Cisco Celebrates 40 Years but Suffers Slowdown after Record-Breaking Growth

Hyderabad, October 25, 2024: Networking giant Cisco has marked its 40th anniversary this year but faces a slowdown in revenue growth in India, following an impressive breakout in the previous fiscal year.

According to data compiled by VCCEdge, the database unit of VCCircle, Cisco India's unit revenue grew merely under 1.5% in FY24, reaching ₹12,074.5 crore. This marked a significant decline compared to the turbocharged growth seen in FY23. The slowdown is reflective not only of the Indian market but also of Cisco's global performance, which saw a year-on-year decrease of 6%.

The company attributed the decline to its weak networking business. Splunk, which was acquired by Cisco in a major deal worth $28 billion last year, contributed nearly $1.4 billion towards total revenue. However, Cisco's acquisition of Splunk did have a negative impact on the company's FY24 results.

Cisco India started operations in 1995 as part of the APAC theater and has since become a significant player with seven sales offices across India. In February this year, the company announced that it will be trimming around 7% of its workforce globally, impacting about 6,000 people.

Despite the slowdown, Cisco remains optimistic on India's data localisation norms. Earlier in June, the company launched a new cloud region hosted within India called Meraki India Region to comply with these rules. Daisy Chittilapilly, President of Cisco India and SAARC, expressed her confidence that India will be among the top five markets for the company.

This year also marks an exciting milestone for Cisco as it begins its first manufacturing facility in India at Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. In collaboration with contract manufacturer Flex, the production site is expected to drive $1.3 billion in revenue and create 1,200 jobs.