CHENNAI: Zoho has paused hikes for its employees and is cutting down marketing spend due to inflation, rising AI-related expenses and challenging geopolitical and market conditions, said the company’s founder and chief scientist, Sridhar Vembu. In a post on X on Tuesday, he wrote that AI usage has driven up costs significantly amid a challenging geopolitical environment. He added that the company will work hard to avoid mass layoffs. “We have cut down on our marketing budget. We have also told our employees that we cannot have our usual pay increase this year. I have apologised for not being able to avoid this,” Vembu said. TNN