Zoho's Sridhar Vembu: Have to ensure 'smart people' stay and work in rural India

Sridhar Vembu emphasised the practical importance of working at the grassroots level, stating, 'The most important work I do is at the rural level in one district and and in Zoho, what I do in the R&D team I head.' (Image credit: Sridhar Vembu/X)

Sridhar Vembu has strongly advocated for attracting and retaining "smart people" to work in rural areas. The co-founder and chief scientist of Zoho said on X that he believes strengthening local governance is crucial to prevent the dilution and wastage of funds from central or state-level schemes.

Vembu highlighted a pervasive issue within large organisations, including governments: the "head does not know what the tail is doing" problem. He explained that by the time government schemes reach remote villages, "they get diluted, often so much that a lot of the allocated money is simply wasted."

According to Vembu, the only way to fix this systemic flaw is through "extensive decentralisation." He argues this principle applies equally to large corporations and, even more so, to government.

"We have to strengthen the city, district and village level governance and we have to ensure that smart people are attracted to serve at each of those levels and want to stay there (i.e, all the prestige is not in going to the state capital or Delhi)," he said. "Today our system ensures that smart people don't want to stay and serve in any 'small' role like in a district (with millions of people!)."

The Zoho boss emphasised the practical importance of working at the grassroots level, stating, "The most important work I do is at the rural level in one district and and in Zoho, what I do in the R&D team I head. That is reality and that keeps me grounded. The rest are only ideas that I share (like this post!) and ideas are cheap."

His sentiments align with a broader push from entrepreneurs like Thyrocare founder and CEO Dr A Velumani, who recently urged recruiters to hire from humble backgrounds for "long-term success." Dr Velumani previously asserted on X, "Majority of born poor and/or parented, can simplify and solve big problems easily," contrasting this with those "born rich and/or pampered [who] can complicate and create big problems easily."

Vembu, a Padma Shri awardee, has consistently encouraged Indian entrepreneurs to explore talent pools in rural India. In a February post on X, he stated, "If you are a smart ambitious engineer or entrepreneur with a long term horizon, rural India is a great place to build your dream," noting that "rural India still has youthful demographics" unlike rural areas in developed countries.