- Thursday, March 06, 2025
Mani Vembu said India can emerge as a strong challenger for AI solutions, given its vast talent pool and growing ambitions for indigenous solutions
By: India Weekly
THE RISE of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will create new job roles, much like the internet and social media ushered unique, first-time career opportunities for many, Zoho CEO Mani Vembu said on Wednesday (5).
At a time when India has staked a claim for building its own foundational AI model within defined timelines, Vembu said the country can, indeed, emerge as a strong challenger to mature and established markets, like the West, when it comes to AI solutions, given its vast talent pool and growing ambitions for indigenous solutions.
Tamil Nadu-headquartered Zoho, which is into cloud-based software and online solutions, sees growth potential and opportunities for itself in industry solutions tailored for various verticals.
“We are still growing, (though) I can’t divulge specific numbers. We see growth opportunities. We are doubling down on industry verticals as we are seeing opportunities there…we look at more industry-specific vertical solutions as our future roadmap,” Vembu told PTI in an interview.
AI will create new jobs, he said citing past precedence of internet and social media spawning new career opportunities within the industry.
“Similarly, AI will bring in new jobs. Look at what jobs have been created because of technology in the last 25 years. And in same way this (AI) will also create new types of jobs. So we have to be open in terms of seeing these opportunities and then change direction in terms of the job market,” he said.
Vembu said it is too early for the $250 billion Indian IT industry to assess the impact of developments unfolding in the US, on policy and tariffs fronts.
“It is something we need to wait and watch. We are still closely watching this space,” Vembu said but noted that given India has proven to be an integral part of technology transformation over the past decades, the momentum may continue.
Zoho is focused on ways to raise the productivity of the existing workforce, leveraging AI and new technologies, he said.
“With AI and others (technologies) we are now looking at opportunities to increase the productivity of our existing workforce and with the platform direction, most of the layers are common. So we are seeing it from the productivity angle… how do we increase productivity of the existing workforce,” he said.
On the government’s clarion call for indigenous AI solutions– in a global market largely dominated by the US, and lately China – he said given the local talent pool, India can certainly turn its aspirations and vision into a reality.
“If you look at, say, SaaS (software as a service) industry, now we have our own leaders in the market that has evolved across…even consumer technology or the business software. So similarly, in terms AI, it is in the early stages. As we progress, I think we have the talent pool, we have the ambition, and I think we will get there and challenge the leaders in the West,” he said. (PTI)
