'Head doesn’t know what tail is doing': Sridhar Vembu calls out Delhi’s blind spot on rural India

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has issued a sharp critique of centralized governance, warning that top-down policies often disintegrate before they reach rural India — leaving money wasted and impact diluted.

In a post on X, Vembu drew parallels between bloated bureaucracies in both government and large corporations. “Any large organization, be it a large company or government, is subject to the 'head does not know what the tail is doing' problem,” he wrote.

He said central or state-level schemes often falter by the time they trickle down to villages. “They get diluted, often so much that a lot of the allocated money is simply wasted,” he added.

Vembu called for “extensive decentralisation” as the only fix — one that not only applies to companies like Zoho, but “even more true at the government level.” He argued that cities, districts, and villages must be empowered with strong governance and quality leadership.

Crucially, he pointed to a prestige imbalance that drives talent away from grassroots roles. “Today our system ensures that smart people don't want to stay and serve in any 'small' role like in a district (with millions of people!),” he noted, criticizing a system that rewards roles in state capitals or Delhi over rural leadership.

Vembu highlighted his own work in a rural district, where he leads an R&D team for Zoho. “That is reality and that keeps me grounded,” he said. “The rest are only ideas that I share (like this post!) and ideas are cheap.”