How Salesforce found its gateway to growth in India under the able leadership of Arundhati Bhattacharya

FEW FOUNDER-CEOs have a voice as consistent and emphatic as Marc Benioff’s. As the larger-than-life force behind Salesforce, the world’s number one customer relationship management (CRM) platform, Benioff’s enthusiasm is unmistakable, his speech often punctuated by his favourite word: “incredible.” Benioff has mentioned the word 246 times in earnings calls over the past few years, 34 times in Q1 FY25 alone. This isn’t a linguistic quirk. It offers a glimpse into Benioff’s leadership style, which inspires confidence, both in his team and investors, helping keep the $278-billion m-cap juggernaut in motion. “Salesforce is the #1 SaaS spend among Vertice customers and the 9th most common vendor by share of customers using it,” says Eldar Tuvey, CEO and founder of Vertice, a spend optimisation platform.

While the Cloud giant clocked a revenue of $34.9 billion in 2024, with $4 billion in cash flow, it’s the India business that’s stealing the spotlight. At the helm of this growth is former State Bank of India chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya, the first CEO of Salesforce India who took over in March 2020. Since her appointment, revenues have vaulted 6x from ₹1,505 crore in FY20 to ₹9,117 crore in FY24, a compounded annual growth rate of over 43%. Bhattacharya has made India the hub of Salesforce’s operations in Asia. “Mark is happy with the numbers and excited about the growth and talent in India,” she tells Fortune India.

For Bhattacharya, transition from a banker to a tech CEO was far from easy. “It took me five months to decide,” she says. Coming from a non-IT background, she had doubts about fitting into Salesforce’s digital-first world. But her experience in public sector banking gave her a unique edge — one rooted in user experience and practical tech solutions. “I realised I could contribute by bringing the user’s perspective,” she recalls, drawing on her tenure at the country’s largest public sector bank where she spearheaded significant digital initiatives.

But it was the meeting with Benioff that sealed the deal. In the sleek, glass-walled offices of San Francisco, Bhattacharya met a leader whose approach was as expansive as it was inclusive. “He asked why Salesforce India was 37th in great places to work, while in most countries, it was never below the top 10,” recalls Bhattacharya. “It wasn’t about revenue. It was about building a great workplace. That’s something I appreciate about him.”

Taking over just as the Covid-19 pandemic was unfolding, Bhattacharya faced unprecedented challenges. The global crisis necessitated rapid organisational pivots, and Salesforce was no exception. “Initially, I thought the virtual work set-up would last only three months,” she says. She found herself handling 2,200 employees across six cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Jaipur — remotely. “We still managed,” attributing the success to her team’s collective strength.

The first task was to integrate Salesforce’s disparate segments in India. “Marc wanted them unified under a single leadership to strengthen our collective identity,” says Bhattacharya. This led to the creation of ‘One India,’ a unified vision that aligns with Salesforce’s global ‘Ohana’ (family) culture. “Ultimately, both sectors — banking and IT — are centered on service. Effective management of people is crucial for success,” says Bhattacharya.

Salesforce India has since undergone a transformation. The headcount has surged nearly 5X to around 9,000, mirroring the rapid digitalisation across the country. This reflects the expanding depth and influence of Salesforce in India. “India is a critical hub driving growth and innovation. Arundhati’s leadership has been incredible. In just four years, she’s made a phenomenal impact across the company,” says Salesforce president and CFO Amy Weaver.

Finding the sweet spot

A key element of Bhattacharya’s strategy was tailoring Salesforce’s approach to India’s diverse market. She spearheaded verticalisation of the enterprise segment and aligned sales strategies with specific industry needs. “The enterprise segment required a more defined strategy. One year into my tenure, we restructured it along industry lines. While finance was already distinct and performing well, other areas such as automotive and retail lacked this industry-specific focus. Previously, efforts were organised geographically rather than by industry. We shifted this approach for our major clients and observed significant improvements,” says Bhattacharya.

“The development of industry-specific ‘Clouds’ has significantly bolstered market presence. With 14 industry solutions in place, our conversations are tailored — healthcare professionals hear about healthcare, not manufacturing, and vice versa,” says Bhattacharya. These ‘Clouds’ cover sectors such as healthcare, financial services, retail and manufacturing. “Offering solutions specific to each industry has proven far more effective than a standard sales and service approach,” she says, adding, “While smaller companies might benefit from generic services, speaking their industry’s language is crucial.”

