India Is NetApp’s Largest And Fastest-growing Development Hub: CPO Harv Bhela
The US-based data infra company continues to invest in expanding its team in the country, leveraging the high level of expertise available locally
Data infrastructure giant NetApp is increasingly seeing the role of India grow in its global operations, particularly its Bangalore development centre. According to Harv Bhela, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at NetApp, the Bangalore centre has emerged as the company’s largest and fastest-growing hub, pointing to India’s dual importance as a critical engineering powerhouse and a key market for the company’s growth.
NetApp’s global engineering teams are spread across its main locations in the US, Israel, and India, with each focusing on specific products. The Bangalore team is responsible for the development of the Google-first-party cloud storage service, while teams in Israel and the US handle the Amazon and Microsoft services, respectively. This decentralised approach allows each location to work independently, which Bhela believes enhances efficiency. “For us, this is really just one global engineering team,” he told BW Businessworld.
The Bangalore centre’s rapid growth is largely due to the exceptional talent pool in India, which has made it an indispensable part of NetApp’s overall strategy, added Bhela. “The fact that Bangalore is our biggest development centre really answers the question. The talent is fantastic in India,” Bhela said, underlining the company’s confidence in its Indian workforce. NetApp continues to invest in expanding its team in the country, leveraging the high level of expertise available.
In addition to its role in development, India has become a crucial market for the US-based company, which has a market capitalisation of USD 25.5 billion. The country’s growing industries, especially in artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals, retail, and finance, offer great opportunities for NetApp. “There are tonnes of awesome work happening by companies in India," Bhela noted.
Headquartered in San Jose, California, NetApp reported strong quarterly growth in Q1 fiscal 2025, its third consecutive quarter of revenue increases. The company posted revenues of USD 1.54 billion, an 8 percent rise year-over-year (YoY), driven primarily by sales of its all-flash array products. NetApp also recorded a profit of USD 248 million, a significant 66.4 per cent increase from the previous year. Product revenues reached USD 669 million, up 13.4 per cent, while the annual run rate for its all-flash array business grew by 21 per cent to USD 3.4 billion.
