Vikra, the seller app, will charge 1% of the sale value as its fee for each transaction on the app, the Chennai-based software-as-a-service company said.
For the Zoho IoT platform, it offers plans ranging from Rs 2,940 per month billed annually for up to 25 devices, which is the starter plan. Other plans available are standard, professional and enterprise.
The announcements were made on the sidelines of Zoholics India, the company’s annual user conference, where Zoho said its customer base in India grew 31% last year.
“As businesses increasingly seek value from their software solutions and larger organisations aim to reduce bloat, we’re seeing significant growth in India, which has now become our second-largest market,” chief executive Sridhar Vembu said.
The top products driving its revenue growth in India are Zoho One, Zoho CRM, Zoho Books and Zoho People.
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Semiconductor facility
Zoho’s application with the India Semiconductor Mission for setting up a chip manufacturing facility is pending, Vembu said.
He told ET in June that the company had applied with a partner to build a semiconductor facility, but the approval was yet to come as the evaluation process was stringent. He did not name the partner.
A media report suggested that the company had proposed an investment of $700 million.
In response to ET’s question on the likely investment on Wednesday, the company said: “It’s too early to comment on this because the application is still pending.”
Vembu said: “The government cannot fund the project without critical continuous evaluation of the technology, who is licensing the technology, and what the viability of the technology is. I’m happy to see the quality of the questions the decision-makers ask.”
There are 50 separate vendors involved, each providing a part of the process, he said. “We must partner with many of them. Most of the technologies are unfortunately not available in India. We must go to the US, UK, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan. This takes time. It’s premature to comment.”
Lining up partners and paying royalty for the technologies and licences comes first, then follows the location, he said. “We don’t want to go to a water-scarce region. We want to go to a water-abundant region for the fab. Power is critical. It is too early to comment on the location,” he added.
The team working on the semiconductor application works out of Bengaluru, he said, adding that it is led by a former classmate.
“We’re looking at silicon carbide and power electronics. The Tatas are looking at digital, but it requires a large investment. All EVs from electric cars and bikes to transformers, and trains require these semiconductor solutions,” Vembu said.
He said to source semiconductor talent he had two IIT alumni return to India from abroad. “We are also talking to people working in this industry and fabs abroad. We’re trying to bring some of them home. First the application must be approved. We are simultaneously working on all fronts,” he said.