Before Salesforce, India did not have a major CRM player. Microsoft SQL had some presence but it mainly catered to large accounts. “SQL and Oracle offer CRM applications but they’re expensive and not as scalable,” says Rajiv Ranjan, associate research director at IDC. “Oracle, for example, locks customers into proprietary hardware, limiting flexibility. Microsoft faces performance issues beyond a certain scale, which can lead to data loss and significant business risks. That’s why companies turn to Salesforce. Its platform is robust, scalable and trusted by enterprise customers, even at a higher cost,” he says.

Salesforce has made significant inroads into healthcare and automotive. Bhattacharya highlights Health Cloud, which helps healthcare providers offer personalised care and enhance patient outcomes. Auto Cloud provides a platform for automotive firms to streamline sales, service and marketing.

During the Q1 2025 earnings call, Marc Benioff highlighted one of Salesforce’s notable successes in India — Air India. Salesforce’s Data Cloud has transformed the airline’s digital infrastructure and integrated systems like loyalty programmes, reservations, flight operations and data warehouses. This helps it manage over 5,50,000 service cases each month through a single touch point. Air India has also automated case classification and routing, which speeds up resolution times and improves passenger experience, using Salesforce’s Einstein AI platform. The system manages issues such as flight delays by offering tailored solutions, enhancing efficiency and profitability. “Air India is using AI to transform its capabilities profoundly,” says Benioff. “Multi-feature platforms like Salesforce are increasingly popular in a challenging macroeconomic environment as CFOs seek to consolidate their tech stacks,” says Tuvey.

In India, this trend is no different.

Brian Millham, Salesforce’s president & COO, said during the Q4 2024 earnings call that new business in India has been growing 35% year-on-year. Salesforce continues to invest in the region, with clients such as Bajaj Finance leading the charge. “I met CEO Rajeev Jain. His top priority was using Einstein to deliver predictive and generative AI across the lending business,” said Millham. In Q4 FY24, Bajaj became Salesforce’s second-largest data Cloud customer globally, building its AI foundation on the Einstein 1 platform.

“Of all the CRM platforms we assessed, Salesforce excelled in stability, scalability and total cost of ownership,” says Rajendra Bisht, VP & head of Technology and Digital, Bajaj Auto Finance. “Its low-code/no-code capabilities enable rapid deployment of processes,” he says. Ranjan of IDC says pricing is not what works in favour of Salesforce. “Salesforce doesn’t compete on price. The lack of a second robust, scalable product plays in its favour.”

It’s not just the big players that are tapping Salesforce. Mid-sized companies such as Balaji Wafers and institutions such as the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) are also leveraging its solutions. “Balaji Wafers surprised us with its maturity and vision,” says Bhattacharya. Balaji is growing 20% year-over-year with over 50 products, 5,000 employees and presence in 12 states. Its director, Shyam Virani, says distribution network is their biggest strength. “No other platform comes close to Salesforce in sales and marketing capabilities. It’s stronger, faster, more secure and, therefore, more trustworthy. Plus, we don’t have to worry about updating the platform to keep up with market trends,” says Virani. Salesforce’s partnership with NPCI during the pandemic — which led to a surge in digital transactions — allowed it to showcase scalable, mission-critical solutions.

Bhattacharya has prioritised a strategy of tailoring solutions to meet India’s diverse needs. “We have roles like solution engineers and architects. I didn’t realise their importance until I joined Salesforce,” she says. These roles are key to aligning offerings with clients’ goals. “Whenever we handle a big deal, we involve solution architects and project managers. Too often, there’s a disconnect between business goals and deliverables. How the solution is architected is foundational to success,” says Bhattacharya.

Beyond client partnerships, Salesforce India’s growth is driven by cultural integration and talent development. Bhattacharya led efforts to unify Salesforce’s siloed segments, creating the ‘Ohana’-inspired ‘One India’ vision. This was crucial during the pandemic, as the workforce rose from 2,200 to 9,000 employees, supported by a 24/7 helpline for employees and their families.

Talent development has also helped. When Bhattacharya took over, only a few Indian colleges offered Salesforce training. Today, the number is over 2,900. “We’ve signed MoUs with three state governments to provide this material in government colleges and partnered with AICTE to offer over 2,50,000 internships over four years. We’ve already completed 60,000,” she notes. These efforts not only enrich the talent pool but also strengthen Salesforce’s standing as a top employer amid rising competition for talent from global capability centres.

