New Delhi, Oct. 14 -- Bengaluru-based Pareekh Jain, CEO of EIIRTrend, has raised questions about the financial pressures facing software and software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies after Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu cited rising artificial intelligence (AI) costs while explaining why employees would not receive their usual pay increases this year.

Jain highlighted Zoho's workforce distribution, noting that more than 90% of its employees are based in India, including tier-3 towns and remote locations, where operating costs are relatively low compared with those of other software and SaaS companies.

"And if Zoho is thinking of layoffs, then imagine the challenge of other software and SaaS firms whose majority headcount is located in US or...