Taking aggressive steps to open offices in rural areas: Zoho chief

New Delhi, Sep 9: Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu on Monday said the company is taking aggressive steps to open offices in rural areas. Vembu said this, even as the Chennai-based SAAS company opened another office in a rural area of Tamil Nadu. The new campus launched in Tharuvai in Tirunelveli district, adds to other major centres in southern districts: Mathalamparai in Tenkasi, and Kappalur in Madurai.

“I love this new campus!” Zoho chief posted on social platform X, while noting the company’s expansion to the Kumbakonam area in Thanjavur district. The Cloud software major also has “a significant presence in Palladam near Coimbatore”. “We have many smaller satellite offices too and I work out of a small satellite in a remote village. We are taking aggressive steps to direct our growth in Tamil Nadu towards rural offices so we don't further overcrowd Chennai,” Vembu said.

Earlier in August, Vembu noted that in a first major rural expedition North, Zoho “is likely to mark its presence in eastern Uttar Pradesh this year”. “We are moving in that direction. It takes time to acquire land etc.,” he posted on X. Zoho last year surpassed 100 million users across over 55 business applications.

In February, Zoho launched an industrial park and research and development centre in Kerala’s Kottarakara. The centre, majorly focussed on AI and robotics, is expected to generate around 1,000 jobs in Kerala. Vembu believes that opening high-end technology companies in rural towns helps “stop the exodus of youngsters seeking overseas jobs”.

He dreams of making a “meaningful presence everywhere” in about the next 20 years. Zoho began its rural office in Tamil Nadu’s Tenkasi in 2011. It started with hardly 10 employees, and now reportedly has around 900 professionals working in a non-urban area.