Several Tailwinds Powering ServiceNow India's Growth: Sumeet Mathur
Over the past decade, the company's presence in India has transformed into a microcosm of its global organization. The India team has tripled in size in just two years, with 1 in 3 ServiceNow engineers globally now based in India.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Tech 25: Sumeet Mathur, SVP and MD, ServiceNow India
ServiceNow was founded in 2004 by Fred Luddy with a simple yet powerful vision: to make work easier for people by creating a cloud-based platform that could streamline and automate routine IT service management tasks. It was incorporated as Glidesoft, Inc. in 2003, but formally established and became ServiceNow in 2004.
Initially focused on IT Service Management (ITSM), the company offered a modern alternative to legacy systems, enabling faster, more efficient service delivery. Over the years, ServiceNow has evolved into a leading enterprise platform, expanding its capabilities beyond IT to include workflows for customer service, HR, security, operations, and more. Globally, ServiceNow caters to 85 per cent of Fortune 500 companies and closed 2024 with USD 10.27 billion in revenue, marking 19 per cent year-on-year growth.
India has played an increasingly pivotal role in ServiceNow's global growth story under the leadership of Sumeet Mathur, SVP and MD, ServiceNow India. Over the past decade, the company's presence in India has transformed into a microcosm of its global organization. The India team has tripled in size in just two years, with 1 in 3 ServiceNow engineers globally now based in India.
Engineers and developers make up 85 per cent of the India workforce, which now accounts for over 20 per cent of the company's global headcount. The Hyderabad office has become its largest employee hub worldwide. ServiceNow India supports many of the country's top technology providers and is trusted by four out of India's top five banks.
Recently, ServiceNow has introduced new AI innovations that drive real productivity gains. Unlike many AI agents trapped in isolated silos – like chatbots limited to CRM apps – ServiceNow believes its AI agents are deeply integrated across the entire enterprise.
Mathur believes ServiceNow stays ahead of the curve by consistently innovating its platform, investing in AI and automation, and staying closely aligned with customer needs.
"Central to this strategy is putting AI to work for people – using generative AI and machine learning to make work more intuitive, intelligent, and efficient across the enterprise," he says.
In addition to a favourable technology environment, there are several tailwinds powering ServiceNow India's growth. With over 1,600 global capability centres (GCCs), the country is home to some of the most digitally mature hubs driving cutting-edge innovations – areas where ServiceNow is uniquely positioned to lead.
"India is undergoing a remarkable transformation – from a labour-driven economy to an AI-first powerhouse – and is poised to become the world's third-largest economy by 2027. We are seeing strong momentum, with four of India's five largest banks leveraging our platform and an 80 per cent growth in our partner ecosystem over the past year. The next frontier is manufacturing, where we aim to drive global competitiveness through digital transformation. At the same time, India is emerging as a key player in the global shift toward Agentic AI. ServiceNow is uniquely positioned to lead this evolution," says Mathur.
Company Facts:
Year of Inception: 2004
Current Employee Count: 26,698 employees globally as of Q1 2025; 20% of global workforce based in India
Major Clients: LTIMindtree, Wipro, Infosys, Poonawalla Fincorp, Mindsprint
Any IP developed/patented: 2,247 total patents (granted) assets globally
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Entrepreneur
40 minutes ago
- Entrepreneur
Building a Scalable and Inclusive Agri Network
With over 30,000 FPOs in its outreach network, 6,500 engaged in active transactions, and a footprint that integrates 8 million farmers, Samunnati has developed a system that not only "signifies deep trust across the agricultural ecosystem," but also operationalizes "inclusive, last-mile connectivity through FPOs." Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. "Samunnati has built one of the largest agri-value chain networks in India," shares Anil Kumar SG, Founder and Group CEO of Samunnati. With over 30,000 FPOs in its outreach network, 6,500 engaged in active transactions, and a footprint that integrates 8 million farmers, Samunnati has developed a system that not only "signifies deep trust across the agricultural ecosystem," but also operationalizes "inclusive, last-mile connectivity through FPOs." By aggregating demand and supply, the company enables these FPOs to access "tailored financial services and market linkages," which have helped "reduce costs, improve market access, and drive farmer prosperity at scale." Among its suite of offerings, one product stands out. "Samunnati introduced the Instant Preapproved Loan (IPL), a first-of-its-kind product designed specifically for newly formed FPOs with no credit or transaction history." Anil explains how IPL's minimal documentation, quick access, and customized design are critical for new FPOs. Acting as a starter credit product, it helps build credit history and improves borrowing capacity over time. The impact is tangible. "The IPL product has transformed the landscape by making thousands of new FPOs institutionally creditworthy," says Kumar, allowing them to evolve into financially sustainable, market-ready entities. While operational issues