Cisco rejigs India ops;appts Dinesh Malkani as President Sales

US-based technology giant Cisco today announced a new leadership team for India that includes elevation of Dinesh Malkani as President (Sales) for the country as well as the SAARC region.
It also elevated Amit Phadnis as President (Engineering and India Site Leader) and V C Gopalratnam as President (Strategy, Planning and Operations) for India and CIO, Asia Pacific and Japan & Greater China.
The changes reflect the strategic importance of India for the company, Cisco said in a statement.
The California-based firm, which currently derives about 2 per cent of its global revenues of over USD 48 billion from India, expects the contribution to grow to 5 per cent over the next five years on the back of strong demand for cloud and networking services.

"Together, this leadership team will help accelerate Cisco's momentum in India by strengthening its focus on innovation to lead market transitions," Cisco said.
"In India, over the next few years, a key priority for Cisco is to be a transformational partner to the government and help build an ecosystem that brings technology and services into villages, and benefits the masses," it added.

Malkani takes over from Jeff White and will report to Irving Tan, Cisco's President, Asia Pacific & Japan.
He will drive the firm's senior level external engagement, including those with government and industry associations, to drive growth and market leadership in India and SAARC. Malkani was serving as was VP Sales earlier.

"The India site has been at the forefront of innovation with a wealth of engineering talent and skill. Cisco remains committed to the development of strong local leadership in the region," Tan said.
The three leaders will focus on greater integration between sales, engineering and other functions at the India site, he added.
Phadnis will lead Cisco's focus on innovation, ecosystem and talent development in the country.
He will also drive the university relations strategy and talent development for the employee base in India, which is core to Cisco's emerging markets strategy.
Positioned at the newly created role of President of Strategy, Planning and Operations for Cisco India, Gopalratnam will help create better synergies between the firm's internal IT organisation and the company's technology roadmap.

He will also oversee enablement of Cisco's priorities of inclusion and diversity (I&D), employee volunteering and corporate social responsibility (CSR).