Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu has sparked a lively debate online by announcing that the company has fully embraced skill-first hiring and no longer insists on college degrees for any role. In a post on X, he urged Indian parents and companies to rethink long-held beliefs about education and career paths.

Vembu began by praising a growing trend in the US, noting that “smart American students now skip going to college and forward-thinking employers are enabling them”. He called it a major cultural shift, one that he said would empower young people to become financially independent without drowning in student debt. According to him, this new mindset could reshape not just careers, but “culture and politics”.

Vembu further wrote, “I would urge educated Indian parents and high schoolers, as

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