India: CRM hotbed

SAS Institute hopes to gobble up a quarter of the CRM market share in India this year, up from 15 percent. How does the $110-million business intelligence solutions provider plan to do this? Subsidiary SAS India will focus efforts on four hot verticals: telecom and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI).

"Last year, business from telecom companies, growing at 50 percent, accounted for a major part of our revenue," said Gourish Hosangady, chief executive and managing director, SAS India Pvt Ltd, in a statement. "This year, however, I expect more business from the BFSI vertical, which should growth at 50 to 60 percent. Hence, both these verticals will contribute equally to the overall revenue followed by retail and healthcare."

If SAS India hits its numbers, Hosangady claims his company will maintain an overall annual growth rate of 50 percent over the next two to three years. The company, which started operations in India in 1997, currently has 100 workers and 70 clients, including Hutchison Max, Bharti Cellular, standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, Dr Reddy's Lab, Hindustan Lever and Pfizer.

SAS India is also on the path to profitability, according to Hosangady. "We are close to break-even and will be profitable from this year onwards," he said.