Short Takes

CISCO plans India plant

Global technology major Cisco has revealed it is working on a plan to establish a manufacturing facility in India. Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said the company is "very actively involved in India across the board" and working on a broader base from digitisation to smart cities in the country. He said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very committed to manufacturing. We worked through a business case and... presented to him that... That was fantastic and we have been moving forward." Cisco is engaged in over 15 smart cities projects in the country. The company is also working with the Andhra Pradesh government for rolling out Bharat Net. India, which the company views as among its “best bases”, is already home to its second-largest site with around 11,000 employees. Silicon Valley headquartered Cisco has also said it will work alongside competitors in order to ensure that it has the best security offering for customers around the world. German bank to fund Solar India

Germany's KfW Development Bank has agreed to build at least 40MW of floating photovoltaic (PV) arrays in two Indian states of Maharashtra and Kerala. India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has initiated a study to assess the potential of floating parks in the country as a means to reflect the technical practicality of large-scale solar parks. The first floating parks will be a showcase project that would demonstrate the technical viability of large solar projects. S.P. Gon Chaudhuri, chairman of the Kolkata-based Renewable Energy College, said: "Initial estimates suggest that the country could generate at least 310GW of green power from such floating solar parks." The floating arrays will be realised on bodies of water in the two states, with an estimated investment of Rs 300 crore ($44 million). The study, set up by MNRE, will be undertaken by the National Institute of Solar Energy and the Renewable Energy College, to try and assess what the potential is for floating solar parks within India. This project is part of a large-scale solar German-Indian solar partnership that was announced by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) last year. Within the partnership, KfW will issue low-interest loans with a total volume of about €1 billion. Holland eyes Start-up India

Holland has joined a long list of countries looking to attract investments from India's start-up ecosystem. Stans Kleijnen, executive director, Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), said: “We are watching the ecommerce sector in India very closely and building relationships with the companies. If at all these companies think about investing abroad, Holland should be among the top priority destinations for them. “Currently, we have three trade offices, one each in Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. We are moving our trade office from Chennai to Bengaluru, as we see huge opportunities for trade from the city due to the IT hub and many other industrial activities in the city.” The country is looking at a 10-20 per cent increase in investments from small & medium enterprises in India this year. India created 3,000 jobs in 2015 and has already invested €250 million in the region. A total of 180 Indian companies are present in the Netherlands, including Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, UPL, Apollo Tyres, Infosys and Wipro.