The Hindu Business Line : Ariba expands India operations

The company has recently added technical consulting group and managed services practice to its development operations in Bangalore, said Mr K. Jayakumar, Managing Director, Ariba Technologies Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary.

The technical consulting group at Ariba India would assist the consulting teams in the US in implementation of solutions for the North American region, Mr Kumar said. "Initially, we expect to have some 8-10 consultants, which would be doubled over the next few months," Mr Kumar said.

By offering the managed services, the India development centre now expects to do the entire procurement outsourcing, Mr Kumar said. Ariba has over 130 people at its Bangalore development centre, the largest outside the US. "We also expect to double our headcount over the next six to nine months," Mr Jayakumar said.

Apart from contributing to the product development, Ariba India also offers help desk operations from Bangalore with a team of some 18-20 people. The support team that offers services in eight foreign languages manages the Ariba's supplier network, which has over a lakh e-enabled vendors transacting with hundreds of major buyers globally.

In India, Ariba has over 26 customers including Tata Motors, Ranbaxy, Dabur, Indo Rama, TVS Motors among others. Procurement transactions to the tune of over Rs 15,000 crore, of the estimated total of Rs 25,000 crore that happen in India, flow through the Ariba network, Mr Jayakumar said.

Commenting on the spend management scenario, Mr Jeffery Chang, Vice-President, International Development, Ariba, said the awareness about e-procurement among the global corporates was growing as it reduced the transaction cost significantly. Ariba would continue to address both the supplier network and the business side going forward, Mr Chang said, adding that the Ariba network facilitated transactions to the tune of $75 billion last year.

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