Cisco To Manufacture In India, Says CEO Chuck Robbins
Cisco's manufacturing in India will be through its contract manufacturers and partners. The company did not comment on the quantum of investments it will infuse.
U.S. network gear maker Cisco on Wednesday announced manufacturing plans for Tamil Nadu, India, as its chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins asserted that the company is bullish about the Indian market and its prospects.
In a statement, the company said it is targeting over $1 billion in combined exports and domestic production.
Robbins, who is in India this week and is currently on the Delhi leg of the multi-city visit, said that the energy in India is 'incredible'.
"India has made tonnes of progress on digitisation. The ambition of India is very clear, and the momentum I felt here is incredible," he told PTI in an interview.
As the company announced its manufacturing plans for India, Robbins said Cisco will have the first products off the line in 12 months and will expand to a wider array of Made-in-India products over a period of time.
Cisco's manufacturing in India will be through its contract manufacturers and partners. The company did not comment on the quantum of investments it will infuse.
"We think we should have the first products off the line in about 12 months. We are starting with two of our highest volume products, one of our switches and one of our routers, that are widely used in India," he said.
Robbins also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers.
"I met the PM and several ministers and talked about many topics, among them about our commitment to manufacturing here in India, which we are announcing," the Cisco top boss said.
The company will also use Indian manufacturing for exports.
"We are going to be using this and viewing this as a global export hub as well. So we are building a full manufacturing node just as we have it in other places, and we are really excited about it," the Cisco CEO said.
Robbins described India as the "number one growth opportunity over the next decade".
"The population here, the commitment to technology, technology-savviness of leadership, the tech capabilities of a large portion of the population, the commitment to capacity building and skilling...".
India is a key investment area for the company, and the company will continue to invest here, Robbins said.
Robbins said his discussion with the Prime Minister ranged from manufacturing to skills, and Cisco's programs, and from AI to 5G, and sustainability.
5G is a big bet for Cisco and Robbins observed that India had demonstrated the fastest 5G rollout anywhere in the world.
The Cisco CEO said that the speed at which India created the digital public infrastructure was incredibly impressive.
On global tech layoffs and whether there is more pain in the offing, the Cisco CEO said it is difficult to predict what is going to happen across the industry, given the macro headwinds, but was quick to point out that India is a key market for the company.
To a question on whether the company's plans to rightsize certain businesses will have any ramifications on India operations, Robbins said: "None, it will be the same that it would be anywhere. Ours was not a cost-related issue, ours was related to need to rightsize our business and invest in another business, so we just needed different skillset quickly, and it turns out that the numbers that we ended up impacting were much lower than what we initially thought."
