The continuing stand-off between the US and China could negatively impact the global economy, according to Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco Systems Inc. In an interview with BusinessLine , Robbins said the ban on archrival Huawei by the US may not necessarily be a boon for Cisco. He also spoke about the steps that the new Modi government must take to boost electronics manufacturing. Excerpts:

What do you think will be the overall impact of the US-China trade war on Cisco, as well as on the global economy?

From Cisco’s perspective, the possible implications of the current situation is that our business in China may weaken because of the anti-US sentiment. There is also the impact from tariffs, which we have been able to mitigate.

My broader concern is gauging at what point this actually begins to impact the global economy, which then affects everybody. That is the risk we all understand. I think we can manage the impact on Cisco.

If the US stops using Huawei, then Cisco will have an obvious advantage in the market. But at the same time, Cisco will be shut out of China...

Every day, we try to build great products and innovate. We also try to build trust with our customers, so that they engage with us about how our technologies can help them achieve their goals.

We have informed our teams internally that in no way should we be actively leveraging the geo-political situation as a selling strategy. We need to take the high road and focus on the needs of our customers. This is the way Cisco works and will continue to work.

In the past, you’ve spoken about making India a manufacturing hub. However, many electronics manufacturers talk about the difficulties in making this viable. What are your views on the subject?

The issues that my colleagues are addressing are about how the component ecosystem needs to be more efficient or about creating a presence here. There is an opportunity, but it is going to require some pretty significant steps.

Last month, in my conversations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we talked about this a fair amount.

I can sense, based on our conversation, that he is still very committed to it. Now that he has got through the elections, he can probably begin to look concretely at the next wave of steps that the government needs to follow to bring in a higher level of manufacturing.

When you talk about your suppliers, are they all keen on coming to India to support your manufacturing here?

This is one of those situations where everybody has to agree to come. The government would need to play a coordinating role in bringing together all the suppliers and helping them understand why now is the time. I think companies are open to it, but it must be a coordinated effort.

In 2002, Cisco briefly became the world’s most valued company. But right now, the company’s valuation is half of what is was then. Cisco has, in the last few years, seen a series of acquisitions and growth in terms of revenue, but with regard to the overall valuation, do you expect to reach the same level as in 2002?

There is not a day gone by when I don’t think about our valuation. If you start focussing on getting the market capital higher, you will make the wrong decisions.

In the last four years, we have demonstrated the importance of focussing on people, customers, innovation, culture and being a good citizen in the communities in which we operate. If you do all of these things, then you obviously will be a successful business. Companies get into trouble when they are singularly focussed on their stock price and market capital.

In 2014, John Chambers spoke about getting India to contribute to 5 per cent of Cisco’s overall revenue in five years, and now here we are in 2019. Do you think Cisco is where it wanted to be?

For the last couple of years, the US revenue has been strong, which has made that target move a percentage. If we had set out targets — and not just numerical ones — in the past five years, India has executed exactly as we hoped. This was shown through the consistent growth and the strategic relevance we built here with government initiatives, in helping them achieve the objective of ‘Digital India’.

Along with this, we could also play a key role in trying to add a couple of more trillion dollars to the country’s GDP over the next few years. If we continue doing the right things, then our business will definitely grow. The teams here have done a great job.

How do you see the overall 5G rollouts taking place? Do you think the ban of Huawei will impact the pace of rollouts?

There are multiple vendors and providers of macro-radio technology, and there are plenty of us that can build the network infrastructure to support 5G radio. Once it hits the IP network, we can build the entire thing. We have partnerships to build the macro side of it.

5G rollouts are going to be a little slower than people expect. The reality is that there is the involvement of spectrum, regulations, capital investments, and business cases, and people will see pilot projects initially. Once those are successful, and the ROIs and business cases are proved, there will be a full-scale rollout.

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