Cisco has announced plans to hire an additional 2,000 workers in India.

According to CEO John Chambers,  the company was also interested in partnering with Tata Consultancy, Infosys and Wipro because they "they see the world as we do."

In addition, Cisco Ventures has inititated talks with Reliance Tech and VC firm Artiman over a possible investment in SureWaves, a Bangalore-headquartered startup that provides media convergence technology solutions.

The company also maintains an educational partnership initiative with over 190 institutions that provide IT skills to Indian youth.

It should be noted that the economic slowdown in the West has made India a relatively attractive location for various technology firms. Indeed, small and medium Indian businesses are projected to invest up to $605 million on networking hardware in 2008.

"India's market for networking hardware continues to grow, driven by factors such as higher PC penetration and adoption, boom in ITeS, call centers, and the booming BPO market," explained Dipendra Mitra, an analyst at AMI-Partners.

"Also adding a boost are factors like the expansion of IT, BPO/KPO companies, mushrooming data centers and disaster recovery (DR) sites by large Indian organizations and MNCs," said Mitra.   X

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