Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu expressed heartfelt gratitude to Union Home Minister Amit Shah after the latter announced his switch to Zoho Mail, India’s homegrown email platform. In an emotional response on X, Vembu dedicated the moment to engineers who chose to work from India despite opportunities abroad.“Thank you Sir, for your faith in us. I dedicate this moment to our hard-working engineers who have toiled hard in Zoho for over 20 years. They all stayed in India and worked all these years because they believed. Their faith is vindicated. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat,” Vembu wrote.

Home Minister switches to ‘swadeshi’ email address

Shah’s announcement came as a significant endorsement for the Chennai-based tech company. Sharing his new email address—amitshah.bjp@zohomail.in—on social media, the Home Minister requested all future correspondence be directed to his Zoho account, marking a symbolic shift away from global platforms like Gmail and Outlook.The move aligns with the government’s broader push for digital sovereignty. IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently transitioned to Zoho’s office suite, while the Ministry of Education has directed officials to adopt the company’s productivity tools under the “Strengthening Digital Sovereignty under Swadeshi Movement” initiative.

Government push fuels Zoho’s growing adoption across India

Zoho Mail, launched in 2008, offers secure, ad-free email hosting with encrypted transmission and two-factor authentication. Its servers are primarily hosted in India and the United States, appealing to organisations prioritising data protection and privacy.The government backing has yielded dramatic results beyond email. Zoho’s messaging app Arattai witnessed explosive growth, with daily sign-ups surging from 3,000 to 350,000 in three days—a 100-fold increase following ministerial endorsements.For Vembu, Shah’s adoption represents vindication of Zoho’s two-decade commitment to building world-class technology from India. Founded in 1996, the company has maintained its “built in India, for the world” philosophy without seeking external venture capital, instead focusing on long-term talent development from rural India.The exchange between government and industry has resonated strongly with India’s “Make in India” community, signaling the country’s growing confidence in homegrown digital infrastructure.