New Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS): Sridhar Vembu, Founder and CEO of software major Zoho Corporation, on Monday stepped down as the CEO to serve as the company’s chief scientist.

In a post on X social media platform, Vembu who was touted as 39th richest person in India with a net worth of $5.85 billion last year and was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 2021, said he will now oversee deep research and development initiatives.

Zoho offers software and related services on subscription to businesses in several countries.

“In view of the various challenges and opportunities facing us, including recent major developments in AI, it has been decided that it is best that I should focus full time on R&D initiatives, along with pursuing my personal rural development mission,” he wrote.

Vembu further stated that the company’s Co-founder Shailesh Kumar Davey will serve as new group CEO.

“Our co-founder Tony Thomas will lead Zoho US. Rajesh Ganesan will lead our ManageEngine division and Mani Vembu will lead the Zoho.com division,” said Vembu.

He began his professional career with Qualcomm as a wireless engineer in San Diego, California, before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1996, Vembu founded a software development house for network equipment providers called AdventNet, which was renamed Zoho Corporation in 2009, focusing on providing SaaS support to customer relationship management services.

Vembu moved to Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu in 2019.

In his X post, he said that the “future of our company entirely depends on how well we navigate the R&D challenge and I am looking forward to my new assignment with energy and vigour”.

There were reports last year that Zoho was planning a foray into chip-making and seeking incentives from the government.