“Made in India, Made for the World”: Sridhar Vembu Doubles Down on Zoho’s Swadeshi Commitment

Zoho Corporation, under the leadership of founder Sridhar Vembu, is strongly committed to its Swadeshi roots, focusing on building and maintaining its operations in India while serving a global customer base

Vembu addressed misconceptions about Zoho’s operations, emphasizing that the company is headquartered in Chennai and pays taxes on its global income in India, reinforcing its commitment to being a truly Indian company

A key aspect of Zoho's strategy is data sovereignty; Indian user data is stored within the country in Zoho’s data centers located in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai, with plans for expansion in Odisha

Zoho distinguishes itself by building its own tech infrastructure, using open-source platforms like Linux and Postgres, and avoiding reliance on major cloud providers like AWS, Azure, or GCloud for hosting

The Swadeshi tech doctrine promotes technological independence, with Zoho ensuring that customer data remains within its own systems, using global cloud services only for traffic routing

Vembu explained that a US address on Zoho’s app store account is a legacy issue from its early days and does not reflect the company’s current operations

The Indian government has shown support for Zoho’s Swadeshi approach, with Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw using Zoho Show for official presentations and Minister Piyush Goyal praising Zoho’s messaging app, Arattai

Zoho’s model aligns with India’s broader initiatives like Atmanirbhar Bharat and Digital India, highlighting the potential for Indian tech companies to innovate on a global scale while maintaining local roots

The company’s success challenges the notion that tech innovation must originate from Silicon Valley, demonstrating that significant advancements can come from Indian cities like Chennai and Tenkasi

Zoho’s journey showcases the possibility and advantages of building globally competitive tech companies in India, setting a precedent for future Indian enterprises aiming to achieve similar success