Cisco focuses on e-commerce, government space for India biz growth

Jaipur: Networking giant Cisco is betting big on verticals like eCommerce, manufacturing and government to boost its business in India that is one of the fastest growing geographies for the US-based firm.

eCommerce sector in India has seen unprecedented growth with increasing Internet penetration and more people shopping online.

"eCommerce is the perfect segment to work with right now. The traffic volumes are high and the heavy consumer usage brings in high requirements for bandwidth and networks. Also, the solutions that are deployed with these new age technology companies have to be customised for their needs and so, thereis a lot of co-innovation. We see a lot of potential," Cisco India and SAARC President Dinesh Malkani told PTI.

He, however, declined to comment on the targeted revenues from the segment stating that the company does not share country-specific details. The US-based firm had reported a 3.6 per cent rise in revenues to USD 12.7 billion in the quarter ended September 30, 2015, helped by over 40 per cent growth in markets like India and China.

Malkani said the other sector where the company is seeing a strong traction is the government space. "Today it is no more about just planning. There are projects on ground. We are working with various state government projects across areas like surveillance, smart cities, automation," he said.

In November, Cisco and CH2M had announced a new global partnership to provide urban planning and design, smart-technology integration and programme delivery services.

The first integrated delivery from Cisco and CH2M is to Shendra-Bidkin, an industrial smart city being developed along India's Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. Talking about the business environment, Malkani said the government is very focussed on making sure that over time; the right reforms are in place.

"They have crystal clear clarity on what needs to be done. Second thing is putting that reform in place... The fundamentals have gotten better. If you look at what has happened in past 18 months, you will realize as a business leader that you don't have to worry about fundamentals," he said.

Malkani said the focus is now more on customer outcomes and expanding into new areas rather than worrying about GDP going negative and rupee tumbling.

He further said: "Indian entrepreneurs and tech companies, start ups, this is the one opportunity we have to absolutely go global at a scale we have never seen before. It is not about manufacturing the next leather jacket and making it better and cheaper. Its about tech and getting the process faster and efficient."