Cisco Maps $1.1-Billion Expansion Plan in India

Cisco Systems Inc. will spend $1.1 billion in India over the next three years in the company’s largest investment outside the United States, its chief executive said Wednesday.

John Chambers, president and chief executive of Cisco, said the investment by the world’s largest maker of networking gear showed his confidence in India. The company’s revenue has grown by 50% in the country in the last two years, and Chambers said he expected India sales to grow 30% annually in the next three years.

“There is a good chance India may become our largest total sales market in the whole of Asia,” he said.

San Jose-based Cisco started its India operations in 1995 and plans to triple its workforce from the current 1,400 by 2008. The company has its global research and development center in the southern city of Bangalore and offices in seven other Indian cities.

Chambers said that $750 million would be spent on research and development activities, including training, development and staffing. The rest would be spent on providing leasing and other financial solutions to the company’s customers, investing in Indian start-up companies and customer support operations.

Chambers said Cisco might also consider manufacturing its networking equipment products in India.

“Some top manufacturing people will be coming to India in the next couple of months. We’re going to look very hard at manufacturing [in India] next year,” he said.

Any possible facility in India would initially be a basic manufacturing unit, which would be gradually ramped up to undertake complex manufacturing, Chambers said.