Salesforce India: Salesforce India business has grown in double digits: India CEO Arundhati Bhattacharya

US-headquartered customer relationship management (CRM) firm Salesforce has seen its India business grow in double digits, said Salesforce India chief executive Arundhati Bhattacharya. Initiatives such as launching its local data centre and increased talent intake have boosted the company’s presence in India, she said, speaking on the sidelines of the Salesforce World Tour event in Mumbai.

“We do not break out numbers for the APAC region, however, the India market has grown in double digits lately,” said Bhattacharya.

The company has stayed on track to increase its workforce to more than 9,000 from just about 2,400 in 2020, said Bhattacharya, who was appointed to the role in 2020.

Only about 10% of the employee base comprises the sales team, while the rest is largely focused on technology solutions.

Launching a local data centre has helped Salesforce enter the regulated sectors like banking and insurance in India, said Bhattacharya. She said while there is a strong interest in generative artificial intelligence (AI) type of solutions in India, the market needs to mature further.

“In India, even the use of the cloud is not all that very common, especially if you look at the public sector and the government sector. There are still a lot of legacy systems that are on prem, require huge (computing) capacity and are costly,” said Bhattacharya.

“So unless there is a huge adoption of cloud by India Inc., it will be difficult for the ecosystem to adopt AI and generative AI technologies,” she said, adding that the adoption of India Stack has been a huge enabler for the adoption of digital solutions.. Salesforce also announced the launch of Salesforce ‘Starter’ for micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) businesses in India. Starter is an easy-to-use CRM tool that includes sales, service and email outreach tools in one suite.

Arun Parameswaran, managing director-sales and distribution, Salesforce India, told ET that with this offering the company is moving from its one-size-fits-all strategy to a more nuanced offering for customers across different stages of their digital journey.

“The MSME consumer base in India is digitally aware but their digital maturity is lacking in terms of adoption of tools,” said Parameswaran.

He said the Starter platform will allow such businesses to adopt CRM solutions without needing extensive hand holding with sales teams and at a lower cost point. The tool is priced at $25 monthly subscription.

“With over 63 million MSMEs in the country, we are hoping that if we can bring something that’s packaged, well, it’s easy to use, it’s priced right and very simple to consume, maybe we can make a dent in that space,” said Parameswaran.

The offering will mainly target small businesses with up to 25 employees.

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US-headquartered customer relationship management (CRM) firm Salesforce has seen its India business grow in double digits, said Salesforce India chief executive Arundhati Bhattacharya. Initiatives such as launching its local data centre and increased talent intake have boosted the company’s presence in India, she said, speaking on the sidelines of the Salesforce World Tour event in Mumbai.

“We do not break out numbers for the APAC region, however, the India market has grown in double digits lately,” said Bhattacharya.

The company has stayed on track to increase its workforce to more than 9,000 from just about 2,400 in 2020, said Bhattacharya, who was appointed to the role in 2020.

Only about 10% of the employee base comprises the sales team, while the rest is largely focused on technology solutions.

Launching a local data centre has helped Salesforce enter the regulated sectors like banking and insurance in India, said Bhattacharya. She said while there is a strong interest in generative artificial intelligence (AI) type of solutions in India, the market needs to mature further.

“In India, even the use of the cloud is not all that very common, especially if you look at the public sector and the government sector. There are still a lot of legacy systems that are on prem, require huge (computing) capacity and are costly,” said Bhattacharya.

“So unless there is a huge adoption of cloud by India Inc., it will be difficult for the ecosystem to adopt AI and generative AI technologies,” she said, adding that the adoption of India Stack has been a huge enabler for the adoption of digital solutions.. Salesforce also announced the launch of Salesforce ‘Starter’ for micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) businesses in India. Starter is an easy-to-use CRM tool that includes sales, service and email outreach tools in one suite.

Arun Parameswaran, managing director-sales and distribution, Salesforce India, told ET that with this offering the company is moving from its one-size-fits-all strategy to a more nuanced offering for customers across different stages of their digital journey.

“The MSME consumer base in India is digitally aware but their digital maturity is lacking in terms of adoption of tools,” said Parameswaran.

He said the Starter platform will allow such businesses to adopt CRM solutions without needing extensive hand holding with sales teams and at a lower cost point. The tool is priced at $25 monthly subscription.

“With over 63 million MSMEs in the country, we are hoping that if we can bring something that’s packaged, well, it’s easy to use, it’s priced right and very simple to consume, maybe we can make a dent in that space,” said Parameswaran.

The offering will mainly target small businesses with up to 25 employees.

Stay on top of technology and startup news that matters. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest and must-read tech news, delivered straight to your inbox.