US-based tech giant Cisco has said it has seen strong traction in the small and medium business (SMB) segment and has added 5,000 new customers this year in India.

SMB is the fastest-growing segment for Cisco in India, expanding at about 20 per cent year-on-year.

“We are seeing significant traction in our SMB business, thanks to ‘Start’ portfolio. Since the launch of Cisco Start portfolio in FY17, we have on-boarded 5,000 new customers in a year,” Sudhir Nayar, Managing Director - Commercial Sales, Cisco India and SAARC, told PTI.

He added that the company is on track to reach its aim of tripling its SMB customer base to 75,000 by 2020.

The firm currently has 25,000-30,000 SMB customers in India.

Earlier this year, Cisco had launched ‘Start’ to offer a new set of solutions to help clients go digital with wireless, secure connectivity for as less as $70 per user per year.

The largest sector within SMBs for Cisco is IT/IT-enabled services.

“We are also seeing strong demand from small-scale manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, logistics, education, logistics, hospitality,” he said.