Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has argued that India should avoid adopting a universal basic income (UBI) in the age of AI and automation. Instead, he believes the country should focus on building deep technology capabilities that can ultimately raise the incomes of professionals such as teachers and farmers.
In a detailed post on X, Vembu compared income levels in Switzerland and India, asking why a Swiss school teacher could afford an iPhone after just a few days of work, while an Indian teacher would need to work for several months.
"Why does a Swiss school teacher afford an iPhone in 2-4 days of income while an Indian school teacher needs to work 2-4 months for the same thing?" he wrote.
According to Vembu, the difference lies in a country's ability to trade on favourable terms because of its deep technology capabilities, along with how its political economy distributes income.
"The answer in a nutshell: Switzerland has the deep tech capability to trade for iPhones made elsewhere on favorable terms and the Swiss political economy chooses to pay teachers well," he said.
Vembu argued that the importance of technological capability extends beyond the jobs it directly creates. Instead, it provides a region with greater flexibility in shaping its economy.
"If you have the deep tech capability in a region, the regional economy has the option of paying non-tech occupations like teachers, farmers, barbers, well," he added.
India must avoid a UBI-driven future
Turning to the subject of universal basic income, Vembu said India should invest heavily in research and development to ensure it never has to depend on UBI.
"The way we can avoid the UBI hell is to first develop deep tech capability in the region (lots of R&D) and then we create jobs in what I call 'Nature, Nurture, Culture and Scripture'," he wrote.
He argued that while technology creates the economic strength required to support a country, political decisions determine how that wealth is distributed through employment.
Vembu's remarks come even as tech billionaire Elon Musk has frequently suggested that some form of universal high income may become necessary in an AI-driven future.
Pointing to Switzerland and Israel as examples, Vembu said both countries had avoided such a scenario because they possess technologies that the rest of the world values.
"Each nation has fewer than 10 million people, so Chennai is bigger than each nation," he wrote, adding, "Or as I prefer to see it, 'a few southern districts of Tamil Nadu have the population of Switzerland.'"
Tech wealth should drive broader development
Vembu said he would rather see wealth generated through technology invested in sectors that improve society.
He listed areas such as nature conservation, sustainable agriculture, quality education, healthcare, cultural activities and religious institutions, while stressing that professionals in these sectors should be paid fairly.
"I would spend tech wealth on nature conservation and sustainable farming and decently paid farmers, good schools and decently paid teachers, good health care and decently paid nurses, good cultural and sports events and decently paid local artists, good religious institutions and decently paid priests and counselors," he wrote.
According to Vembu, such investments are only possible if a country has strong technology capabilities that allow it to trade competitively with the rest of the world.
He described this vision as "Rural Development through Research and Development."
"The R&D creates the external balance and the RD creates the internal harmony in society. That is my economic thesis: Balance, Symmetry, Harmony and Contentment," he wrote, before concluding, "R&D only makes it all possible, let me get back to work!"
Vembu also warned that countries lacking deep technology capabilities would have little choice but to rely on external borrowing, with that debt ultimately being held by technology-rich nations and companies.
His latest remarks follow an earlier post in which he acknowledged that India's IT industry is no longer generating jobs at the same pace, as companies increasingly direct their investments toward artificial intelligence.
