India is the place to be for many German companies, says SAP CEO

“India is the place to be,” says the global CEO of software and technology solutions company SAP. Promises to accelerate investment and says he is a “big believer” in the India story.

SAP's CEO, Christian Klein, expressed his confidence in India's economy and emphasized the importance of the country as a market. In a statement, he said, "India is a very important market, it is the place to be." He also stated that he is very optimistic about the future calls of India's economy and investments from Germany.

Klein's visit to India included a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which they discussed the ease of doing business in the country and addressed supply chains. Klein expressed his belief in India and his conviction in manufacturing sector investments from Germany into India.

He said, “We talked to Prime Minister Modi and to other people from the government about how can we further simplify the ease of doing business here in India and technology plays a key role. Of course, when it comes to reaching the sustainability goals of India, to further reshuffle the supply chain, to help especially small and mid-sized enterprises from India to actually expand their business and so these were the main focus areas.”

SAP is looking to double down on its investments in the Indian market and aims to triple its business in the next two years. Additionally, the company plans to increase its focus on cloud business in India. SAP already has a successful startup program in the country, and Klein hinted that there could be acquisitions in the future.

He said, “There will be further responsibilities which we will shift to India, because again, the talent pool here is so big. We will also double down our investments on the go-to-market side. I mean last year, we have seen triple-digit growth in the cloud here in India and these are all the white ingredients of course also to now to shift further investments here to India.”

Klein also mentioned that SAP is confident in its business globally and that the headwinds it faced in Russia are behind them. He also noted that India will likely see further investments from other countries due to the US-China geopolitical tensions.

Despite the confidence in its business, SAP recently underwent a small human resource restructuring. However, Klein stated that it was not regarding investments.

Looking ahead, SAP is very confident in its mid-term targets, and its pipeline is super strong. The company's guidance for 2025 is built purely on organic growth.