India, Jan. 30 -- Sridhar Vembu, who stepped down as the CEO of Zoho Corporation, set the record straight on speculation of him joining politics.

"I heard there is a 'news' item going around about me joining politics. I burst out laughing when I heard this!" Vembu, 57, said in an X post on Thursday.

Vembu had announced earlier this week that he would focus on research and development (R&D) as the "Chief Scientist" of Zoho.

The tech entrepreneur said he is flying to Austin, Texas, next week to present his company's R&D strategy on artificial intelligence (AI) to an audience of industry analysts.

"I have an extremely challenging new role in deep tech R&D right now and there is just no way, no way, I have any time for politics. On top of...