TENKASI
In the summer of 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world, locking down cities and upending lives, Ananthan Arunachalam of Kadayam Perumbathur, in Tamil Nadu’s Tenkasi district, faced no such turmoil. While many in the IT sector struggled with job losses and the challenges of working from home, Ananthan, 26, rode his motorbike just five kilometres to his workplace at Zoho Corporation, a software company nestled in the rural heartland. He didn’t even need a mask—his village’s isolation shielded him from the virus’s reach. For him, life during the pandemic was not a challenge but an opportunity.
Born into an agricultural family, Ananthan never imagined a career in information technology. He studied in a Tamil-medium school in Tenkasi. Terms like coding and artificial intelligence were alien to him. His ambition was to become a mechanical engineer and work for an automobile company. But when Zoho Corporation, a home-grown tech giant, visited his college for a placement drive, Ananthan was drawn to its vibrant logo and was encouraged by his teachers and friends. His aptitude for logical reasoning and problem-solving shone through in Zoho’s written test and interview, and he was offered a job at its Mathalamparai office, just behind the scenic Courtallam Falls. Stepping into Zoho’s rural office, just a 15-minute bike ride from his house, Ananthan could not help but marvel at how a tech company could thrive in a village setting. Today, he is a senior coding analyst, a testament to the transformative power of opportunity.
Zoho’s presence in Tenkasi owes much to its founder Sridhar Vembu, whose vision to nurture rural talent has redefined what a tech hub can be. When Vembu first proposed moving operations to rural areas, sceptics were concerned about the availability of talent in such places. “The talent is already there,” he responded. “We just have to nurture it.” Starting with a modest thatched-roof shed in Mathalamparai in 2011 with just six employees, Zoho’s rural experiment has grown into a sprawling corporate office blending tradition and innovation.
Now employing 1,200 people, from teenagers to seasoned professionals, the Mathalamparai office is the cornerstone of Vembu’s hub-and-spoke model. Over the past 15 years, this approach has spawned some 100 Zoho offices in tier-two cities, towns and villages across India, employing more than 3,000 people. In 2025, Vembu’s mission remains clear: unlock rural talent, drive research and development, and prove that India’s future lies in its villages.
Mathalamparai, in the Western Ghats, is an unlikely setting for a tech revolution. The air on the campus carries the fragrance of flowers and rain, and a Chettinad-style building houses the modern corporate office. Inside, stone pillars lead to a vast space filled with hundreds of cubicles, where young men and women work in focused silence.
The Zoho School is a learning hub where employees, guided by mentor-like colleagues, delve into coding, AI tools and analytics. Nearby, a campus crèche supports working parents, while a steel staircase adorned with Athangudi tiles leads to a dining hall filled with the clink of plates and soothing music. “You need not necessarily be in a metro to run or work for a software company,” Vembu told THE WEEK in 2021, during the height of the pandemic. “My idea of moving to the village was to give the employees peace of mind and also boost the local economy.”
Zoho’s arrival has transformed Tenkasi, a town whose name translates to ‘Kashi of the south’, into a district buzzing with socioeconomic progress. Once a sleepy town reliant on paddy cultivation and timber imports, Tenkasi saw little economic activity outside the tourist season from July to September, when visitors flocked to the Courtallam Falls and the Kasi Viswanathar temple. Zoho’s recruitment strategy focuses on local talent, identifying potential from schools and colleges within the district. “There are many advantages to being in rural regions. It is cost-effective, and rural talents are excellent,” says Rakeeb Mohamed Mubeen, who leads Zoho’s 1,200 software developers in Tenkasi. “We hire students from rural government schools and polytechnics, train them, and nurture them. Given time, they do wonders.”
Rakeeb, who joined Vembu’s vision in 2011, recalls working in a makeshift shed near his hometown, Tirunelveli. Meetings under trees in serene surroundings have given way to a seven-acre campus that has reshaped Tenkasi’s landscape and lifestyle.
