HSBC To Investors: If India Couldn't Build an Enterprise Software Challenger, Neither Can AI
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by msmashFebruary 20, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
HSBC has highlighted a significant challenge facing the tech industry: despite decades of access to large engineering workforces and deep expertise in enterprise software systems, Indian IT giants have failed to develop a competitive product that can rival U.S. incumbents like SAP and Oracle. The bank's latest note to clients argues that AI-generated code faces similar structural barriers as those encountered by Indian IT firms. While technical skills and access to proprietary systems may seem advantageous, HSBC emphasizes that success in enterprise software depends on factors far beyond coding ability—such as sales teams, licensing agreements, patents, brand recognition, and market infrastructure. The bank's analysis suggests that even with a massive, low-cost workforce of domain experts, cracking the enterprise software market is not straightforward.
The Indian IT sector has long been involved in deploying, customizing, and maintaining some of the world's largest enterprise platforms, giving its engineers extensive exposure to the inner workings of SAP and Oracle. Yet, despite this deep familiarity with business logic and proprietary architectures, no Indian company has managed to create a product that gains significant traction against established U.S. players. HSBC uses this historical context to argue that AI-generated code is unlikely
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Originally published on Slashdot on 2/20/2026