Ashwini Vaishnaw Moves To 'Swadeshi Platform' Zoho. All About It

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced Monday his transition to Zoho, an indigenous software suite, embracing the "Swadeshi" movement for homegrown technologies.

"I am moving to Zoho - our own Swadeshi platform for documents, spreadsheets and presentations," the Electronics and Information Technology Minister declared on X platform.

In a video shared on social media, Vaishnaw expressed his admiration: "This is phenomenal. I am so impressed with the capabilities of Zoho."

The minister encouraged citizens to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to adopt locally developed products and services.

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu responded to Vaishnaw's announcement with gratitude, noting it provided "a huge morale boost for our engineers who have worked hard for over two decades to build our product suite."

"We will make you proud and make our nation proud. Jai Hind," Vembu added in his response.

Chennai-based Zoho Corporation develops cloud-based applications for business and individual users. Founded in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas as AdventNet before rebranding in 2009, Zoho has established itself as an indigenous alternative to global software suites like Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace.

The company offers more than 40 integrated applications including Zoho Writer, Sheet, and Show for productivity, Zoho CRM for customer relationship management, Zoho Books for accounting, Zoho People for human resources, and Zoho Desk for customer service operations.

In 2017, Zoho launched its comprehensive Zoho One package, which integrates most of its applications into a unified platform for businesses.

The software company has been investing significantly in artificial intelligence technology, developing its own large language model (LLM) and AI agents to reduce dependence on external technologies while enhancing operational efficiency.

However, not all Zoho ventures have been successful. Its planned $700 million semiconductor manufacturing initiative in Karnataka was reportedly suspended after the company failed to secure an appropriate technology partner, according to Reuters.