Zoho's Sridhar Vembu reacts to rumours of him joining politics: 'I have been preparing hard to...'

Sridhar Vembu--widely regarded as one of India's most influential tech entrepreneurs--has been vocal about the importance of research and development in shaping the future of Zoho.

Sridhar Vembu has responded to speculations of him joining politics after he stepped down as the CEO of Zoho on January 27 and assumed the role of chief scientist. The 57-year-old said his new role is "extremely challenging" and time-consuming.

"I heard there is a 'news' item going around about me joining politics. I burst out laughing when I heard this!" Vembu wrote on X on Thursday. "I have an extremely challenging new role in deep tech R&D right now and there is just no way, NO WAY, I have any time for politics. On top of that, I have had ZERO discussions with anyone, about me joining politics."

He also said that he would be travelling to Austin, US, next week for work and not for any political alliances. "I have been preparing hard to present our R&D strategy on AI to an audience of industry analysts in Austin next week. Yes, I will be going there."

Vembu had on Monday named the company's co-founder Shailesh Kumar Davey as the new CEO.

"Our co-founder Shailesh Kumar Davey will serve as our new group CEO. Our co-founder Tony Thomas will lead Zoho US. Rajesh Ganesan will lead our ManageEngine division and Mani Vembu will lead the Zoho.com division," he shared on X

Vembu--widely regarded as one of India's most influential tech entrepreneurs--has been vocal about the importance of research and development in shaping the future of Zoho. He has frequently highlighted his interest in areas such as AI, distributed systems, and cloud technology, which he believes are critical for building next-generation solutions.

His decision to step into the role of chief scientist marked a new chapter for the $1 billion software giant which has more than 80 million users worldwide.