Amid the ongoing India AI summit, tensions flared in the tech community as former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai took to X to criticise Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu, in what appeared to be a sharp response to the latter’s latest remarks on the country’s AI direction.
Vembu had told Moneycontrol that India’s AI ecosystem was showing promising signs of momentum, with affordable innovation emerging from domestic players.
Vembu had praised Sarvam AI, an Indian Full-Stack Sovereign AI Platform, telling the outlet that “Today AI can write code really well”.
He emphasised that the technology has the potential to dramatically boost productivity across sectors and added that Indian IT firms, given their close proximity to global clients, are well placed to swiftly adopt and implement AI-driven solutions.
“I believe the IT services industry can flourish if they rapidly deploy AI tools,” he said.
What else had Vembu said?
In the interview, Vembu also highlighted that India would be able to accommodate to the AI transition and it would ultimately lead to more more job creation. “All these technologies create more jobs than they destroy,” he said.
He also highlighted India’s broader economic strength.
“India’s consumption story is very good and people are adaptive,” he said, adding that societal openness to change will help the country navigate the AI transition.
‘Some people seem to know more about AI…’
Responding to Vembu’s comments, Pai remarked how he found it “astonishing” how “some people seem to know more about IT services and the impact of AI than [companies dealing with AI]”.
“They constantly abuse these [companies] Shocking!” he wrote.
Pai and Vembu’s differing outlook on AI
Notably, Vembu Pai have held differing viewpoints on certain AI-related matters in India, particularly around government initiatives for AI Centers of Excellence (CoEs). Their public spat in 2024 centred on the selection of AI CoE locations.
Pai had criticised the central government for excluding Bengaluru, India’s tech hub, from the list, accusing it of “step-motherly” treatment toward southern states.
Vembu, on the other hand, had defended the process, noting it was merit-based with strong southern representation (including IISc Bengaluru and IIT Chennai in consortia). He urged avoiding “North-South politics” and emphasised thorough project evaluations.