Zoho

AI doom fears overstated, global pause unrealistic: Zoho's Sridhar Vembu

Predictions that artificial intelligence could lead to catastrophic outcomes are overstated, and a global pause in AI development is unlikely, Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu said on Wednesday, while urging India to keep its strategic options open and invest heavily in foundational R&D across sectors. Vembu said India should pursue an independent approach to AI, building on partnerships without becoming locked into the emerging technology rivalry between the United States and China. "We must be friends with everybody, enemies with nobody and keep our options open," Vembu, Chief Scientist and Co-founder, Zoho, said in an interview with PTI. Vembu argued that any big tech company genuinely wanting to slow AI development is free to do so on its own; nothing stops one player from pacing itself without demanding the whole industry follow, he pointed out. Vembu was skeptical of calls by AI labs for an industry-wide pause, which, as per him, appeared to be less about safety and more a bid .

Zoho launches Zia Chat, enters vertical SaaS with 7 industry apps

The AI interface brings information, context and workflows into one conversational platform as Zoho expands into seven industry-specific applications

Zoho launches Zia Chat, enters vertical SaaS with seven industry apps

Homegrown software company Zoho on Wednesday launched Zia Chat, a unified AI interface for businesses, and announced its entry into vertical SaaS with seven industry-specific applications spanning retail, automotive, BFSI, healthcare, education, real estate and restaurants. Zia Chat is built natively into Zoho's ecosystem and gives users a single conversational interface to find information, generate leads, resolve support issues and analyse data across sales, marketing, support, HR and finance functions, the company said. "Our goal is to commoditise intelligence so customers can get work done, without incurring high costs on tokens," Sridhar Vembu, Chief Scientist and Co-founder, Zoho, said at a briefing. Zia Chat will reduce token consumption for users, and will be available for early access in a month, initially in English. "There is an interface crisis, and people spend too much time searching for the right context and data. We strip away the UIs (user interfaces) of different

IT industry not creating new jobs, funds diverted to AI costs: Vembu

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu says AI and rising data centre costs are limiting IT hiring, with funds shifting from new jobs to technology infrastructure

Indian firms showcase products, seek partnerships at Taiwan tech expo

Indian electronics manufacturer Sahasra and software firm Zoho showcased their products and services at a major technology trade event in Taipei this week, as they sought to attract customers and partnerships in overseas markets. While the event witnessed significant participation from Indian buyers, a handful of Indian companies also exhibited at COMPUTEX 2026, which featured a record 6,000 booths from 1,500 exhibitors representing 33 countries. Sahasra Electronics, part of the Sahasra Group, displayed its microSD cards at the event. The company said it received encouraging responses from customers from different markets. "We have customers in China, we have customers in the US, Europe and the UK, so we are meeting customers here, and we are getting very, very good responses," said Ankur Dwivedi, strategic account manager at Sahasra. The company said it was using the event to explore new partnerships, technology collaborations and potential joint ventures. "We are here to explore

Zoho invests ₹70 crore in ONDC to support sovereign tech development

Zoho has invested ₹70 crore in ONDC to boost sovereign digital infrastructure and expand MSME access to open e-commerce networks

Zoho invests ₹70 cr in ONDC to boost digital commerce network for MSMEs

Global technology company Zoho Corporation on Wednesday announced an investment of Rs 70 crore in the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to support the development of sovereign technology in the country. The investment is aimed at making technology more accessible and inclusive for businesses of all types and sizes, particularly Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), by helping them overcome structural constraints in digital commerce. "Zoho Corporation...has invested Rs 70 crore in the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to support the development of sovereign technology in India," the Chennai-headquartered firm said in a statement. Zoho already facilitates digitisation for MSMEs through its finance suite of applications, which includes the Vikra seller app on the ONDC network, alongside Zoho ERP, Zoho Books, Zoho Inventory and Zoho Commerce. The company's investment will continue to help expand the network's ecosystem and accelerate adoption, enabling more busines

Avoid costly, large LLM buildouts; focus on smaller models, says Vembu

India should not emulate or compete head-on with the massive Large Language Models (LLMs) currently dominating the AI landscape, Zoho founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu has said, advocating that the country should focus on smaller models or other approaches that are less-energy, less capital intensive. The remarks come at a time when interest in artificial intelligence (AI) has peaked in India, with the country soon to host the India AI Impact Summit - the largest of the four major global AI congregations so far. Vembu's view also aligns with the recent Economic Survey, which noted that India's limited access to cutting-edge compute infrastructure and capital makes pursuit of foundational models as the centrepiece of an AI strategy rather "challenging". The Survey favoured a bottom-up approach to AI development saying it aligns more closely with realities. In an interview with PTI, Vembu cited the USD 50-100 billion costs and high-energy demands of large models built by the

SaaS major Zoho launches ERP platform to tap SME market in India

SaaS firm Zoho has unveiled new ERP platform for small and mid-sized enterprises, aiming to tackle high costs, long rollouts and consultant dependence that have slowed adoption among Indian businesses

