New Age Company of the Year: Zoho, a different kind of Indian start-up

Zoho Corporation has used its engineering capability to build a truly world-class product

Zoho Corporation, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) major, is an aberration in the start-up world. It has not only built the business organically but stayed away from investors. It will also be the only India-based SaaS player to have crossed $1 billion in annual revenues.

Zoho is also an example of true engineering capability that has built a world-class product. Staying close to its roots, it has tapped into rural India to build a talent pool which fuels the company’s growth and the founder’s determination to be laser-focused on profitable growth.

In an old media interview, Sridhar Vembu, the company’s founder and