Video conferencing app Zoom has hogged all the limelight ever since the world has retreated into a lockdown. The need for a video conferencing tool amidst this pandemic was suddenly realised and after using it for more than 3 months, people have quite adjusted to the new normal.
Zoom is soon going to be making a significant investment in India with a ramped up hiring over the next five years. Zoom’s president of product and engineering Velchamy Sankarlingam said that India is an important market for zoom and his blog post highlighted- “ Some of the misconceptions are disheartening, especially those about Zoom and China.”
He further adds- “We do recognise that as we continue to introduce ourselves to the Indian market, there has been some confusion about the facts as it relates to Zoom. We want to work through these.”
He has also pointed out that their video conferencing tool has helped in keeping Indian businesses, government agencies, communities, school teachers, and other users connected.
Zoom was caught in a controversy over calls being routed through Chinese servers as discovered by Citizen Labs at the University of Toronto. The company promised to identify and work on its issues in the next 90 days.
With plans to invest in India, the company is looking to interact with stakeholders and prioritise initiatives such as Digital India, StartUp India, and Skills India while introducing Zoom. At the moment, Zoom has an office in Mumbai and 2 data centers- Mumbai and Hyderabad.
With the demand for video conferencing tools skyrocketing, a lot of Indian companies have already taken this into consideration. Reliance’s JioMeet is going to be present a tough competition to Zoom given its unique features and receptivity. Telecom company Airtel, too, has announced that it would be launching its video conferencing tool for businesses soon.
The market for video conferencing tools in India is bullish with the Indian government’s Ministry of Electronics and IT initiated a Made in India Video Conferencing Innovation Challenge also inviting more apps.
However, during the 90 day period, Zoom has made quite a few changes with more features on its app in terms of security and usability. Privacy becomes a major concern for Indian apps after the government’s move to ban 59 Chinese apps.