Zoho Founder Sridhar Vembu Urges Tamil Nadu Entrepreneurs To Learn Hindi, DMK MP Reacts

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has advised entrepreneurs and engineers in Tamil Nadu to learn Hindi for better career prospects.

In a post on X that has deeply divided opinions on social media, the Indian billionaire stated that not knowing Hindi is a "serious handicap."

Photo Credit: https://x.com/svembu

His comments have triggered backlash from a section of internet users who have opposed what they see as an imposition of Hindi.

Vembu's Polarising Post

In an X post shared on 26th February, Sridhar Vembu noted that many of Zoho's rural engineers in Tamil Nadu work with clients from Delhi, Mumbai, and Gujarat.

According to him, a lack of Hindi proficiency often proves to be a barrier to conducting business.

"Rural jobs in Tamil Nadu depend on us serving those customers well. Not knowing Hindi is often a serious handicap for us in Tamil Nadu," wrote the former CEO of Zoho.

The Tamil Nadu-born billionaire argued that learning Hindi would be a prudent choice for people in the state. "It is smart for us to learn Hindi. I have learned to read Hindi haltingly in the last 5 years and I can now understand about 20% of what is spoken," he revealed.

"As India is a fast-growing economy, engineers and entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu will be smart to learn Hindi," he added, urging people to set aside the politics of language.

Vembu has long been an advocate of decentralisation and rural development, with many of his employees working from Zoho's rural offices across Tamil Nadu.

Reigniting the Language Debate

However, his remarks on Hindi have reignited the language debate, making him the target of criticism.

Among those who criticised him was MP MM Abdulla, who questioned how Vembu had managed to expand his business in Saudi Arabia without knowing Arabic.

"Hindi/Urdu are actually extremely helpful in the Middle East too, apart from Malayalam and Tamil. We also have Arabic speakers in Chennai to work with those Middle East customers who need Arabic support," Vembu responded.

Some social media users also disagreed with his stance.

"English is the global language. Also, in the era of AI tools, learning multiple languages won't make much difference since we have many language tools for interface. A tech company preaching language politics doesn't sound good," one X user commented.

Despite the backlash, Vembu also received support from those who agreed with his perspective.