# Zoho cofounder Vembu calls for closing India’s business schools

2026-10-30T08:02:54+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 3 independent outlets

Zoho cofounder Sridhar Vembu has called for shutting down business schools in India and shifting resources to startup incubators. In an X post on Friday, 30 October, he endorsed a New York Times opinion essay by Cambridge professor Chris Marquis that argued business schools promote a transactional mindset at the expense of social and environmental considerations. Vembu wrote that he has been saying this for two decades and that India needs large-scale startup formation and experimentation. Marquis later clarified to Poets&Quants that the essay’s headline was chosen by a New York Times editor. He said his argument was for a fundamental overhaul of business education, including curricula and faculty incentives, not outright abolition. Vembu’s post drew sharp criticism on X from users who argued that Indian MBAs teach only selling or accounting and do not build entrepreneurship. Update, 30 October 2026: Livemint now reports the same story, confirming that Vembu endorsed Marquis’s NYT essay, that Marquis later clarified the headline was chosen by an editor and that his argument was for reform, not abolition, and that Vembu’s post drew sharp criticism on X.

## Indian Opinion Analysis

The three outlets report identical facts: Vembu’s call to close business schools, his endorsement of Chris Marquis’s NYT essay, and the subsequent clarification from Marquis that the headline was not his and that he advocates reform, not abolition. CNBC TV18 alone adds the detail that Vembu made a similar argument in July 2025 urging India to study China’s industrial transformation. The coverage is uniform straight reporting, with each outlet also carrying the same critical X user response. The new detail from all three is that Vembu’s post drew sharp criticism on X, with users arguing Indian MBAs teach selling or accounting and do not build entrepreneurship. The story leaves open whether the debate will shift any policy or curriculum changes in B-schools.

## Coverage

Coverage: 3 sources, 3 neutral
- theprint.in (neutral report) <https://theprint.in/feature/zohos-sridhar-vembu-wants-india-to-shut-down-mba-schools/3085817/>
  Straight wire-style report, includes Vembu’s quote and X criticism
- cnbctv18.com (neutral report) <https://www.cnbctv18.com/education/zoho-sridhar-vembu-takes-aim-at-business-schools-its-time-to-shut-them-down-20023207.htm>
  Adds Marquis’s clarification and Vembu’s 2025 China remark
- livemint.com (neutral report) <https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/time-to-shut-down-business-schools-writes-cambridge-prof-chris-marquis-in-nyt-zohos-sridhar-vembu-agrees-entirely-11793347874407.html>
  Focuses on Vembu’s endorsement and Marquis’s essay excerpt

This brief was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry.

Tags: Business schools, Chris Marquis, MBA, Sridhar Vembu, Zoho Corporation
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Cite: https://indianopinion.org/zohos-sridhar-vembu-wants-india-to-close-business-schools/#story-in-brief

How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/