Cisco Systems has evinced interest in partnering India to create smart cities and boost electronic manufacturing in the country, just as it has done in other countries, but sought from the Narendra Modi government consistent tax policies and market access for its expansion plans.
Sources said the meeting Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers had with the DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant centred around these points.
Cisco’s focus on smart cities follows the BJP manifesto, which had declared that if elected to power, the party will initiate building 100 new cities enabled with the latest technology and infrastructure, adhering to concepts like sustainability and walk-to-work.
In February 2012, the company had said that developers and communities in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) as well as in the city of Guayaquil in Ecuador and Toronto (Canada) are now putting Cisco and its certified partners at the heart of their urban planning initiatives.