Sridhar Vembu says India has a million things to do if software jobs dry out

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has defended the company's decision to hold back its usual annual salary hikes, citing rising AI costs and an uncertain business outlook. The decision comes as Vembu warns that the future of software jobs looks grim, but believes India has plenty of opportunities to explore even if the software industry becomes saturated or shrinks."When another country tells you to go home, you come home. What is the alternative? Beg them to allow us to stay? Stay illegally?" Vembu wrote in a post on X. He added, "There are a million things to build in India, even if software is saturated or goes away."His comments come after Zoho decided against its usual annual salary increases this year, citing rising expenses and an uncertain business outlook. The company has also cut its marketing budget and is trying to avoid mass layoffs, Vembu said in a separate post. Sridhar Vembu urges Indians to start building in India if opportunities dry up in software. Zoho struggles with rising AI costs"The business outlook for software is uncertain and AI has raised costs dramatically," Vembu wrote, pointing to a fourfold increase in server prices and higher expenses from growing AI usage. The company has not increased its employee count for the past 18 months. Vembu said Zoho would work hard to avoid mass layoffs but admitted that the outlook for software jobs in general remained grim.He also apologised to employees for not being able to provide their usual pay increases this year. Zoho is reinventing its business, he said, adding that the next three to five years would determine how well those efforts work. Vembu talks about appraisals at Zoho In August, Vembu warned that memory prices had risen fivefold in 12 months and reached 10 times their lowest level. He said rising memory and AI costs were making business increasingly difficult.Vembu had earlier warned that India's IT industry, including Zoho, had created few new jobs in recent years. Companies are spending more on AI infrastructure, while their customers are also redirecting technology budgets towards AI.Faster software development does not necessarily mean greater demand for software products, he argued. With the global market already crowded, companies may struggle to find buyers for more products, slowing growth and hiring.Manufacturing may not fully offset the shortfall either. Vembu noted that automation allows factories to produce goods more cheaply but also reduces the number of workers needed.India must build beyond softwareVembu's latest post shows his belief that India should not depend entirely on the software industry for employment and economic growth. Even if the global software market becomes saturated or demand declines, he believes the country has plenty of other areas to develop.In an earlier post, he cited teaching, caring for children and the elderly, farming, forest conservation and classical music as activities that offer purpose beyond financial rewards. He believes that these jobs will remain safe from AI. Vembu has discussed universal basic income (UBI) as one possible response to an economy where automation makes goods cheaper but reduces demand for human labour. Ensuring that people have enough income to buy those goods, however, remains a major economic challenge.- Ends