Cisco Sys to raise headcount to 10,000 by 2010

New Delhi, Oct 29 (UNI) Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc (CSI) today said it plans to increase it headcount in the country to 10,000 by 2010 from the present employees of 3,000 people.

''We currently have 3,000 employees working in India, which will be increased to 10,000 by 2010,'' Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Chambers said while addressing the third India Public Sector Summit.

He also added that the company will shift 20 per cent of its top management staff across all functions to India by 2012.

It also said it is on target to invest the 1.1 billion dollars it had committed to spend in India in October 2005. ''We are very much on target,'' Mr Chambers told reporters.

CSI's expansion plans for India underscore the country's growing importance as a global hub for technology outsourcing and research for multinationals such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel and Accenture.

California-based CSI, which makes switches and routers that direct Internet traffic, had said in October 2005 it planned to invest 1.1 billion dollars over the next three years in India and triple its staff here.

Emerging markets have become a key segment for Cisco, which has a global development centre in Bangalore. Orders growth in emerging markets approached 50 per cent in the company's fiscal fourth quarter.

UNI