'Digital India' to get boost with Cisco helping build 100 Smart Cities

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative stands to gain huge ground as American networking giant Cisco is working in conjuction with state governments and its partners to digitally transform 14 cities and plans to connect 100 cities. 

"We are working closely with our partners in India as they have the skills and capabilities to make this happen. This is part of our broader India digital plans," CEO, Chuck Robbins said during a media interaction at the annual Cisco Partner Summit 2016 here on Tuesday. 

The global networking giant which is now focused on making a big foray into Cloud, Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber security, last month launched its manufacturing operations in Pune and announced it would build Nagpur as Smart City.

According to industry analysts, there are nearly 23 billion connected devices and the number is expected to double to over 50 billion by 2020 and Cisco is prepared to help governments and enterprises achieve this goal.