are part and parcel of any business, Anil highlights the deeper challenges that exist. "The biggest hurdles in our business stem from fundamental structural issues inherent to the agricultural value chain surrounding smallholder farmers." One major issue, according to Anil, is the lack of customized financial and trade solutions aligned with the highly seasonal nature of agriculture. Samunnati responds by "designing tailored solutions aligned with the specific cash flow patterns of different crops," thus enhancing repayment capacity. Another problem is scale. The fragmented and dispersed nature of smallholder farmers and agri enterprises limits scale and bargaining power. To overcome this, Samunnati leverages the power of aggregation through Farmer Producer Organizations, thereby reducing transaction costs and improving price realization. Finally, the absence of suitable underwriting models for FPOs has hampered credit flow. Samunnati tackled this by "developing robust in-house underwriting capabilities that combine social capital and trade capital of FPOs." This, Anil says, "transforms FPOs into credible financial entities and emerging asset classes." The cumulative result? "These solutions create significant entry barriers for others," while ensuring "scalability, risk mitigation, and sustainable growth." "Samunnati's journey toward profitability is anchored in a multi-pronged strategy focused on sustainable growth and operational efficiency," Anil says. • Year of inception – 2014 • No. of employees – 550+ Revenue for FY 2024-25: ~$850 Mn External funding: $46.5 Mn
Entrepreneur
an hour ago
- Entrepreneur
Designing AI Products that Enhance Rather Than Replace Human Connection
"To ensure AI is used for good and does not exploit or alienate users, we need to ensure ethical considerations that focus on data privacy and reduction of bias," says Beerud Sheth Co-founder and CEO, Gupshup Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. AI has advanced from a developing technology to a significant part of today's marketplace. Businesses across the world have embedded AI in many of their offerings to meet the existing and growing consumer appetite. Virtual assistants and customer service chatbots have become an integral part of our daily interactions. However now the challenge for businesses is to ensure AI is enhancing processes, not replacing them with humans. Although the automation of many tasks has shown to be productive and time saving, it is human relationships built on trust, empathy, and meaningful engagement that businesses rely on for true communication. The advancement of AI is not intended to replace human interaction but rather use technology to augment, strengthen, and enhance human interactions to create personalized experiences, and develop more authentic connections. The Initial Shift Toward Human-Centric AI Looking back, the devel opment of AI has primar ily focused on efficiency i.e. reducing human labor, cutting costs, and optimiz ing productivity. However, this generally sets the human at an almost transactional level with AI often being over emphasized on interaction rather than real interaction, thus leading to impersonal experiences that lack warmth and understanding. As AI becomes more advanced, businesses are recognising the need for designing AI driven solutions that are intended to complement human emotions and social subtleties, rather than replace them. Human centric AI involves moving beyond transactional interactions. It is about allow ing AI to create meaningful in teraction rather than respond ing to queries or automated processes. For industries such as healthcare, customer ser vice, or education, AI can act as a disruptor if designed carefully to incorporate empathy and emotional intelligence and enabling deeper and meaningful relationships. Augmenting Emotional Intelligence With AI Incorporating emotional intelligence is one of the key ways that AI can help bolster human connec tion. There have been use cases of chatbots blending emotion with intelligence, such as Hume AI which is designed to recognize and respond to a wide range of human emotions. AI has the ability to understand a person's emotional state by assessing a person's reaction based on tone of voice, facial expressions, and language patterns and respond appropriately. Hume's audio responses exhibit human emotion to its voice tonalities, its pauses in speaking, and sometimes an openness to admitting to feeling guilty for its limitations. In the business land scape, it's all the more important to embed this emotional understanding in AI Agents. Imagine that a user is experiencing tech nical difficulty and feeling frustration. An emotional AI chatbot like Hume could quickly pick up on the user's tone of frustration, and respond in a calmer and more patient tone, and perhaps marginally more human-like than a typical error message, and offer reassurance or apologize for their inconvenience. This would feel more hu man and less robotic than a standard error message. It can help complement human empathy rather than replace it, ensuring that appropriate and com passionate responses are provided to users. Personalization: Key to Meaningful Engagement Personalization has become one of AI's most powerful capabilities. Businesses are beginning to understand that hyper personalizing their ap proach can make for a much closer and more meaningful interaction with their audi ence when they analyze user preferences, behaviors, and past interactions. For instance, think about when you listen to music, or watch a movie. Services such as Netflix and Spotify know exactly what to recommend to you, not just