Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu now part of NSA's advisory board

Zoho founder and Padma Shri recipient Sridhar Vembu has been appointed to the newly reconstituted National Security Advisory board (NSAB) headed by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. In a tweet on Wednesday, Sridhar Vembu said, "I want to thank Shri Ajit Doval-ji for appointing me to the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB). I returned to India to serve the cause of technology led rural development and this advisory role affords me another opportunity to be of service to the nation."

Vembu is currently working from his company's office in Tamil Nadu's Tenkasi district. The other members of the NSAB are former ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan, IIM Bangalore faculty Anshuman Tripathy and former ambassador to France and United Nations Arun K Singh. The NSAB is meant to provide consultation services to the NSA, who is the key advisor to the Prime Minister and Cabinet Committee of security. Their advice will be in regard to internal security, strategic affairs, defence, space, intelligence and external affairs.

Vembu is the co-founder and CEO of SaaS giant Zoho Corporation and was awarded Padma Shri under the Trade and Industry category. Born in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district, he studied at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Princeton University. Vembu has also been a vocal supporter of the current government and addressed RSS ideologue Gurumurthy as his mentor.

I have learned a lot from @sgurumurthy as philosopher and mentor. Thank you Sir https://t.co/NpOA5JZiAJ

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) January 28, 2021

Zoho is reported to have over 50 million users worldwide and is valued by Forbes in 2020 at nearly $2.5 billion. Vembu moved to a village in Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu in late 2019. He has been vocal about hiring engineering talent from villages and about education in these sectors.

He has been teaching children in his village and currently handles four teachers and 52 students. His push to run Zoho out of rural areas has led to its offices opening in Tenkasi and in Andhra Pradesh's Renigunta.