CHENNAI: The first manufacturing facility of US-based network gear maker CISCO was inaugurated in India by Union Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in Chennai on Friday. The first phase of the multi-year investment project is expected to generate more than $1.3 billion annually in combined exports and domestic production and create 1,200 jobs in Tamil Nadu. The state Industries Minister TRB Rajaa was also present on the occasion.
Cisco has partnered with Flex to build and scale the manufacturing facility in Chennai, which will initially focus on Cisco’s Network Convergence System (NCS) 540 Series of routers.
“Significant innovation and technical advancements are planned in the next phase including printed circuit board assembly components with several layers; products requiring, at times, thousands of individual components; and industrial-grade products that are built to endure severe environmental conditions,” Cisco said.
Cisco has collaborated with Flex to successfully build the Chennai site and bring advanced telecom technology that can help connect citizens in India and globally.
Speaking to reporters, Scindia said the union government is setting up a telecommunication equipment manufacturing zone in the country as the sector is expected to go through a revolution in attracting foreign direct investments. Scindia said India is the second largest producer of mobile phones in the world with 30 crore phones being produced in India. The country, in the last 10 years, exported mobile phones worth Rs 1.28 lakh crore.
The minister said value addition (in mobile phones) has gone up by 20% due to changes in foreign direct investment. “India had close to USD 98 billion of FDI and in the last 10 years, we have grown that by 60% to `160 billion FDI. The same revolution will happen in the telecom sector,” he added.