Amit Shah's Switch to Zoho Mail Marks a Milestone in India's Digital Self-Reliance

In a significant development reinforcing India's push for technological self-sufficiency, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has officially transitioned to using Zoho Mail for his professional correspondence. This move, announced on October 8, 2025, represents more than just a change of email service — it symbolizes India's growing emphasis on homegrown digital platforms.

Amit Shah took to X (formerly Twitter) to inform the public of his new email address with Zoho Mail, urging contacts to update their records accordingly.

The announcement sparked a wave of patriotic pride, most notably from Sridhar Vembu, co-founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation. Vembu hailed the decision as a triumph for Indian tech self-reliance and dedicated the moment to the hardworking engineers who have built Zoho over the past two decades while remaining committed to working from India.

Zoho Mail, launched in 2008 as part of the broader Zoho Workplace suite, is recognized for its privacy-first, ad-free approach to email services. Unlike other popular email platforms, Zoho Mail strictly avoids processing emails for advertising purposes. The platform offers enhanced security features such as encrypted communication, two-factor authentication, and support for digital signatures via S/MIME, ensuring robust protection against cyber threats.

Additional features that distinguish Zoho Mail from alternatives like Gmail include:

• Streams: A social-media-style collaboration space allowing teams to create posts, tag members, assign tasks, and schedule events seamlessly.
• Generous Attachment Limits: Users can attach files up to 1 GB, with automatic conversion of larger files into links.
• Email Recall: Unlike Gmail's limited undo send window, Zoho allows recalling emails even after they've been delivered, notifying the recipient accordingly.
• Integrated Productivity Tools: Calendar, Tasks, Notes, Contacts, and Bookmarks apps are fully integrated, minimizing the need to switch between applications.
• Email Retention and eDiscovery: These enterprise-grade features enable organizations to back up emails and retrieve specific communications for legal and compliance requisites.

For mobile users, Zoho provides dedicated applications for Android and iOS, offering comprehensive mailbox management and collaboration capabilities on the go.

The switch to Zoho Mail aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for embracing Swadeshi and building indigenous technological capability. Alongside Amit Shah, other prominent leaders such as Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan have also adopted Zoho Mail for official use, signaling a growing trend among India's policymakers toward supporting domestic technology firms.

For individuals and organizations considering a transition from Gmail to Zoho Mail, the process includes creating a Zoho account, enabling IMAP in Gmail for data migration, and configuring email forwarding. While some Gmail-specific features like labels or Google Drive integrations may not fully transfer, Zoho's privacy-centric and feature-rich environment presents a compelling alternative.

This endorsement by a senior government official underscores Zoho's two-decade mission of innovation cultivated on Indian soil and marks a notable step toward achieving digital sovereignty.