19.6.15

Cisco Betting Big on India's Digital Push

US tech firm Cisco will invest $20 million directly and indirectly in India over the next five years to train students, and another $40 million for its next phase of expansion which will focus on the government's digitisation drive. The $20-million investment will go towards training about 1,20,000 students through the Cisco Networking Academy and for exploring manufacturing possibilities in India, Cisco's outgoing chief executive, John Chambers, told reporters. Cisco invests about $1.7 billion in India every year, according to CEO designate Chuck Robbins.
The company is also betting big on the Indian government's `Digital India' and `Smart City' projects and expects the country's contribution to its overall revenue to grow to about 5% in the next five years from 2% now, Cisco's outgoing chief executive John Chambers said in a press briefing. India contributes about $1.1 billion to Cisco's revenues, according to the company.
During the day, Chambers also met Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and expressed the company's commitment to manufacture in India and participate in the digitisation programme.
According to Chambers, `Digital India' represents a $511-billion opportunity for public and private sector companies and can help the country's GDP increase by 2.5% every year. “My goal is to make the next decade bigger than our last two decades in India,“ Robbins said.
On manufacturing in India, Chambers said Cisco has conveyed to the prime minister its commitment to do so. “We have started the process and expect to move towards manufacturing within the next two quarters,“ Chambers said.
He, however, added that the company is evaluating various sops offered by the government to promote the Electronic System Design & Manufacturing sector. “Besides, we would be working on bringing in logistics and supplier chain for the manufacturing unit.“Cisco said it will use its global supply chain expertise to help build and accelerate the manufacturing ecosystem in India.
In China, Chambers said the company will invest more than $10 billion in the coming years to help it “innovate and globalise“. He said the investment in China is significantly bigger because it largely goes into manufacturing, which the company has been doing for over 20 years.
Chambers said Cisco will look to replicate the China strategy in India and wants the country to become a manufacturing hub for its products.
To help accelerate the development of India's electronics manufacturing ecosystem, Cisco said it will organise the Cisco Design and Innovation Conference in Bengaluru in February 2016. The meet will bring together over 75 of Cisco's key suppliers and partners to drive collaboration on product development and Internet of Everything (IoE) enabled supply chain technology .
In India, the company will start with manufacturing of products for broadband infrastructure, such as routers and switches, along with set-top boxes. Cisco, through its India-manufactured products, would be aiming for broadband and defence-related contracts, besides targeting other verticals, Chamber said.

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