Semiconductor venture application submitted to Govt; various evaluations on: Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) Zoho Corp Co-Founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu on Wednesday said the semiconductor venture, of which the company is a part as an investor, has submitted its application to the government, and that thorough evaluation on multiple facets is underway.

At Zoho's annual user conference, the company also launched a seller application on the ONDC network as well as Zoho IoT platform.

Zoho further said its enhancing AI capabilities by building and deploying multiple language models -- narrow, small, medium and large -- for specific use cases within its various products.

Clearing the air around the semiconductor plans, Vembu said Zoho will be an investor in a semiconductor venture, fronted by Silectric.

Work on multiple aspects like finalising the technology and various partners, is underway, he told reporters, adding that it is "too premature" to talk about finer details, including the location for the project.

"We have filed an application, and that is still pending," he said.

The government is "energised" about India's semiconductor potential, he said, but noted that it will do a detailed evaluation about technology involved, and viability of technology, and other nuances -- all these aspects are being reviewed.

"So it is a very exhaustive, critical evaluation... questions like viability of partner, technology, market impact... these are complex technologies and therefore it takes time," he said.

Since the semiconductor projects typically involve government support, the process of evaluation is detailed and thorough.

"I am very happy to see the quality of questions the decision-makers ask... in a semiconductor fab there may be hundreds of processes involved... multiple vendors are involved each providing separate part... it all takes time," he said.

While zeroing-in on location for the unit, the venture will take into account multiple enablers like availability of water, and uninterrupted power supply.

"There are so many technologies that are critical to fab... so which technology should we go for... these are evaluation we are doing and the government is also asking these questions to applicants," he said.

"We are looking at Silicon carbide, we are looking at the power electronics... it is our focus... it is critical, all EV from electric bikes and electric cars, transformers are all moving to semiconductor-based solutions, even trains when it comes to switching, and circuits, etc," he said.

India is eyeing the high-stake global stage of semiconductor manufacturing as it combines unparalleled design capabilities with USD 10 billion of incentives to draw manufacturers to set up new fabs and units that will cut the dominance of Taiwan, South Korea and China.

On Wednesday, Vembu lauded the build-up of digital public infrastructure in the country and added that the India stack across digital identity, payment, now ONDC and other areas, has not just led to lowering of costs but also been effective in prevention of monopolies.

He undelined the importance of data sovereignty, and said the company is fully compliant with stringent requirements of GDPR and all its European data is hosted in Europe.

By the year-end, Zoho will have data centres everywhere it operates. It has 18 data centres.

Zoho on Wednesday launched Vikra, a seller app on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) network and Zoho IoT, a scalable low-code platform enabling businesses to build and deploy custom IoT (Internet of Things) solutions.

The tech company also said it logged a customer growth of 31 per cent in 2023 in India. The announcements were made on the sidelines of Zoholics India, the company's annual user conference.

Zoho has rolled out Vikra, a seller app on the ONDC network that, it says, enables frictionless commerce.

Vikra is designed to function as the crucial bridge connecting businesses to the vast expanse of India's market through the ONDC network.

E-commerce has immense potential to empower MSMEs in the country, yet, they make for just seven per cent of the overall retail market, according to the company.

"This significant gap is mainly due to smaller businesses struggling with complexities in the use of technology, and facing various challenges in operating on marketplace platforms, including heavy commission fees," the company said.

According to Zoho, 'Vikra' not only aligns with the company's goals of empowering businesses but also enhances their reach, making market accessibility frictionless.

"Businesses using the app can get onboarded to the ONDC network easily, set up stores, create product catalogues, and start selling quickly through popular buyer apps like Paytm, Ola, and Snapdeal. They can also receive instant order notifications on WhatsApp and SMS for speedy fulfilment," the release said.

Vikra also offers personalised support for onboarding, cataloguing, managing operations, reconciling payment settlement from the ONDC network, and resolving customer disputes.

"We remain steadfast in our product research and development efforts, with a focus on effectively enhancing our platform through innovating and launching new products like Vikra and Zoho IoT while also integrating AI capabilities across the tech stack," Vembu said. PTI MBI TRB