Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has advised entrepreneurs and engineers in Tamil Nadu to learn Hindi for career advancement. In an X post that has proven to be deeply divisive on the social media platform, the Indian billionaire said not knowing Hindi is a “serious handicap.”
His comments sparked backlash from a section of the internet that argued against imposition of Hindi.
Vembu’s polarising post
In an X post shared on February 26, Sridhar Vembu said that many of Zoho’s rural engineers in Tamil Nadu work with clients from Delhi, Mumbai, and Gujarat. For these engineers, not knowing Hindi is often a hindrance in 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 said that learning Hindi would be a smart move for people of 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, advising people to ignore the politics of language.
{{/usCountry}}“As India is a fast growing economy, engineers and entrepreneurs in Tamil Nadu will be smart to learn Hindi,” he added, advising people to ignore the politics of language.
{{/usCountry}}Vembu has been a longtime advocate of decentralisation and improving rural infrastructure. Many of his employees work from rural offices across Tamil Nadu.
Reigniting the language row
However, his remarks on Hindi have reignited the language row and made him the target of backlash.
Among those who criticised him was parliamentarian MM Abdulla, who asked 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.
“English is the global language. Also in the era of AI tools learning multiple languages won't make much benefit since we have lot of language tools for interface. A tech company preaching language politics doesn't sound good,” another X user opined.
Vembu also found support from many who agreed with his point of view.