The winds blew in the right direction again for Oracle. The last fiscal saw the company continue its robust growth, with an expanding customer base. The strategy for the year included acquisitions, change in organizational focus and innovation to reach out to newer segments, while the success in existing segments were strengthened.

Krishan Dhawan was appointed the new MD of Oracle India, after Shekhar Dasgupta's exit. Dhawan has more than 25 years of experience in the field of financial services and the IT enabled services sector.

HIGHLIGHTS New MD for India Oracle E-Business Suite 11i.10 was released at Oracle OpenWorld Added over 1,000 development staff The PeopleSoft acquisition added 125 application customers Brand still linked to databases; apps image not strong enough to dislodge SAP in India l Start-up Year: 1993 l Products and Services: Databases and Application Software, Middleware l Branches: 6 l Address: Block 1, DLF Corporate Park, DLF City, Phase III, Mehrauli Road, Gurgaon-122002, Haryana l Tel: 2549250-60 l Fax: 2549270 l Website: www.oracle.com/in

Oracle, in FY 2004-05, was the story of acquisitions-with PeopleSoft being the most talked about. It also gave the company significant product strength and controlled base. Integration of operations of Oracle and PeopleSoft in India was completed in June. Oracle has 6,000 database and 400 application customers in India. Of the latter, 125 come to Oracle from PeopleSoft and JD Edwards. The acquisition brought large clients like PNB, Union Bank of India and InterGold; it also enabled Oracle to cross-sell both Oracle and PeopleSoft products to customers.

Oracle has also acquired two development centers run by independent vendors Hexaware and Covansys, under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) clause.

In the APAC region, as well as India, Oracle, for the first time, created specialized teams for applications, technology and the three industries of FSI, telecom and government. All these three segments gained momentum in the year, with maximum gains in the applications market. There are further plans to increase focus on the new areas of BPO and clinical testing for Pharma companies.

Last fiscal also saw an uptake in Oracle mid-market offerings in India. Oracle India's future plans include developing an enterprise suite under its Project Fusion initiative, which would pack the best features and usability of products from Oracle, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards, and would be available in 2007-08.

Last fiscal also saw Oracle going live with Hindalco, Taj Hotels and Exide projects and customer wins included GECIS, Gujarat Electricity Board, UTI Bank, Mother Dairy, Jindal Vijaynagar Steel and Tata Teleservices.