Inside Siemens’ India Strategy: From Rocket Science to Rural Lending

“We often have an exaggerated view of technologies' short-term effects and an underestimate of their long-term effects.”

With this idea echoing the essence of Amara’s Law, Siemens Digital Industries Software opened its first Realize Live Asia Pacific conference in Bangalore. But this was more than a showcase — it was a reaffirmation of Siemens’ belief in platform thinking, digital twin strategy, and India’s central role in the company’s transformation agenda.

From private rocket makers in Hyderabad to financial inclusion in the remotest pockets of India, Siemens' software stack is powering audacious ambitions — and redefining what agility means in sectors like aerospace and finance that have long been and remain heavily regulated.

Complexity as strategy — not a barrier

In his keynote comments, Tony Hemmelgarn, President and CEO of Siemens Digital Industries Software, made a strong case for complexity -- not as a liability, but as a strategic advantage. "If well navigated, complexity enables us to move faster," he said. At the center of Siemens' transformation engine is the full digital twin, a living digital thread that encompasses electronics, mechanical, software, manufacturing simulation and automation.

 "This is not just about having a three-dimensional model," Hemmelgarn underscored. "It's about making a virtual representation that can justify the decisions made at any given point of the product lifecycle, from conceiving the idea, all the way to putting it on the shelf."

Numbers That Tell the Platform Story

Siemens is not just talking platform — it’s delivering at scale:

• 8000+ enterprise cloud accounts are already live, powered by Teamcenter X, NX X, Capital X, and Polarion X.

• 200,000+ users are actively working on Siemens’ cloud-native "X" solutions.

• 23,000 customers have adopted Siemens' hybrid SaaS data management and collaboration solutions.

• Siemens Digital Industries Software has completed 36+ acquisitions, including Altair (for nonlinear CAE and AI-led simulation), Supplyframe (design-to-source intelligence), and most recently, Dotmatics (drug discovery software).

• India hosts the largest digital software workforce for Siemens globally, with thousands of engineers across R&D, customer delivery, and simulation.

• India is now the largest concentration of Siemens DI Software's talent, contributing to a global team of 10,000+ focused entirely on digital industries. Globally, Siemens employs around 327,000 people, of which roughly 28,000 are in software roles

India is not just a market, but a capability hub

Giving context to this framework, Matthew Thomas, VP and MD, Siemens Digital Industries Software India, characterized India as not only a growth region but also the testbed for transformation. "We are defining and delivering the digital future here." 
 
Take Ather Energy for example. The EV startup defined its new electric scooter in just 17 months through a suite of aligned Siemens tools including Teamcenter, NX, Capital, Simcenter and EdX- an integrated digital thread that took it from wiring design to mechanical systems.
 
Or DCYM, a manufacturer of synchronizer ring for auto transmissions, who achieved a 40% reduction in design time and 40% savings on production costs using advanced CAD/CAM and the Siemens simulation stack.

The long game: platforms, not projects

A consistent theme at the event was the shift from point solutions to platform thinking. Whether it’s Polarion for aerospace compliance, Mendix for financial digitization, or Teamcenter for enterprise lifecycle management, Siemens’ approach is to embed intelligence across the product lifecycle.

It’s a strategy that’s already attracting imitators. As Hemmelgarn noted, “When your competitors try to copy your architecture, that’s when you know you’re doing something right.”

"When your competition begins to imitate your platform architecture," said Hemmelgarn, "you have achieved the right architecture in your strategy."

“Digital transformation is no longer about convenience — it’s about competitiveness,” he said, noting how clients like Rolls-Royce are using Siemens software to analyze turbine production and transfer engineering intelligence seamlessly across teams.

The real proof of platform thinking lies in how it scales across verticals. Siemens shared three powerful use cases from India:

It is also a great proving ground for “frugal innovation”. The expectation is for companies to do more with less and ultimately still deliver globally competitive results.

Whether it is Unilever using Siemens tech to compress a million manual interventions in a factory to minutes or Ather Energy designing a scooter in under 18 months, there was one thing clear: India is not falling behind on its digital journey – but leading the world with ingenuity.

Success stories abound:

• Unilever cut a million factory manual interventions to minutes using Siemens’ platform

• Ather Energy launched a new electric scooter in just 17 months

• Skyroot and CA Grameen are transforming two of the most regulation-heavy sectors — space and finance — through software

Adverb Technologies

The robotics startup has built 22 product families—from 6kg to 2.5-ton payload bots—within 9 years. By vertically integrating everything from electronics to cloud systems, and leveraging Siemens’ Mendix low-code platform, Adverb created a unified customer experience platform, accelerating deployment and agility across global operations.

Skyroot Aerospace

To scale its orbital launch ambitions, Skyroot adopted Siemens’ Polarion software, streamlining software lifecycle management across its 500+ engineering team. The platform improved traceability, collaboration, and compliance—critical in building India’s first private space launch vehicles.

CreditAccess Grameen

India’s largest microfinance NBFC deployed a branch auditing app in just 6 months using the Mendix low-code platform. The solution cut audit cycles from 45 to 38 days and enabled real-time decision-making across 2,000+ branches serving over 4.5 million customers.

The future comes slowly, then all at once

Both Siemens and their partners in India exemplify the premise of Amara's Law. Voice AI, simulation, low code, digital twin, etc. may seem like incremental technology. However, they really change how industries approach their businesses over time.

For example, Adverb's story showcases this notion at the event: in just 9 years, they have launched 22 families of robotics products — from 6kg bots to payloads up to 2.5 tons, and they plan to launch their first humanoid in 2026. Their advantage? A group of contributors with an average age of 28 with full-stack control of their hardware, firmware, edge software and cloud platforms.

Conclusion: The Long view matters

While industries chase productivity and agility, those who accept the complexity of technology and view their investments with a long view are the ones that will win.

Siemens and their partners in India are turning this notion into real systems - systems that are more than just software, but actually frameworks for strategic investment and infrastructure for their next round of innovations.

From orbital launch pads to microloan kiosks, a digital thread is quietly stitching India’s industrial future. And if Siemens’ playbook is any indication, that future will arrive exactly as predicted: slowly at first — and then all at once.