US-based video conferencing platform Zoom ramps up India play

The company plans to hire a significant number of tech and research and development (R&D) talent from India.

“We are hiring big time in India, especially for the new centre in Chennai that is coming in. We are mostly looking at talent for IT support, tech development and R&D,” Sameer Raje, the general manager and head of India region, told ET.

Raje declined to provide details on the number of people being recruited.

Nasdaq-listed Zoom reported revenue of $1.07 billion, up 12% on-year, in the fiscal first quarter ended April 30.

It is estimating total revenue of around $1.115 billion and $1.120 billion in the second quarter.

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The company receives most of its revenue from the United States and from the APAC, Europe and the Middle East.

Zoom is betting big on the APAC region, which includes India, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

“We are not looking at India as just a go-to market but we will also be tapping into the talent pool in India…One of largest tech centres outside of the US is in India,” Raje said.

The company said in April that it was setting up a second technology centre in Chennai. The centre was part of Zoom’s expansion plans and will supplement its existing one in Bengaluru, in addition to the two data centres in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

As India Inc opens offices after the Covid-19 pandemic-led lockdowns, many corporations are actively looking at hybrid working models.

To make Zoom’s platform relevant for a post-Covid-19 world, the video conferencing company has partnered with computer hardware player Logitech to bring global products and technology to India, specifically for hybrid working spaces.

“Today, it’s all about workflow integration with applications and it is also not constant and it will evolve continuously…and Zoom will keep up with that and keep introducing relevant, new products going ahead,” Raje said.

New product offerings announced by the company on Thursday include Zoom whiteboard, a digital canvas for real-time collaboration in Zoom Rooms, developed to replicate the physical experience of using a white board.

“We are launching Zoom rooms which has products such as Zoom whiteboard, Zoom room controller and workspace reservation capabilities in India to foray into the emerging hybrid work models,” Raje said.

Zoom room controller allows users to stop, start and control the Zoom room meetings with their paired personal devices. The workspace reservation feature helps users to easily book meeting spaces within offices.

The products and offerings have been launched in the United States through the company’s hardware-as-a-service segment, whereas in India it has launched the same in partnership with Logitech.

“We see a lot of use cases from hospitals, governments, IT companies, manufacturing companies and many educational institutions using our new product offerings,” Raje added.

Apart from these products, the company is in advanced stages of launching Zoom Phone in India. Zoom Phone is a cloud phone system that uses Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and is used by US businesses.

“We are actively engaged with the Indian government to launch Zoom Phone in India, but we can’t share the exact dates of the launch. It will be soon,” Raje said.