Cisco becomes the latest tech giant to support the Made In India campaign

Networking solutions giant Cisco is planning to set up a manufacturing facility in India, making it the latest tech behemoth to support the Made In India campaign.

“Several companies, including Cisco are evaluating the various incentives offered by the government for investments in the Electronic System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) sector,” Minister for Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

At present, US-based Cisco’s largest research and development (R&D) facility outside the US is in India. But, it does not have any manufacturing facility in the country.

Cisco, which manufactures wireless access points or modems, has various manufacturing facilities across the globe. The company is worth in excess of $42 billion.

When contacted, a Cisco spokesperson said: “Cisco believes that the government and industry should work together to remove roadblocks and provide enablers so that India can become a leader in manufacturing.”

The spokesperson further added: “Although we have nothing to announce, companies that manufacture on a global scale will always seek to manufacture for the right reasons.”

“Cisco believes that India's world-class engineering talent, along with consistent tax policies and market access, can help the country accelerate its journey towards becoming a manufacturing hub,” the spokesperson said.

Prasad added that 60 companies have demonstrated interest towards investment under the M-SIPS in electronic hardware manufacturing so far and this does not include Cisco.