India may become top Brics nation under Modi: Cisco CEO

San Diego: The chances of India becoming top emerging country of the Brics grouping are “extremely good” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tech giant Cisco’s chairman and CEO John Chambers said today.[caption id=“attachment_2289250” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Cisco logo. Image courtesy Cisco website[/caption] “We made a big bet on India”, which has the possibilities and “may be probability of being the very top emerging BRICS country. And being candid, under the leadership of Mr Modi, I think the probabilities of that happening are extremely good,” said the outgoing CEO. Chambers said this in a joint press conference with the incoming CEO Chuck Robbins. The two are expected to be in India on 18 and 19 June. The Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping of leading emerging economies accounts for more than a quarter of the world’s land mass, 40 percent of its population and a combined GDP of $24 trillion. Chambers said he and Chuck are very bullish on India. The Indian prime minister has grasped the importance of digitisation, development of smart cities, broadband to every citizen, healthcare, education and job creation to change the lives of the people, he said. Recalling his statement during the time of the elections in India Chambers said, “My views have not changed at all. If I bet on one emerging market that had to be double down on India and we have doubled down.” Briefing about his forthcoming visit to India, he said: “We will spend time with key government leaders in India including your top leaders next week… I think your CEOs come together in terms of what Cisco can do with the citizens, with the businesses and with India as a great partner”. Chambers added that the reason for going together in India is that “both of us are committed…that part of the relationship Chuck will pick up and part I will continue”. Talking about smart cities, he said they are not only about connectivity but also about changing people’s lives, healthcare services and traffic issues. ‘Smart City’ is Modi’s pet project aimed at recasting the urban landscape of the country by making cities more livable and inclusive besides driving the economic growth. India has proposed to develop 100 smart cities. On the net neutrality debate, Chuck said: “The issue of net neutrality is just a symptom of what we would be trying to make sure is accomplished in general, which is pervasive broadband access to every human around the world so that they take advantage of this great equaliser that we have seen over the last 20 years which is Internet.” The principle of net neutrality calls for equal treatment to be accorded to all Internet traffic, without discrimination or priority for any person, entity or company. While the telecom watchdog Trai has floated a discussion paper on this topic, a raging debate has broken out in the country following the launch of platforms like Airtel Zero and internet.org. Networking giant Cisco is betting big on India buoyed by strong performance in the Indian market. The company, which gets about 2 per cent of its global revenues (over $47 billion) from India, expects the contribution to grow in the coming years. Cisco employs over 10,000 people in India across cities like Bangalore, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad. Of these, 8,000 people are part of the R&D set up. PTI