Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu busts myths around the company via these 5 FAQs

Zoho

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has issued a detailed clarification on social media to address what he described as “a lot of false information going around” about the company. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Vembu outlined five key points to counter public misconceptions about Zoho’s operations, development practices, and global positioning.

Clarification on development and taxes

Vembu stated that all Zoho products are developed in India, with the company’s global headquarters located in Chennai. He emphasized that Zoho pays taxes in India on its global income, underscoring that while the company has offices in over 80 countries, it remains rooted in India with a significant presence in the United States.

Data hosting practices

Addressing concerns about data storage, Vembu clarified that Indian customer data is hosted in India across facilities in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai, with Odisha set to be added soon. Globally, Zoho operates over 18 data centers, each hosting data within its respective jurisdiction to ensure compliance with local regulations.

Hardware and software independence

Highlighting Zoho’s self-reliance, Vembu noted that all of the company’s services run on hardware owned by Zoho and software frameworks developed internally, built on open-source platforms such as Linux and Postgres.

No reliance on cloud giants

Vembu dismissed claims that Zoho’s products, including messaging app Arattai, rely on third-party cloud providers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. He explained that while Zoho uses such platforms only for regional switching nodes to optimize traffic, customer data itself is not stored there. The company is also expanding its “points of presence” worldwide for faster services.

App store registration clarification

Finally, Vembu explained why Zoho’s developer accounts in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store list a U.S. office address. He said the account was registered in the early days by a U.S.-based employee purely for testing purposes and was never updated, reiterating Zoho’s identity as a company “Made in India, Made for the World.”