Zoho Wins Government Email Contract After 20 Security Audits, Confirms Founder Sridhar Vembu

Indian software major Zoho Corporation has officially been selected to power the government’s National Informatics Centre (NIC) email system, following a meticulous multi-stage vetting process that included up to 20 security audits, according to Zoho’s co-founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu.

The move comes after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a tender in 2023 to migrate nearly 3.3 million government employees to a secure, cloud-based email service. Zoho emerged as the winning bidder after an extensive evaluation process.

“We went through at least about 15, maybe 20 audits — covering our code, data centres, and overall security practices. Only after that, the NIC team selected Zoho,” Vembu told Moneycontrol.

Rigorous Evaluation and Growing Adoption

Vembu emphasized that the selection was the result of stiff competition and transparent evaluation, rejecting claims that the partnership was politically influenced.

“This is not something suddenly sprung. It followed a massive contest. The Swadeshi tech movement aligns with the same goal — promoting companies built in India that meet global standards,” he said.

The platform, according to Vembu, now supports over 1.5 million active users within government departments, with onboarding continuing steadily.

Earlier, MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan clarified that while Zoho is the current vendor for the NIC system, the broader government initiative aims to encourage multiple Indian software firms, not just one.

“It’s not fair to single out a single company and say we are pushing this. Our wider push will be for Indian products,” Krishnan told Moneycontrol.

Zoho’s Expanding Presence

Zoho’s collaboration with the Indian government is part of a larger trend of adoption of homegrown enterprise tools amid rising concerns over global data security and dependence on foreign platforms.

In July 2025, following a massive global data breach exposing over 16 billion login records, the government directed employees to migrate to the new @mail.gov.in domain — managed by Zoho under the NIC infrastructure.

Beyond government departments, Vembu said Zoho Mail’s usage is also growing in the private sector, as organizations seek secure, India-hosted alternatives to foreign cloud services.

“It’s not only in government. We are seeing wide adoption in the private sector too,” Vembu added.

Swadeshi Tech Push

The partnership underscores India’s ongoing drive to promote Swadeshi (Made-in-India) technology solutions for critical digital infrastructure. Vembu noted that Zoho’s inclusion represents both technological merit and national self-reliance.

“We need national champions that are built, secured, and managed within India,” he said.

With Zoho now managing one of the largest official email networks in the country, this marks a major step in India’s journey toward digital sovereignty and secure, indigenous technology adoption.