A month after Sridhar Vembu stepped down as Zoho Corporation CEO to take on the role of chief architect, focusing on deep tech and AI research, the company’s new chief executive, Shailesh Kumar Davey, is setting the course for the next phase of expansion.
Talking to Moneycontrol, Davey shared insights into his approach to leadership and that of his predecessor. "My leadership style is like Rahul Dravid — more structured and playing with the team. Sridhar (Vembu) is like (Virender) Sehwag— taking more risks and playing aggressively," he said.
Zoho insiders have coined the term Dravidian leadership to describe Davey’s methodical and team-oriented style, drawing a parallel with the former Indian cricket captain known for his steady, calm and disciplined approach.
Also Read: Zoho's Sridhar Vembu steps down as CEO, assumes the role of chief scientist.
Zoho will continue its "slow and steady" growth strategy, contrasting it with heavily funded tech firms, Davey said. "We are willing to take the long-term bet, get the technology stack built from the ground up, and train our people."
The company is working on building its models and conducting R&D on Indic language AI models which will be rolled out soon.
"We are training a model from scratch or a smaller size model which can become big. Initially, we are looking at numbers like 7 billion models, 32 billion models, going up to the 70 plus kind of numbers," Davey said.
Zoho is still in the research phase, trying to solve these linguistic challenges before fully launching an Indic LLM, he added.
For FY23, the company recorded a revenue of Rs 8,703 crore, a 30 percent jump from the previous year. Net profit was up 3 percent at Rs 2,836 crore. While FY24 numbers are yet to be released, the company has indicated continued expansion across key segments.
Speaking about AI investments, Davey said, “CapEx, talent, and data curation—these are the three areas where a lot of money is spent. We’ve already invested $20 million in AI CapEx, mainly for GPUs and infrastructure."
The focus on Indic AI comes when India is seeing a surge in homegrown AI development. Several startups and tech firms such as Sarvam and Krutrim are competing to create AI models tailored for Indian users, with a push from government initiatives supporting AI research in regional languages.
Zoho’s entry into this space signals a growing trend among Indian SaaS companies moving towards AI-first strategies. Speaking about efficiencies with AI, Davey said that the firm is witnessing around 30 percent improvements.
"There are a lot of claims out there — on Twitter, somebody says 90 percent of the workforce is not needed anymore. We are not seeing anything like that...We surely are seeing efficiency gains but I would say it’s too early. Right now, we are seeing some 10 to 30 percent improvements," he said.
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