The world''s largest maker of business-management software, Germany''s SAP AG is investing $1billion by 2010 in India. The company says it has doubled its installation base to 2000 among Indian companies in the last one year alone, while it took nine years to reach the 1000-mark.

SAP says it has added India''s largest power company, National Thermal Power Company and ITC Paper, a unit of tobacco giant ITC, to its client base.

Henning Kagermann, chief executive officer, SAP, said in a statement, ``Markets like India are at an inflection point when it comes to the adoption of technology. For instance, it took us nine years to reach the 1,000-customer mark and only one to double it.''''

Kagermann has brought SAP''s entire executive board on its first visit to the country, reflecting its importance to the German firm. Designating India as a strategic hub, SAP said that a major portion of the investment would go towards expanding its global services and support centres in Bangalore and Gurgaon.

The Indian operation is the largest research and development hub and support centre outside Germany for the Walldorf-based SAP.

SAP aims to reach 100,000 customers globally by 2010 by targeting small and midsize enterprises and emerging markets such as India and China, from the 41,200 customers that it currently has.

The German firm has identified India as its fastest growing market in the Asia-Pacific region, one among its eight most strategic markets in the world.

Its strategy for growth in India is to focus on the small and medium enterprises, its fastest-growing business segment in the country. It says Indian SMEs are as aggressive and confident in their business outlook as their larger.

Towards this end it has also announced that it would strengthen its alliance with India''s third-largest software maker, Wipro Ltd, in collaboration with whom it plans to open a research centre.

The two companies had announced their tie-up earlier in the week to invest in joint marketing sales and promotion programmes in select regional and industry markets.

Under their agreement, Wipro will set up a SAP ''solutions lab'' at its facility to help customers test their software systems, the two companies said.