**Sridhar Vembu Dismisses Political Aspirations**
Sridhar Vembu, the CEO of Zoho, has humorously refuted rumors about his potential entry into politics through a post on X (formerly Twitter). He stated, “I heard there is a ‘news’ item going around about me joining politics. I burst out laughing when I heard this!”
In outlining his current focus, Vembu shared, “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. 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.” He further clarified, “On top of that, I have had ZERO discussions with anyone about me joining politics. I hope that clears that up. Back to work!”
This clarification comes in the wake of speculation following Vembu’s announcement that he would be stepping down as CEO of Zoho to assume the position of Chief Scientist. He made this announcement on January 27, also naming co-founder Shailesh Kumar Davey as the new group CEO of Zoho Corp.
In his new role as Chief Scientist, Vembu explained that the evolving challenges and opportunities in AI prompted his decision to transition from CEO. Under his leadership, Chennai-based Zoho Corp reported a consolidated revenue of ₹8,703 crore in FY23, reflecting nearly a 30 percent year-on-year increase, primarily driven by sales of its enterprise IT management and business application software, including Manage Engine and Zoho. Additionally, the company generated ₹16.6 crore from other operational activities in FY23.