'Socialism has failed': Zoho's Sridhar Vembu calls it a smokescreen to expand govt control
Vembu's remarks came in response to a user named Naval on X, who wrote: "Socialism isn’t wrong because it has compassion. It’s wrong because it doesn’t work."
- Jul 16, 2025,
- Updated Jul 16, 2025 12:34 PM IST
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu on Wednesday weighed in on the socialism debate, stating that the model had failed "spectacularly" in India and elsewhere, and criticising it as a political tool to expand state control over resources.
"Socialism means the government redistributing economic resources. The whole ‘compassion’ argument is a smokescreen for expanding government power over economic resources. It has failed spectacularly everywhere it has been tried, including the version tried in India," Vembu posted on X. "The Indian constitution was altered during the Emergency to force ‘socialism’ on us. We have to undo this."
Vembu's remarks came in response to a user named Naval on X, who wrote: "Socialism isn’t wrong because it has compassion. It’s wrong because it doesn’t work."
The debate escalated as a user criticised Vembu's stance by referring to his recent comments on restricting private vehicle ownership in India. “Same guy wanted government to mandate government issued permits for buying cars yesterday. Zero ability to think from first principles or anticipate second order effects. A truly mediocre civilisation,” the user wrote.
The reference was to a tweet where Vembu had cited Singapore's Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system. "Singapore, one of the most advanced economies in the world and one of the most livable cities, relies extensively on public transport. Singapore also limits the number of private cars through the mechanism of open market trading of Certificate of Entitlement (COE) needed to own a car and the certificate costs more than Singapore $100K (and the car price is on top of that)," he had posted. "Indian cities are far more dense than Singapore. We have to build extensive public transport to make our cities livable. It can be done."
Responding to the backlash, Vembu wrote back: "Zurich and Hong Kong are socialist for having public transport? And it is somehow socialist for the government to build railways but capitalist for the same government to build highways? If you understood what ‘first principles’ even mean, you will start with the population density of our cities and then derive solutions that work."
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu on Wednesday weighed in on the socialism debate, stating that the model had failed "spectacularly" in India and elsewhere, and criticising it as a political tool to expand state control over resources.
"Socialism means the government redistributing economic resources. The whole ‘compassion’ argument is a smokescreen for expanding government power over economic resources. It has failed spectacularly everywhere it has been tried, including the version tried in India," Vembu posted on X. "The Indian constitution was altered during the Emergency to force ‘socialism’ on us. We have to undo this."
Vembu's remarks came in response to a user named Naval on X, who wrote: "Socialism isn’t wrong because it has compassion. It’s wrong because it doesn’t work."
The debate escalated as a user criticised Vembu's stance by referring to his recent comments on restricting private vehicle ownership in India. “Same guy wanted government to mandate government issued permits for buying cars yesterday. Zero ability to think from first principles or anticipate second order effects. A truly mediocre civilisation,” the user wrote.
The reference was to a tweet where Vembu had cited Singapore's Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system. "Singapore, one of the most advanced economies in the world and one of the most livable cities, relies extensively on public transport. Singapore also limits the number of private cars through the mechanism of open market trading of Certificate of Entitlement (COE) needed to own a car and the certificate costs more than Singapore $100K (and the car price is on top of that)," he had posted. "Indian cities are far more dense than Singapore. We have to build extensive public transport to make our cities livable. It can be done."
Responding to the backlash, Vembu wrote back: "Zurich and Hong Kong are socialist for having public transport? And it is somehow socialist for the government to build railways but capitalist for the same government to build highways? If you understood what ‘first principles’ even mean, you will start with the population density of our cities and then derive solutions that work."