India’s minister for information technology yesterday said he’s dumping his current word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation graphics packages, will adopt the locally made alternatives from Zoho instead, and urged India’s 1.4 billion residents to do likewise.
“I am moving to Zoho – our own Swadeshi platform for documents, spreadsheets & presentations,” the Minister wrote. Swadeshi is a word from Sanskrit and Bengali that describes self-sufficiency. Zoho is an Indian software developer that offers a vast array of productivity tools and business applications that it mostly delivers as SaaS and sells in keenly priced bundles, an approach that has seen it win over 100 million users. The company also won a competition to create a locally developed web browser that India’s government recommended citizens should adopt.
In a video posted on X, Vainshaw said Zoho’s products are “phenomenal.”
“I am so impressed with the capabilities of Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheets, and Zoho Presentation,” he added.
The minister’s post also saw him “urge all to join” prime minister Narendra Modi’s recent call for Indians to adopt indigenous products and services. That call came in a Sunday speech in which India’s leader said, “Many foreign things have become a part of our daily lives, and we are not even aware of it.”
“We do not even know whether the comb in our pocket is foreign or Indian,” he added. “We will have to get rid of these also. We should buy goods that are Made in India … Say with pride that this is Swadeshi, say with pride, I buy Swadeshi, I also sell Swadeshi goods, this should become the attitude of every Indian.”
India’s renewed enthusiasm for home-grown products comes as the nation struggles with the impact of 50 percent tariffs on goods it exports to the USA, and the $100,000 fee the US will now charge applicants for the H-1B visas that its tech services giants often use to bolster their stateside workforces.
The Trump administration hit India with the tariffs for continuing to buy oil from Russia, a practice Washington feels allows Moscow to fund its illegal war with Ukraine. The H-1B fees reflect the administration’s belief that Indian workers accept lower salaries than US citizens.
Minister Vainshaw didn’t say which word processor and spreadsheet he currently uses, or if his choice of Zoho is purely personal or something he will pursue during his official duties.
However, Microsoft has previously trumpeted major Indian government organizations as users of its productivity suites.
India is home to over 1.4 billion people, and Big Tech has long considered the nation a major source of growth. Minister Vainshaw may just have made that ambition harder to realize. ®