Weaver underscores India’s strategic importance and Salesforce’s deepening commitment to the region. “India is home to our largest employee base outside the U.S., and it’s growing fast. We have the largest ecosystem in India than anywhere else outside the U.S.,” she said at the recent Dreamforce APAC edition in San Francisco.

Price vs Value

As a major player in the tech industry, Salesforce is heavily dependent on revenue from subscription services. By offering Cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, Salesforce has positioned itself as a market leader with a large and growing customer base. It strikes a careful balance by employing tiered pricing models and offering tailored discounts. This flexibility allows customers to select plans based on specific requirements and budgets, ensuring appeal across market segments.

“We’re not a Rolls-Royce on rural roads — we can be exactly what you need us to be,” says Bhattacharya. “We won’t be a bullock cart, but we can certainly be the tractor that handles rural roads. Our solutions are tailored to the Indian market, and we’re now focusing on India-specific products. Last month, we launched the digital lending Cloud, designed with local pricing and needs in mind.”

While companies such as Zoho are aggressively entering the Indian enterprise market, Ranjan doesn’t see them as a major competitor yet. “Zoho’s focus has been the U.S. market. It started targeting India only recently. They offer CRM, email and digital marketing tools but haven’t matched Salesforce’s presence. Though their pricing is cheaper, their strategic focus differs,” he says.

Recognising the government as a key digital ecosystem driver, Salesforce India has launched a public sector vertical too. The public sector accounts for 10% of SaaS spending in India, expected to grow by over 20% in 2024 and 2025, driven by migration of citizen services to the Cloud. “Government departments will increasingly adopt SaaS versions of their licensed software, spurred by policies favouring Cloud adoption and vendors like Oracle, Salesforce and SAP pushing customers towards the public Cloud model,” says Ranjan.

At present, Salesforce holds 4% of the public Cloud market in India, trailing Microsoft (27%) and AWS (15%). There is, however, a clear distinction between Salesforce and other Cloud hyperscalers such as AWS, Microsoft and Google. “We are not competing with hyperscalers. When it comes to providing Cloud services, our role is distinct — we offer various specialised services on the Cloud but not the Cloud infrastructure itself,” says Bhattacharya. The public sector vertical is set to play a critical role in Salesforce India’s growth.

Home advantage

As Salesforce continues to expand, Bhattacharya’s vision is clear: tap new segments from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to the dynamic start-up ecosystem. “We greatly value the SME community and believe there’s a lot we can do to support them,” she says. Salesforce has cultivated a community of 282 start-ups. “This is something unique to India because we view them as future job creators. Our goal is to be present in every industry segment,” says Bhattacharya.

At the core of Salesforce’s growth strategy is data. “With generative AI, data ingestion has become accessible to all, as the engine now understands natural language,” says Bhattacharya. This technology enables businesses to gain AI-driven insights that offer a 360-degree view of customers, supporting personalised, data-informed decision-making. “It’s about creating a golden record of your customer and understanding the next best action to take,” she adds.

An IDC study forecasts that Salesforce, together with its customers and partners in India, will generate $88.6 billion in new revenues and create 1.8 million jobs between 2022 and 2028, fuelled primarily by AI. Salesforce India’s strategy goes beyond product sales to building a thriving ecosystem. “We have over two-million Trailblazers,” says Bhattacharya. Trailblazers are customers, partners and developers who innovate on the Salesforce platform. The company has also entered into partnerships with global system integrators like Accenture, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte, leveraging India’s talent pool to deliver end-to-end solutions.

Salesforce has made significant investments in India over the years, including a Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad. India was also the launch market for Hyperforce, a next-gen platform architecture, introduced in December 2020. Hyperforce shifts Salesforce from a traditional multi-tenant model to a more flexible, scalable and secure infrastructure by leveraging public Cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Weaver shares Bhattacharya’s enthusiasm: “I can’t wait to see how Arundhati continues to drive Salesforce’s success in India,. We’re just getting started,” she says. As a Cloud-native leader, Bhattacharya envisions Salesforce becoming integral to India’s progress, establishing itself as the go-to platform for connecting businesses with customers, all while upholding Salesforce’s core Ohana values. In this journey, she hopes to make the experience truly “incredible.”