Cisco’s Layoff Move Likely To Impact Its India Operations

Struggling to cope up with the changing market dynamics, the IT hardware vendors seem to be experiencing the toughest phase of their business. Networking major Cisco Systems has joined the list of other struggling technology majors such as, Intel and Dell. Cisco has reportedly announced the plans to layoff over 5000 employees. According to the media reports, Cisco is planning to lay off 5,500 employees, which account for nearly 7 percent of its workforce. The decision is likely to impact Cisco’s India operation, especially employees in its R&D center in the country.
Cisco’s move to cut the jobs seem to be a reaction to the market shifts including shrinking profit margins in the hardware business and growing significance of software solutions. India currently contributes to nearly 15 percent of its global employee strength. The India R&D center, with is the biggest outside Cisco’s San Jose facility , which has about 13000 engineers.
The company refused to comment on the media reports. However, industry experts said that there would be a significant impact of the layoff on the company’s India operations, particularly the R&D establishment.