‘India is one of the biggest opportunities in the world for us’: Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins

Chuck Robbins, Chairman and CEO of Cisco

India is one of the biggest opportunities for Cisco globally, said the technology giant’s CEO, Chuck Robbins, during his visit to Mumbai on July 9, highlighting the country’s increasing strategic significance in the supply chains of global hardware and software manufacturers.

“India is one of the biggest opportunities in the world for us. If you look out over the next five to ten years, I'm not sure there's another place on the planet where you would expect the growth that we should see here,” Robbins said.

“To challenge the team, we've obviously been continuing our investments here. We've been here for 30 years. We started manufacturing here two years ago. We had a single product then, now we added two more products here. We are also doing a PCB assembly here. So, we're ahead of schedule relative to our expectations,” he added.

Robbins shared that India has also proven to be a "viable place" for the company to export products out of. Cisco has been working with the government to get all the licenses needed for it, he said.

"They (the Indian government) were very, very effective at working with us to make sure that we had the capability to do what we need to do with those products. So, I think candidly the global trade dynamics right now need to sort of get settled down so can actually think through how it impacts our longer term plans," he said.

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He noted that every time Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco, and he visit India, they “come up with four or five other ideas of things we ought to be doing.”

“So, it's a great trip. You'll see more of us over the next months and years. We'll be here much more frequently,” Robbins said. Cisco is also planning to host an edition of its flagship event Cisco Live in India in January 2026.

Patel said, “Years ago, India used to be a great place for cost savings. We don't think about that anymore as much as this is a great place for just getting great talent. So, we've got great engineers in India. We continue to make sure that they're building some of our most strategic products, and that will actually continue.”

The Cisco leadership, including Robbins, met Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister for Communications and Development of the North Eastern Region, on July 8 in New Delhi. Scindia urged the technology giant to invest more in India.

“Deliberated on deepening Cisco’s tech footprint in India, expanding into Tier 2 & 3 markets, strengthening cybersecurity, and co-creating solutions that truly touch lives at the grassroots. With India rising as a global digital powerhouse, we look forward to building a secure, inclusive and future-ready Bharat,” Scindia said in a post on X, after the meeting.

Responding to the Minister’s invitation, Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer, Cisco, who too was attending the meeting, wrote on X, “We look forward to doubling down on opportunities that we can jointly pursue and get technology in the hands of more and more people to ensure that we make it an inclusive future for all.”

Cisco has been actively investing in India over the years. As it completes over three decades in the country, it has seven sales offices — New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.

Last year, Cisco launched its first manufacturing facility in Chennai, that is aimed to drive $1.3 billion in revenue and create over 1,200 jobs.