‘Society that traps young in debt destroys demographics, children’: Sridhar Vembu highlights three key focus areas

Zoho Corp founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu has advocated for a lower cost of living amid rising inflation and prices of real estate, education and healthcare.

In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Sridhar Vembu emphasised that if a society loves and values its children and wants to have a thriving future population, it should enable a lower cost of living for the youth and prospective parents.

He also highlighted three key areas of focus that have to be addressed to avoid a “debt trap” for the young. These include expensive education, healthcare, and housing.

What did Sridhar Vembu say about rising cost of living?

In a post in the afternoon on 17 November, Sridhar Vembu wrote, “Expensive real estate destroys demographics. Any society that traps its young people in debt, because of expensive education or expensive housing or expensive health care (or all of the above in many cases) is a society that is destroying its own demographic future.”

“If you love children, enable lower cost of living for prospective parents,” he added.

Sridhar Vembu's post generated high engagement on X, with around 26 lakh views, 442 comments, over 1,700 reposts and quotes, over 7,500 likes and over 470 bookmarks till the time of writing this report at 7.15 PM on 17 November 2025.

Netizens concur: ‘Housing a luxury, ₹1 lakh/ month not enough, blocks innovation…’

A majority of the replies appreciated Vembu's boost for the topic, with one user musing, “When housing becomes a luxury, children become a liability. It's not a fertility crisis — it's a cost-of-living crisis…”

Another user added the scenario in the current housing market from his experience, stating, “Tier 2-3 cities even without any industry, 30/40, 40/60 sites are selling at 80 lakh to 1.3 cr, which is not affordable even if you are earning 1 lakh per month.”

One user also posted the other benefits of manageable living costs, adding, “It doesn't end there; if housing is affordable, the 20-30 age bracket will be spent on risk-taking and innovation.”

90% homebuyers concerned about rising home prices

A survey of around 8,250 people conducted by realty consultant Anarock this year, showed that over 90% of prospective home buyer respondents expressed worry over rising housing prices, including being “extremely concerned” by the issue, PTI reported.

As for reasons, the majority at 41% said it is due to affordability issues, and another 35% said it is due to fewer options within budget, as per the report.

The findings, released on 8 September 2025, showed:

• 47% are ‘very concerned’
• 24% are ‘moderately concerned’
• 12% are ‘slightly concerned’
• 10% are ‘extremely concerned’, and
• Only 7% are ‘not at all concerned’.

According to data from Anarock, average prices of residential properties have risen by more than 50% over the past two years, from ₹6,001 per sq ft in Q2 2023 to ₹8,990 a sq ft by Q2 2025, the report said.

“Price hikes have affected buying decisions – only 21% will buy as planned, while 71% face delays (32% slight, 29% by one to two years, 12% indefinite) and 6% cancelled,” according to Anarock.