New Delhi: Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has warned that global technology giants such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook could evolve into “new East India Companies” in the modern era.
Vembu said history shows how the East India Company’s model was built on exporting cheap raw materials and importing value-added products. He noted that the impact of such a system on India is well known.
According to him, when a country hands over its low-cost raw inputs and the entire value-addition process takes place elsewhere—only for the finished products to be imported back—it forms the basis of a colonial economy. He said this is the pattern through which the East India Company established dominance in India.
Vembu argued that a similar risk exists today with major multinational firms, and that the public must remain alert by learning from history. He also cautioned against being misled simply because an Indian serves as CEO, stressing that what matters is which country’s laws, sovereignty and jurisdiction ultimately apply.
