SAP To Add 1,900 Programmers In India

BANGALORE, India (AP) -- SAP AG, the world's largest business software company, will invest $24 million and hire 1,900 software programmers in India by end 2006, CEO Henning Kagermann said Tuesday.

"India is not only one of the fastest growing markets for us, but also a global hub for our software development," Kagermann told reporters in the southern technology center of Bangalore.

The company, based in Walldorf, Germany, already has a center in Bangalore where it employs 1,100 people. SAP has just completed an investment of $24 million that was used to build a software campus in the city.

The new round of hiring will make Bangalore SAP's largest development center outside Germany, Kagermann said.

Companies use SAP's and similar software to run offices and factories, manage inventories, keep employee details, and track sales. SAP commands 31 percent share in the global market for business software. It employs 30,000 people and has 23,400 customers worldwide.

Scores of companies in the United States and Europe farm out software development and other white-collar work to countries such as India, where wage and real estate costs are lower. Indian firms earn $12.5 billion annually by providing such services.

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