Cisco India chief to put in papers

BANGALORE: Cisco has announced that its India and Saarc region president Rangu Salgame would be leaving the organisation, with his position being taken on a temporary basis by David Caspari, V-P, service provider operations, Asia Pacific, Cisco.

An official announcement by Cisco on Friday read: “Caspari after the transition process will become the acting president of Cisco India, while a search for a permanent replacement for Mr Salgame is conducted.”

Mr Salgame joined Cisco India as its president in July ’03 having previous experiences in advising and managing venture capital-backed companies like Edgix and Verizon Communications. No information was forthcoming as to what would be the next move of Mr Salgame or where he would be heading for.

In October ’05, Cisco had announced it would be investing over $1.1bn in India over a three-year period both as a market and an R&D centre.

It has lined up plans to invest $750m in R&D facilities in Bangalore, over $100m in venture capital and allocated $150m for its financing and leasing arm.

Owen Chan, Cisco president of Asia Pacific operations, said: “Rangu Salgame has been instrumental in the significant growth and development of our business in India. Over the past three years, he has built a strong, customer-focused leadership team.”