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Zoho Cancels Usual Appraisals and Pay Increase as Sridhar Vembu Warns of a Grim Software Jobs Outlook

By Freedom251 Team · · 3 min read

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Zoho has reportedly cancelled its usual appraisal review and pay increase for the year. Co-founder Sridhar Vembu said the company would work to avoid mass layoffs, but warned that the outlook for software jobs was grim. His comments connect Zoho’s compensation decision to rising AI and data-center costs and to a wider concern about where jobs will come from if technology hiring slows.

What Zoho’s appraisal decision means for employees

India Today and Mint reported on October 13, 2026, that Zoho would not conduct its usual appraisal review or give employees the usual pay increase that year. The reporting describes a change to the company’s compensation approach; it does not establish whether other elements of employee compensation or benefits changed.

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Vembu told India Today that Zoho had cut its marketing budget and could not provide its usual pay increase. He also said, “We will work hard to avoid mass layoffs but the outlook for software jobs in general is grim.” That is a stated effort to avoid mass layoffs, not a guarantee that layoffs will not happen. The reports do not say that mass layoffs had occurred.

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Why Vembu says Zoho is under pressure

Vembu attributed the decision to an uncertain software-business outlook, rapidly growing use of AI, higher data-center server costs and a challenging geopolitical environment. These are his reported explanations, not independently verified accounts of Zoho’s finances or the wider server market.

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He said server prices for data centers had increased fourfold, but the October reports did not specify the comparison period or market scope behind that figure. Vembu also said AI use was increasing expenses. The reports do not provide a breakdown of Zoho’s costs or show how much each factor contributed to the appraisal decision.

Vembu described Zoho as being in the middle of reinventing itself, adding that the next three to five years would determine how that effort worked. This is his outlook for the company, not a forecast with a guaranteed result.

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What Zoho says about its headcount

Vembu said, “We have not been growing our employee count for 18 months now.” India Today and Mint both reported the statement, but neither supplied an independent headcount series to verify the company’s staffing trend. It indicates what Vembu said about Zoho’s recent hiring, not a confirmed count of employees or proof of a company-wide hiring freeze.

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Why Vembu connects Zoho’s decision to India’s jobs outlook

In comments reported on August 2, 2026, Vembu broadened the issue beyond Zoho. He said that India needs to create jobs for its young population and argued that IT, including Zoho, had not created many jobs in recent years. He also said money that might otherwise have gone toward new employees was being spent on AI and data-center costs. Business Today and Business Standard/PTI reported these earlier remarks.

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Vembu questioned whether a global software market he considers saturated needs much more software as AI makes development faster. As Business Today quoted him asking: “While AI allows us to produce more software quicker, does the over-saturated global software market need a lot more software?” This is his argument about the market, not an independently established measure of software demand or hiring.

He also asked what other sectors could absorb workers if technology hiring weakened, arguing that extensive automation limits job creation through large-scale manufacturing. That is Vembu’s view of the employment challenge, not a settled forecast about how many jobs manufacturing or other industries can create.

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What is confirmed—and what remains uncertain

  • Reported for 2026: Zoho would skip its usual appraisal review and pay increase, according to India Today and Mint on October 13.
  • Vembu’s stated position: Zoho would work to avoid mass layoffs. He did not rule layoffs out.
  • Attributed explanations: Vembu cited an uncertain software outlook, growing AI-related expenses, a fourfold rise in server prices and geopolitical challenges. The reports do not independently verify those causes or define the server-price comparison.
  • Broader jobs argument: In August, Vembu raised concerns about IT job creation and asked which other sectors could employ workers if technology hiring slowed. His comments do not establish a labor-market forecast for India.

The phrase “a million things to build” in the original headline is not established by the October or August reports cited here. It should not be treated as a verified Vembu quotation or as a description of the original context. The documented remarks support a related point: Vembu has questioned how India will create jobs if software hiring weakens.

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AIIndia technology jobssoftware industrySridhar VembuZoho

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