ZOHO SO GOOD

How a tech giant transformed a sleepy Tamil Nadu town into a hub of innovation and opportunity

- LAKSHMI SUBRAMANIAN/ 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 homegrown 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.