 percent growth in software license revenue during Q1-08. Revenues from the education business grew 100 percent, while SMEs business grew 47 percent and consulting business by 34 percent. "All segments are adopting SAP," confirmed Das. SAP India doubled its revenue and customer base last year as well. The key wins are from all over the subcontinent, covering all verticals." Das added that SAP India also opened its 50th e-Learning center.

Some sectors witnessing significant wins include utilities, BFSI, automotive and retail. New customers added include Delphi TVS, Greaves Cotton, Easun Reyrolle and IBF Industries. The public sector vertical also witnessed strong growth, with customers such as Mormugao Port Trust, BEML and Chattisgarh State Electricity Board. There were certain win-backs as well, such as Moser Baer, Sasken and Greaves Cotton. Das pointed out, "Customers are migrating from other platforms to SAP."

"India is now a support hub for SAP as well. There are seven such global hubs. India is the third largest -- after Germany and the USA," said Das. Also, five of SAP's 12 global services partners are from India -- Infosys, Wipro, TCS, HCL and Satyam.

Bill McDermott, president and CEO, SAP Americas & Asia Pacific Japan said: "India is a great source of pride. I am extremely proud to announce that with holistic growth and strong continued momentum, SAP India has emerged as a 'Jewel in the Crown' for SAP worldwide. We at SAP pledge to strengthen our commitment to the Indian market and continue to be the catalyzing force behind this unprecedented growth story."