NetSuite, the American cloud-based enterprise software company, recently announced the opening of data centers in Mumbai and Hyderabad, marking a significant milestone in the company’s expansion efforts in India. This move aims to bolster its growing customer base in the country, while also reinforcing NetSuite’s global presence. The decision to establish these new data centers is set to play a key role in NetSuite’s continued support for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), which are vital contributors to India’s economy.
Brian Chess, Senior Vice President of Technology and AI at Oracle NetSuite, shared his excitement about this development, revealing that this will be the first time NetSuite operates on Indian data centers. All new NetSuite customers in India will be provisioned in these regions, while existing clients will be migrated to these data centers in the near future. Chess emphasized that these steps would strengthen NetSuite’s ability to deliver services with greater scalability and security to businesses in India.
NetSuite’s decision to expand its footprint in India comes at a time when SMBs are poised for significant growth. According to a NASSCOM report, India’s SMB sector contributes a substantial 31% to the nation’s GDP, employs over 110 million people, and accounts for almost half of the country’s total exports. Yet, many of these businesses are still in the early stages of cloud adoption, with only 63% utilizing cloud technologies. The Indian cloud market is projected to surpass $10 billion by 2025, fueled by the increasing adoption of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions. With cloud spending on the rise, NetSuite aims to serve as a key enabler for this ongoing digital transformation.
Amit Suxena, Head of Asia at Oracle NetSuite, spoke about India’s rapid growth as a market, noting that the country is fast becoming the third-largest start-up hub globally, just behind the US and China. This surge in start-ups, which often require transparent financial systems and sound governance to scale, presents a vast opportunity for NetSuite. The inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI) across all NetSuite functionalities is expected to further enhance its offerings. AI will assist businesses by automating mundane tasks such as data entry, enabling SMBs to improve efficiency and productivity without needing large teams or specialized data analysts.
Suxena highlighted an example of a customer who was able to reduce their book-closing time from an entire month to just four days after adopting NetSuite’s platform. This use case exemplifies how AI-driven automation can have a transformative impact on day-to-day operations, allowing businesses to focus on strategic growth rather than administrative tasks.
In terms of geographical expansion, Suxena mentioned that NetSuite is actively exploring cities outside India’s major metropolitan areas, focusing on places like Jaipur and Kerala. In Kerala, in particular, NetSuite is working with a partner to develop tailored solutions for the region’s prominent gold jewelry manufacturing sector. The focus on smaller cities indicates NetSuite’s strategic intent to tap into markets beyond the traditional business hubs.
The new data centers, part of Oracle’s global network of cloud facilities, are designed to meet the growing needs of businesses in India. These centers are built with high levels of security, availability, and disaster protection, ensuring a robust infrastructure that can scale rapidly. By hosting NetSuite in these new regions, Oracle aims to help India-based customers reduce cross-border data transfers while benefiting from the advanced AI features embedded within NetSuite’s cloud platform. The two separate data centers in India will also provide disaster recovery services and allow businesses to meet their data residency requirements, a critical factor for companies operating in India.
NetSuite’s move to India comes as part of its broader global strategy to increase its presence across 16 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure regions in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. With these new regions, NetSuite customers, regardless of their size, will gain access to the same high-performance cloud ERP solutions that were previously available only to large global enterprises. This democratization of cloud services is expected to have a profound impact on businesses of all sizes, allowing them to adopt scalable and AI-powered solutions that were once out of reach for many SMBs.
Industry experts have praised NetSuite’s expansion, with Vishal Vijayraj, CEO of Prateek Technosoft, calling the opening of local data centers a “game changer” for businesses in India. He noted that having data centers within the country ensures better compliance with regional regulations and enhances the performance of cloud-based enterprise solutions. Additionally, Rajiv Ranjan, Associate Research Director at IDC, highlighted the significant growth opportunity within the mid-market segment in India. Many small and medium-sized businesses are looking to replace outdated systems like spreadsheets with modern, cloud-based ERP platforms, and NetSuite is well-positioned to meet these needs.
Amit Suxena also expressed his belief that India represents one of the largest untapped markets for NetSuite, with massive potential for growth in the coming years. He emphasized that the company has only begun to scratch the surface of the opportunity in India, and the opening of new data centers is just one step in a broader effort to expand and empower businesses across the country.
In conclusion, NetSuite’s decision to open data centers in Mumbai and Hyderabad is a strategic move that will not only strengthen its position in India but also help small and medium-sized businesses embrace the power of cloud-based solutions and artificial intelligence. As India’s economy continues to grow and digital transformation accelerates, NetSuite’s enhanced local presence will play a crucial role in supporting the success of SMBs across the country.