Since Zoho established its rural office in 2011, Tenkasi—part of Tirunelveli until it became a separate district in 2019—has undergone a remarkable transformation. The presence of a tech giant has drawn young talent, reducing the need for urban migration. Zoho doesn’t recruit from elite institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology; instead, it targets students from second- and third-tier colleges and its own Zoho University, which trains high school graduates on the job. “We don’t look at board exam marks or competitive tests,” said Rakeeb. “We test math and analytical skills, offer a year’s coaching, and then provide on-the-job training in coding, testing or quality assurance.”
For C. Preethika, 19, from Vallam, Zoho’s Rs10,000 monthly stipend has transformed her family’s fortunes. Her mother, who was a beedi roller, and her father, a cab driver with seasonal work, struggled to support the family. When Preethika’s teacher encouraged her to take Zoho’s aptitude test, she seized the opportunity. Now a student at Zoho School, she learns coding and analytics. “I am able to support my family now,” she says. “In two years, my earnings will grow, and I can do more for them.”
Zoho’s impact extends beyond its employees. Ganesamoorthy Subramaniam, 42, of Nannagaram, has seen his life change dramatically. He and his wife Sudha rise at 4am to harvest tomatoes and vegetables from their two-acre farm, supplementing their stock with produce from Tirunelveli. By 6am, they deliver 50 to 75 kilos of fresh vegetables to Zoho, earning Rs20,000 a day. Once an aspiring singer in Chennai, Ganesamoorthy returned to Tenkasi after his father’s death to continue the family’s vegetable business. Zoho’s presence has expanded his enterprise. His eldest daughter now pursues an IT engineering degree, confident she can find work in Tenkasi. Though Ganesamoorthy still performs with local orchestras, his family prefers the stability of their thriving business.
The ripple effects of Zoho’s presence are evident across Tenkasi. Real estate prices and rentals have surged. “The purchasing power of youngsters has gone up since Zoho arrived,” says Selva Ganesh, head of CREDAI’s Tirunelveli chapter. Ananthan and his brother, also a Zoho employee, have built a three-storey house in Kadayam Perumbathu, a symbol of their success. “We were able to build such a big house in our hometown only because of Sridhar and his vision,” said Ananthan.
Similarly, Dilip Kumar Singh, once a software engineer in Chennai, returned to Tenkasi to revive his family’s sweet shop, Nellai Lala Kadai, next to the Kasi Viswanathar temple. His business flourished supplying snacks to Zoho employees. “My life has transitioned from being a software engineer to a businessman,” he says.
Zoho’s technological contributions are as impressive as its socioeconomic impact. Its AI assistant, Zia, powers tools like Zoho Learn, Zoho Mail, Zoho CRM and Zoho Creator, enhancing productivity with features like automated email generation and data insights. Often dubbed the ‘Microsoft of India’, Zoho offers an integrated suite of tools for CRM, finance, HR, analytics and more, designed for small businesses but scalable for larger enterprises. Its messaging app, Arattai, rivals WhatsApp, while Zoho Show has become a world-class presentation tool. “The success is because of Sridhar’s vision and mission,” says Rakeeb. “He is a symbol of self-reliance, simplicity and rural empowerment.”
From a single rural office in 2011, Zoho now operates 15 such centres across India’s hinterland, each employing hundreds. “Almost anywhere in India, within a 30 km radius, there are at least 0.5 million people,” Vembu told THE WEEK in 2021. By tapping into this population density, Zoho has not only created high-paying jobs but also reduced petty crime and fostered social cohesion in regions once marred by caste tensions.
With a literacy rate above 80 per cent and a growing urban population, Tenkasi’s elevation to district status in 2019 is a testament to Zoho’s transformative presence. As Vembu’s vision continues to unfold, Tenkasi stands as a beacon of what rural India can achieve when talent is nurtured and opportunity is brought home.