Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has made global headlines after a California court asked him to deposit a staggering $1.7 billion (around Rs 15,000 crore) as part of his divorce proceedings. The order itself was issued last year, but its details became public only recently. Once the number came out, it instantly drew attention. The amount is now being described as the most expensive divorce linked to an Indian entrepreneur. It has also placed the case among the costliest divorce disputes in the world.
The legal battle is between Vembu and his wife, Pramila Srinivasan, whom he married in 1993. The couple has a son and spent many years living in the US before Vembu began operating Zoho mainly from India. Srinivasan now lives with their son in the San Francisco Bay Area. The sheer scale of the bond ordered by the court has surprised many.
Alongside the massive bond, serious allegations have also emerged. According to a Forbes report, Srinivasan accused Vembu of selling some of their most valuable community assets. She claimed these were transferred to his family members for free. The allegation also said that this was done without her consent. These shared assets form a major part of the financial dispute now being examined by the court. She also alleged that he abandoned her and their special needs son.
Vembu has rejected these claims and responded publicly. In a long post on X (formerly Twitter), he said, “I will say this unequivocally: I never ever transferred my shares in the company to anyone else. I lived in the US for the first 24 years of our 27-year history and much of what constitutes the company was built in India. That is reflected in the ownership.”
![While Vembu has been the public face of Zoho for nearly three decades, official filings show that much of the company is held by his family. According to Indian corporate records, his sister Radha and brother Sekar own a large share of Zoho, Forbes reported. It also referred to a June 2022 deposition by Ram Srinivasan, the siblings’ paternal uncle, who lives in an apartment on the California property owned by Vembu and Srinivasan. In the deposition, Ram claimed Radha once told him, “She replied that I just got sucked into it… It is Sridhar’s money,” and added that she had said, “Sridhar asked me to hold it.” When asked why the shares were not held by Vembu’s brothers instead, Ram speculated that it was because they were often fighting, and said, “In my opinion, after his divorce is all done, the whole money will go to [Sridhar] one way or another.”](https://images.Follow-us/ibnlive/uploads/2026/01/WhatsApp-Image-2026-01-13-at-12.08.31-1-2026-01-4bf6e759735aa2fe0af7bc931f10eb6d.jpeg "While Vembu has been the public face of Zoho for nearly three decades, official filings show that much of the company is held by his family. According to Indian corporate records, his sister Radha and brother Sekar own a large share of Zoho, Forbes reported. It also referred to a June 2022 deposition by Ram Srinivasan, the siblings’ paternal uncle, who lives in an apartment on the California property owned by Vembu and Srinivasan. In the deposition, Ram claimed Radha once told him, “She replied that I just got sucked into it… It is Sridhar’s money,” and added that she had said, “Sridhar asked me to hold it.” When asked why the shares were not held by Vembu’s brothers instead, Ram speculated that it was because they were often fighting, and said, “In my opinion, after his divorce is all done, the whole money will go to [Sridhar] one way or another.”")
one way or another.”
With the case in the spotlight, many people are now asking who Sridhar Vembu really is. He is the founder of Zoho Corporation, one of the world’s largest privately owned software companies. The firm was started in 1996 under the name AdventNet before being rebranded as Zoho. Today, it provides cloud-based tools used by businesses across the globe. The company serves more than 100 million users worldwide.
Vembu’s journey began in India’s top engineering institutes. He earned a BTech in electrical engineering from IIT Madras in 1989. After that, he completed both his master’s degree and PhD at Princeton University. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he worked as a wireless systems engineer at Qualcomm in San Diego. That early career in the US helped shape his entry into the software industry.
Zoho grew in a very different way compared to most tech companies. It never raised venture capital and has always been funded by its own revenue. Under Vembu’s leadership, the company expanded into dozens of business software products. Forbes estimated his net worth at about $5.85 billion in 2024. It ranked him 39th among India’s richest people. Despite that, he has kept Zoho privately owned.
Vembu is also known for running Zoho from rural India instead of big cities. He lives in a village in Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu, and moved large parts of the company’s operations there. His goal has been to create tech jobs outside crowded urban centres. He often speaks about building opportunities in small towns and villages.
He also started Zoho Schools to train students from rural backgrounds in software development. Many students from these schools go on to work within Zoho. In 2021, Vembu received the Padma Shri for his contribution to industry. In January 2025, he stepped down as CEO to become Zoho’s Chief Scientist which later went to co-founder Shailesh Kumar Davey.
Pramila Srinivasan has her own professional career. She holds a PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue University. In 2007, she founded MedicalMine, a healthcare technology company. She is also the founder of The Brain Foundation, a non-profit that supports autism research and treatment. According to the organisation, she oversees its daily work and volunteers while continuing her efforts in mental health and developmental research.
