Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu has said the company plans to transform 100 rural districts across India by setting up offices there. “It is better to invest in people than investing in real estate…my goal is to do what we are doing in Tenkasi in around 100 rural districts (in India). The 1,000-2,000 jobs will transform the entire district,” Vembu said while speaking at an event.
Zoho had famously opened an office in Tenkasi, a rural town in Tamil Nadu, in 2011. Starting off with six employees, it now has 500 employees working from the location. The software company’s presence has helped entire real incomes jump 50-60% over a seven year period, while also helping in rural development such as schools, shopping malls, movie theatres and establishment of new highways, Vembu added.
Contrary to popular belief, Vembu says that it’s been easy to find employees in rural India. “It is very easy to find talent in the hinterlands. In Bengaluru, companies complain about not having talent. But if I go to Tirunelveli and put out a requisition, around 1,000 people will show up,” he said.
Vembu himself has moved to a village in Tenkasi, and has been running his software company — which registered profits of Rs. 1,918 crore in FY21 — while living there. He says he walks in the fields every morning and evening, visits the local creeks and ponds, and rides an electric rickshaw. “Going for a walk in a village is a divine experience. After tasting this life in a village, it would be very hard for me to move to any major city anywhere now. That is the truth. I can almost say that I am addicted to this rural life,” he says.