US court orders Zoho's Sridhar Vembu to post $1.7 bn bond in divorce case

A US court has ordered Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu to post a $1.7 billion bond in his divorce case and halted a restructuring to protect his ex-wife's asset rights

Arattai chats get end-to-end encryption, users urged to update app

Direct chats on Arattai are now protected with end-to-end encryption, the Zoho-backed messaging platform said on Tuesday. In a social media post, Arattai urged users to update to the latest version of the app. "The wait is finally over! Direct chats on Arattai are now protected with end-to-end encryption," it said. Earlier in the day, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu had said Arattai is poised for a big update with end-to-end encryption scheduled to be rolled out on Tuesday night. Vembu said many more "cool features" on Arattai are in the works once "this big transition" is through. "Please update the Arattai app from the Play Store/App Store, and please encourage your contacts to do so. The end-to-end encryption will be enabled Tuesday night IST," Vembu said in a post on X on Tuesday. He explained that users will be able to exchange only end-to-end encrypted messages if both they and their contacts are using the latest version of Arattai. "If you are on the latest Arattai version and

Zoho's Arattai to roll out end-to-end encryption tonight: Sridhar Vembu

Zoho-backed homegrown messaging platform Arattai is poised for a big update with end-to-end encryption scheduled to be rolled out on Tuesday night, founder Sridhar Vembu said in a social media post. Vembu said many more "cool features" on Arattai are in the works once "this big transition" is through. "Please update the Arattai app from the Play Store/App Store and please encourage your contacts to do so. The end-to-end encryption will be enabled Tuesday night IST," Vembu said in a post on X on Tuesday. He explained that users will be able to only exchange end-to-end encrypted messages if both they and their contacts are using the latest version of Arattai. "If you are on the latest Arattai version and your contact is on the latest version, you will only be able to use end-to-end encrypted chat with that contact," he said. In such cases (where both sides are on the latest version), a new end-to-end chat session will be created for that contact, and the old non-end-to-end encrypted

With Zoho around, we are determined to work on Arattai: Sridhar Vembu

In a conversation with Business Standard, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu talks about his role as a scientist, his vision for the firm and India's AI journey

AI-enabled devices redefining digital banking, say experts at BFSI Summit

Experts at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit say devices are fast evolving from passive tools to AI-powered platforms at the core of fintech innovation and secure digital transactions

Mercedes-Benz India, Zoho tie up for decentralised dealer management system

Mercedes-Benz India and Zoho have partnered to launch a decentralised dealer management system to enhance customer experience and digitise the luxury automobile brand's nationwide dealership network. The Dealer Management System (DMS) -- SKYLine', will digitise the complete service lifecycle -- from booking and digital check-in to skill-based technician assignment and final delivery -- through real-time data integration, streamlined workflows, and unified backend operations. Each Mercedes-Benz dealership in India will now function through its own dedicated Zoho CRM setup, allowing independent operations while maintaining adherence to centrally defined standards, according to a joint statement. "SKYLine combines dealer-level autonomy with centrally governed processes, delivering a fully digitised and integrated platform across Mercedes-Benz India's nationwide dealership network, elevating customer ownership experience significantly, the statement said, adding that the rollout was ...

Hype around Zoho's apps and ghost of Koo: Will it soar or stumble?

Renewing his call to go vocal for local, Home Minister Amit Shah announced his switch to Zoho Mail. But its rapid rise is reminiscent of Koo, which struggled against the global network giants

Zoho forays into hardware; to launch PoS, QR devices and sound boxes

The firm in 2024, had introduced Zoho Payments. Additionally the firm is now also expanding its payout capabilities, virtual accounts for collections and marketplace settlement

Zoho IPO unlikely soon, hints Sridhar Vembu; focus on R&D initiatives

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu said the company will not seek an IPO soon, citing the success of Arattai and its focus on Bharat-specific research and development projects

Dell-Nvidia platform helps Zoho in 'accelerating' AI solutions delivery

Zoho is leveraging the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA to scale its multimodal LLMs and agentic AI tools, ensuring secure, privacy-first infrastructure aligned with India's data rules

Zoho enters AI race with its own LLM, proprietary speech-to-text models

Homegrown technology company Zoho on Thursday announced its proprietary large language (LLM) model designed for enterprises using its suite of products, the latest move reflecting bold ambitions of Indian firms to build and innovate on their own AI stacks in the global tech race. Zoho said it is also rolling out automatic speech recognition models for speech-to-text conversion in English and Hindi. The Chennai-headquartered company plans to further expand the available languages, beginning with other Indian and European languages. Zoho top management said it has not seen these AI advances impact jobs and hirings. The company further said it grew 32 per cent in 2024 in India, its second largest market globally after the US. The growth was driven by industries such as ITeS, banking financial services and insurance or BFSI, manufacturing, retail, and education. At the Zoholics India -- its annual user conference held this year in Bengaluru -- the company announced proprietary large ..