In a recent post, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu shared a striking visual that captures the meteoric expansion of his company’s product portfolio compared side-by-side with ManageEngine, tracing their evolution from 2002 to 2025. The graphic, included below, showcases the company’s journey from a handful of foundational products to a diverse suite that rivals, and in Vembu’s words, even surpasses, global technology giants like Microsoft—both in breadth and depth.
The comparison makes a compelling case: Vembu led company stands as the only global contender capable of offering a unified product suite that can take on Microsoft across domains—from cloud to business apps to IT management. Vembu doubled down on this message, asserting that Zoho’s products “offer a vastly superior experience to Microsoft” and hinting at even faster innovation ahead, as we ramps up R&D investments in cloud infrastructure, AI, and platforms.
Check out his X Post:
Striking visual of the growth in product range of Zoho and ManageEngine from 2002 to today.
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) September 25, 2025
We are the only company in the world that can take on Microsoft in the breadth and depth of the product suite. Our products offer a vastly superior experience to Microsoft, please take a… pic.twitter.com/rzbd2bPrI2
Political Endorsement: Swadeshi Push Gets a National Boost
This moment of pride for Zoho’s engineers and users received a major public endorsement last week. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw publicly announced his switch to Indian platform for daily productivity tasks, echoing Prime Minister Modi’s Swadeshi vision. In his social media call, Vaishnaw encouraged citizens and businesses to adopt indigenous platforms like Zoho—highlighting its capabilities as a “fully indigenous, homegrown software suite for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.”
Sridhar Vembu responded warmly, describing the endorsement as “a huge morale boost for our engineers who have worked hard for over two decades to build our product suite,” reaffirming their promise to deliver innovation that makes India proud.
Why “Make in India” and Swadeshi Matter More Than Ever
This public embrace of Sridhar Vembu led company holds far-reaching significance amid today’s turbulent geopolitics. With the US and Europe ramping up economic nationalism and global supply chains facing fresh risks from regional tensions and trade wars, India’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat” focus on technology sovereignty has only sharpened. By choosing and promoting India’s own Saas startup, Vaishnaw and the government are signaling the country’s readiness to champion local alternatives over global incumbents in mission-critical software.
Such moves count for more as India seeks to cut reliance on imported technology—especially across strategic sectors like defense, pharma, and now enterprise software. Globally, this trend is echoed in trade alignment efforts like “friendshoring” and deepening localization.
Zoho: India’s Homegrown Powerhouse—Numbers and Reach
Founded in 1996, Zoho has grown into a SaaS juggernaut with over 45 fully integrated products. Its flagship, Zoho One, serves as an operating system for business—bundling CRM, HR, ERP, finance, marketing, analytics, and IT management, with market-leading affordability, privacy, and customization.
Sridhar Vembu led It Giant now holds an 8.4% share of the global CRM market and serves 250,000+ businesses worldwide. In 2024, consolidated revenues grew 27% to $1.4 billion (₹11,552 crore), with Indian sales alone soaring to ₹8,703 crore—a 30% annual jump. Net profit climbed to ₹2,836 crore, even as it poured resources into expanding its workforce, R&D, cloud infrastructure, and international operations. The AI-powered Zoho-Zia assistant is now a central pillar, enhancing productivity and customer support for users globally.
Looking Forward: Doubling Down on R&D and National Ambition
Sridhar Vembu’s commitment is clear: They will “double down on R&D in cloud infrastructure, platforms, AI, and applications,” pledging faster innovation and an even broader product suite in the years ahead. With strong state and central government backing and global momentum on its side, Zoho isn’t just a SaaS success—it is increasingly the face of India’s vision to be a world leader in technology, digital sovereignty, and enterprise innovation.