because there is a predetermined algorithm but mainly because of AI that makes specialized recom mendations based on specific tastes. In the same way, your shopping experiences on an e-commerce site are enhanced with AI powered solutions. This entire model of personalization enhances the experience, brings famil iarity, and connects the user in a way that goes beyond a program of machine gener ated responses and appears to be more similar to that of the interaction with humans. AI driven personalization can also disrupt spaces such as education and health. In online education, adaptive AI tutors personalize lesson plans taking into consider ation a learner's progress (on adaptive assessments) and learning style to elicit a more effective and engaging learning experience leading to better learning outcomes. In hospitals and healthcare, AI assistants provide resources to doctors to enhance patient care by examining medi cal histories and using AI to derive insights as needed to personalize care to the individual patient. By making experiences more human centered, AI enhances rather than diminishes genuine interactions. Avoiding The Pitfalls With AI, the possibili ties are endless, but it's important to find the right balance between human oversight and automation. Thoughtful implementation is the key to ensuring that conver sations feel genuine and meaningful and that users stay engaged. A balanced approach works best where AI and people work in tandem, allowing a seamless user experience. Another key aspect to keep in mind is transparency. Users should know when they are interacting with AI, and should have the option to escalate the conversation to a human when they deem neces sary. A simple message of 'This is an AI assistant. For human support please type 'help',' adds that transparency and gives users options. To ensure AI is used for good and does not exploit or alienate users, we need to ensure ethical consid erations that focus on data privacy and reduc tion of bias. AI Should Strengthen Human Connection As AI continues to ad vance, it will play an even more vital role in enhanc ing human connection. The future of AI signifies the growth of enhanced connections based on our inherent social tenden cies. Businesses embrac ing human-centered AI, will form stronger relationships with their customers, employees, and community mem bers. By creating AI systems that make use of contex tual awareness, emotion recognition, and person alization of experience, companies can develop technology to support and complement our hu man interactions, rather than diminish them. The key to success lies in using AI as an enabler to develop meaningful relationships, and em power people to connect, collaborate, and commu nicate on a deeper level. AI should not seek to re place human connection but amplify it, ensuring that technology remains a tool for bringing people closer together rather than driving them apart. The question for business is not whether to adopt AI, it is how to leverage it to enhance clarity, foster human connection, and bring empathy to every interaction.
Entrepreneur
an hour ago
- Entrepreneur
The Telecom Enabler: Anuradha Gupta, CEO, Amantaya
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. "We offer a comprehensive range of services designed to address the diverse needs of our global clientele. Our offerings include product development, system integration, testing, and consultancy, with a focus on wireless and digital technologies. We provide end-to-end solutions that enable our clients to navigate the complexities of digital transformation, ensuring they stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market,' said Anuradha Gupta, CEO, Amantaya. Amantya is the first in India to offer a 5G SA Core and Network-in-a-Box, enabling diverse deployments from smart logistics and Industry 4.0 to connectivity in underserved areas. "With TTDF funding, our 5G SA Core will become carrier-grade within the next year, incorporating enhanced scalability, reliability and advanced features to support large-scale network deployments and complex use cases," she added. The solutions are driving global impact in the telecom domain by fostering economic growth, creating job opportunities, and enabling innovation. By unlocking new use cases across industries, it anticipate generating over 2,000 new jobs in diverse domains over the next five years. "Cost-efficiency and flexibility are central to our offerings," the CEO said. The growth plans for the next two years are centered around expanding market presence, fostering innovation and entering new geographies. "We are dedicated to advancing our research and development initiatives to create cutting-edge technologies in wireless, Digital, and AI domains. This includes expanding our accelerators and solutions portfolio, ensuring they continue to align with customer needs. We aim to deepen our collaborations with leading industry players across Indian and global markets to fast-track the adoption of 5G and allied technologies. Our growth plans include entering new markets such as Japan and the EU, alongside strengthening our presence in established regions like India, the USA, the UK, Canada, and the Middle East. Additionally, we are committed to supporting the Government of India's 'Make in India' initiative by developing indigenous 5G solutions," Gupta explained. Factsheet: Year of inception: 2018 No. of employees:800+ Major clients: Verizon, DISH, TCS, C-DOT, and more IP developed/patented (no. - if more than one and names)– 5G SA Core, 5G Network-in-a-Box, Multi-Access Gateway, and Test Automation Tools for RAN, Core, and Wi-Fi testing.
