Former SBI Chief Arundhati Bhattacharya Hired To Head Salesforce Indian Operations

Former State Bank of India (SBI) chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya has been hired to head Salesforce’s India operations, a US cloud-based service provider willing to strengthen its base in India — one of its fastest-growing regions.

Bhattacharya, 64, will take over as the head — chairman and CEO of Salesforce India operations from April 20 from Mumbai and will report directly to Ulrik Nehammer, General Manager APAC.

According to Gavin Patterson, President and CEO, Salesforce International, India has always been a significant growth market for Salesforce and a world-class innovation and talent hub. And he believes that heading the Indian operation by Arundhati’s will guide the next phase of Saleforce’s growth, customer success and investment in the country.

Retired in 2017, Bhattacharya had led India’s largest public sector bank, SBI, for four decades in several roles, and it was at that time when other public sector banks were facing challenges with loans. And, therefore, Bhattacharya's expertise in adopting emerging technologies is expected to be seen for her journey in Salesforce to gain a strong footing in India — a growing cloud application services market. It has been estimated by several reports, that the cloud market is set to grow up to $1.4 billion by the end of this year, where Salesforce India will participate hugely in the adoption of digital platforms by many Indian SMBs. With other tech giants also in the fray, such as Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft, Salesforce is aiming to add AI-based cloud server infrastructures, along with cloud services and applications in the enterprise space as competitive solutions.

The company is also expected to add 3,000 jobs in India in the coming three years and utilise the leading global talent and innovation hub for the greater good. “I could not be more excited to join the Salesforce team to ensure we capture this tremendous opportunity and contribute to India’s development and growth story in a meaningful way,” said Bhattacharya in a statement.

Salesforce has been building its base in India since a long time — the company, in 2016, opened a Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad and expected to add 3,000 jobs across the region over the next three years, making India a leading global talent and innovation hub for the company. Its Indian customers include CEAT, redBus, and Franklin Templeton.

“Salesforce is a company with an impressive track record in supporting the digital transformation of its customers with world-class technology, and there is an incredible opportunity for future growth in India,” said Arundhati Bhattacharya.

Salesforce and its ecosystem of customers and partners in India are expected to create over $67 billion in business revenues and 548,400 new direct jobs by 2024, according to research by IDC. Over one million developers in India are trained on Salesforce technology through its online learning platform Trailhead, its most extensive user base outside the US.