Networking major Cisco India, fresh from an organizational restructruring, is setting a new growth trajectory in the small & medium business (SMB) category as it enters its third phase in India.
Cisco Capital, a registered non-banking finance company that extends easy finance at 7% to its SMB customers, has already used up the $150 million corpus put at its disposal in 2005 when it was set up by the US parent. For Cisco India, the subsidy is marginal since the cost of funds is linked to US rates.
Amit Malik, Cisco’s vice-president for the east, said the networking major has been growing its Indian SMB business at almost 10% year on year. Cisco defines an SMB as a company with less than 200 PCs.
“We strongly believe that the time is now,” said Malik, referring to the growth potential of SMBs in the eastern region, which for Cisco means 13 states and three countries.
In its new avatar, Cisco is more of a solutions provider rather than just a product provider. The earlier verticals have given way to geographics, within which industry-business councils look at the verticals like banking and financial services, IT services, government & defence, manufacturing & healthcare, retail and infrastructure.
Malik said the Cisco 3.0 strategy now in place aims to make customers see Cisco more as a partner than as a vendor.
Gautam Munish, vice-president of Cisco Capital, said the Cisco arm has so far financed 110 customers here, some with incremental deals.
Cisco’s Easy Lease programme is now available at a special rate of 7% for a two-three year term, and provides financing for deals ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 80 lakh.
“We expect high growth in infrastructure, BFSI and manufacturing in the region,” a Cisco statement said.
