Adobe to set up biz unit in India
By agencies   |   Thursday, 15 December 2005, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Adobe Systems announced that it would add 300 professionals in 2006, half of them in a business unit in India. The new center would be responsible for drawing out global strategies for Print and Classic Publishing products range. Last week the company has completed the acquisition of San Francisco-based Macromedia in a deal valued at $3.4 billion, and now has close to 650 employees in India. “Macromedia had a campus in Bangalore with 150 employees, while Adobe has 500 employees in Noida. Post-acquisition, the combined strength stands at 650 employees, and we plan to grow it by adding 300 professionals, next year,” says Naresh Gupta, Senior Vice-President, Print and Classic Publishing Business Unit and Managing Director, India Research and Development of Adobe Systems. Almost half of the growth in employee strength would be focused towards the new business unit, Gupta said, adding, “Adobe has six business units globally, of which, five are located in the U.S. The Print and Classic Publishing Unit in India, would be responsible for profit and loss of various products from both Adobe and Macromedia.” Many companies do product development in India, while others undertake functions such as maintenance and support. Adobe is not only looking at product development, but also business development from India. Commenting on the work of PDF reader in Hindi, Gupta said, “The work is in progress and depending on feedbacks we can launch PDF readers in other Indian languages too.” While Adobe India accounts for a big chunk of the company's engineering team, its contribution to the overall revenues is less 0.5 percent. “Piracy is a big hurdle in India. About 90-95 percent of users of our products are using pirated software in India. If we bring down piracy by 10 percent, our revenues from India could double,” Gupta said.

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