Cisco pours investment into India
BBC
Tue October 18, 2005
Cisco Systems, the world's biggest maker of internet equipment, plans to inject $1bn of investment into India over the next three years.
The company will triple the number of workers it employs in India in its biggest investment outside the US.
"India has rapidly risen to become a major force in the global economy," said Cisco chief John Chambers.
India has a low-cost English speaking workforce, making it more attractive to foreign companies.
The company currently employs 1,400 people in India, Asia's third-largest economy and the tenth largest globally.
Cisco's global research & development (R&D) centre is located in the southern Indian city of Bangalore and the company has offices in seven other Indian cities.
About $750m of its investment will be spent on R&D, including training, development and staffing.
The rest will go on providing leasing and other financial services to Cisco's customers, investing in small firms and customer support operations, the US company said.
Cisco is forecasting a 30% surge in annual growth in Indian revenues over the three-year period.
"India may become [Cisco's] largest market in Asia," said Mr Chambers.
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