Cisco India plans to double its workforce in the next 23 months from 5,000 to 10,000, but a company official expressed concern that the rapidly growing demand for IT talent in India could be outstripping supply. Cisco's plan comes as IBM and EMC are also undertaking massive expansion plans in India.An Economic Times of India article features this comment from Lokesh Mehra, Cisco Systems South Asia regional manager for corporate responsibility:

"At present we have around 5,000 professionals including R&D, sales and business support staff. We have presence in over 100 cities with sales offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata and Hyderabad. As our business is growing, we would require skilled manpower to fuel the growth," he said.

Key growth markets driving Cisco India's aggressive hiring plans include government and defense, financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing, Mehra said. But on the flip side, he expressed concern that the steadily increasing demand for IT talent in India is outpacing the country's supply of skilled professionals, particularly among network engineers.

Mehra said India currently has 500,000 unfilled job openings for IT professionals, including 134,000 network-engineering specialists, the Economic Times article reports.

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