In a further attempt to appear more relatable to users in India, video-conferencing app, Zoom, is now listing its plan prices in Rupees alongside other global currencies, including Dollar, Yen, Pound Sterling, and more. To see the plan charges in Rupees, users will have to choose India as their ‘billing’ and ‘sold to’ country. The company already accepted Indian credit cards, but there doesn’t seem to be any new addition to the payment mode for now.
Pricing starts at Rs. 1,300 per month for Zoom Meetings Pro that lets users host up to 100 participants along with unlimited group meetings, while Zoom Business, which allows up to 300 participants and cloud recording transcripts, has been priced at Rs. 1,800 per month. The Zoom Enterprise plan, with a 500 participant limit and bundled cloud storage, is also offered at Rs. 1,800 per month in India.
Do note that the Rupee pricing is only available for Zoom Meetings, Zoom Video Webinar and Zoom Rooms, but Zoom Phone service plans continue to be displayed in dollars. Be that as it may, the latest move shows that the company is starting to pay more attention to the Indian market. It had earlier opened a technology center in Bengaluru and two data-centers in Mumbai and Hyderabad as part of its plans to appeal to a wider Indian audience.
While Zoom attained astronomical popularity during the current pandemic, it still continues to attract scrutiny from security agencies for possible backdoors and other vulnerabilities. One of the most widely-reported security flaws was the so-called ‘Zoom Bombing’, whereby unauthorized people could gain access to meetings and conference calls meant for colleagues and friends. The company has since rolled out updates to fix the issue and even introduced end-to-end encryption for added security.
In India, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) deemed the app ‘unsafe’ and released a 16-page advisory on how Zoom users can keep themselves safe from possible cyber-attacks and online harassment. Earlier this year, the company was also hit with a class-action lawsuit in the US over allegations that it shares data with Facebook without explicit consent from users.
