SAP says emerging markets stabilising

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China, India drive growth

SAP has been growing market share in Asia-Pacific, which has registered the fastest revenue growth among its three geographical markets for two years running.

"I am very confident that we will take an unfair share of the pie," Watts said.

SAP sees incremental growth in the region from utilities, the public sector and financial services, said Watts, who will continue to act as the interim India president into early next year. He replaced Ranjan Das, president and CEO of SAP India, who died last month.

Watts said the company expects to increase headcount in India over the next nine months, and was on track to spend USD 1 billion in India between 2006 and 2010.

The opportunities in China, India and Australia will certainly speed up the pace of growth for enterprise application vendors, IDC analyst Praveen Sengar said.

"With SAP strength in the manufacturing sector, it will continue to expand its footprint in Asia-Pacific since it is the global manufacturing hub," the analyst said.

Japan, however, will remain a weak link and take longer to recover than some other markets, Watts said.

"Japan looks like it is a temporary problem," analyst Michael Bahlmann from MM Warburg said.