Sridhar Vembu Says 90% of Zoho's Revenue Comes From Outside India: 'We Have Never Asked Any Government for a Favour'

Sridhar Vembu, founder and chief scientist of Zoho Corporation, has stated that 90% of the company's revenue comes from markets outside India — and that Zoho has never once sought government support, incentives, or favours to build what it has become.

The remarks, made in a recent public statement, put a precise figure on something Vembu has long signalled through his actions: that Zoho's global success was built entirely on customer value, product quality, and financial discipline — not on policy tailwinds, subsidies, or institutional backing of any kind.

A Global Business Built From India

Zoho Corporation is celebrating its 30th anniversary having crossed 1 million paying organisations and more than 150 million users worldwide, capping off strong growth in 2025 when the company added 32% more customers year-on-year and grew revenue by 20%.

That the overwhelming majority of that revenue — 90% by Vembu's own account — comes from outside India is a remarkable testament to what an India-headquartered software company can build for the world, without ever relocating its centre of gravity abroad. Zoho competes directly with Salesforce, Microsoft, and a range of globally funded SaaS platforms, on pricing and on product, and wins customers across the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

The company operates differently from most tech giants of its size. Zoho is bootstrapped — it has never taken venture capital — privately held, and builds all its software in-house rather than acquiring competitors or licensing technology.

'Never Asked Any Government for a Favour'

Vembu's statement that Zoho has never asked any government for a favour is pointed in its context. At a time when India's tech sector is increasingly characterised by companies seeking PLI incentives, government contracts, and policy protection, Zoho's posture stands in deliberate contrast.

"This is an impressive milestone for any organisation, but it's particularly sweet for us as a bootstrapped company that's never raised external capital," Vembu has said. "We are not done yet. We have an impressive innovation pipeline covering the next 10 years, investing in deep technologies to serve billions of users around the world."

The independence Vembu prizes is not merely financial. It reflects a deeper philosophy — that a technology company's obligation is to its customers and employees, not to shareholders, investors, or the state. "Vendors don't need our help, businesses do — which is why delivering customer value has, for 30 years, been Zoho Corporation's North Star," Vembu said.

The India Paradox

The 90% figure also highlights a structural irony in India's tech economy: one of the country's most successful software companies earns the vast majority of its revenue from abroad, while operating out of Tamil Nadu — with a significant presence in rural India, where Vembu himself relocated years ago as a statement about distributed, community-rooted development.

Zoho's portfolio includes its core cloud business solutions platform, ManageEngine for IT management, Qntrl for business process automation, and TrainerCentral for e-learning — with recent enterprise customers spanning Mercedes-Benz India, Union Bank of India, Al-Ahli Saudi FC, Flora Food Group in Europe, and Creditas in Brazil.

India is now Zoho's second-largest market by customers - but the company's revenue engine remains firmly global. For Vembu, that is not a contradiction to resolve. It is the point.