Zoho’s co-founder and former chief executive officer Sridhar Vembu recently said that India’s image has “transformed” in the past decade. He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this shift and said it is also why the leader remains very popular among Indians living abroad.
In a post on
His made these remarks while responding to a Journalist who had shared a news article on the platform, arguing that India needs to understand the “limits of performative diplomacy” and how such efforts do not necessarily translate into tangible gains.
He said, “Those of us who lived abroad for a long period (like I did, 30 years spent abroad) know just how much India’s image abroad has transformed in the past 10 years. That is the real yardstick. We have to thank our Prime Minister for this and that is the reason his popularity is so high with the diaspora.”
Comment section reflects sharp divide
While Vembu’s post quickly gained traction, drawing thousands of views and multiple likes, not all netizens agreed with his assessment. Several users pushed back against his views, and questioned the basis of his claim.
Some people also cited indicators such as tourism trends and passport strength to counter his argument. At the same time, others lauded his views and added their own perspectives.
“Number of foreign tourists coming to a country is considered a reasonably good objective measure but that seems to be going in the opposite direction,” one user wrote.
While Vembu countered by pointing to travel restrictions during Covid period, the user pushed back again by claiming that data shows tourists numbers have declined compared to pre-covid levels and the situation has not improved this year either.
Another user noted that “If India’s image has transformed so much, why does our passport still rank so low? In 2025, only 59 countries allow Indians in without a pre-approved visa…The ‘yardstick’ of a nation’s rise is how much the world trusts its citizens to enter their borders and we are nowhere near the top yet.”
Vembu responded by stating that a country’s GDP per capita is the ultimate factor determining the value of its passport, adding that India still ranks too low on that metric.
“We as a Nation should be more concerned about the existing quality of life of an average citizen than what perception is carried by the global community and the Indian diaspora abroad,” a netizen noted.
