Chennai-based SaaS unicorn, Zoho, reported a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth of 37% in the calendar year 2022, Sridhar Vembu, the founder and CEO of the company said on Monday.
Zoho is betting big on its communication and collaboration platform Zoho Cliq. On Monday, the company launched Cliq Rooms, a smart conference rooms solution, and announced new updates to Zoho Cliq to add to its growing capabilities.
Vembu said that while the global economy, is heading for a slowdown, India provides confidence as a growing market. Currently, India ranks as the third-largest market for Zoho, after the US and EU.
He expects that India will climb to the position of the second-largest market within the next 2 to 4 years, eventually becoming the largest market for the company over the next decade.
Zoho’s growth in India can be attributed to its diverse portfolio of products and suites, which includes Zoho One, Zoho CX Suite, Zoho People, Zoho Books, and Zoho Workplaces.
Vembu added that the current developments in the Middle East coupled with Ukraine war and global uncertainties make business projections very complicated. Vembu, who is known for making software and product development away from the urban areas and shifting it to the rural India, said that the company is building capabilities on its Saas platforms for workplaces to work in a decentralised mode, once work from home (WFH) trend dissipates.
He added that even if WFH trend ends, a substantial opportunity remains for Zoho. “All talents cannot come to urban cities. This would be unsustainable. In a hub-and-spoke model, there can be small offices in cities and people can to work closer to their homes in different geographical locations. Zoho is looking to tap this opportunities.
Adding that demography works to Zoho’s advantage, Vembu said Mexico is a bigger market for Zoho than Japan, despite Japan being a bigger economy. He added according to birth statistics in 2022, India had 23 million babies, down 20% from the peak in 2001, but China had 9.5 million babies, down 68% from the peak in 1963.