What is Zoho? Indian productivity platform Ashwini Vaishnaw now uses instead of Microsoft and Google

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has posted about switching to Zoho for accessing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in a bid to promote the use of Indian-made products. Microsoft's Office suite is a popular paid tool for these tasks, while Google also offers similar online tools.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Vaishnaw wrote, "I am moving to Zoho — our own Swadeshi platform for documents, spreadsheets & presentations. 🇮🇳 I urge all to join PM Shri @narendramodi Ji’s call for Swadeshi by adopting indigenous products & services,”

In the recent weeks, government has been prioritising technological self-reliance, with a focus on developing and using Indian made software, applications and hardware.

​What is Zoho?

​Founded in 1996 by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas, Zoho Corporation is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company headquartered in Chennai. It offers more than 55 cloud-based tools for businesses, covering email, accounting, HR, project management, CRM, and more.

​While incorporated in the US, Zoho continues to have a strong “Made in India” ethos and runs its major operations from rural Tamil Nadu. The company has over 100 million users across 150+ countries, with clients ranging from startups to Fortune 500 firms.

​Zoho also offers a number of productivity tools which are bundled under its Zoho Workplace and Zoho Office Suite packages. Many of these tools are also available as standalone applications and compete directly with the likes of Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace.

​Among the popular Zoho productivity apps are Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet, Zoho Show, Zoho Notebook, Zoho WorkDrive, Zoho Mail, Zoho Meeting, and Zoho Calendar.

​Zoho looks to differentiate itself by keeping user data private since it doesn't rely on ad revenue. The company hosts its data in multiple geographies to meet regulatory requirements. Moreover, Zoho Workspace is generally cheaper than the plans from Microsoft and Google, which has led to the company having a large presence in India, especially among small and medium-sized businesses.