Zoho founder confirms Arattai is ‘Made in India’ amid surge
Zoho Corporation founder Sridhar Vembu moved swiftly to dispel misconceptions about his company’s messaging app Arattai on Tuesday, emphatically confirming it as a homegrown Indian product as the platform experiences unprecedented growth following government endorsements.
“All the products are developed in India. Our global headquarters is in Chennai and we pay taxes in India on our global income,” Vembu declared on X, addressing what he termed “false information” circulating about the app’s origins. The clarification comes as Arattai has soared to the top of Indian app stores, briefly surpassing WhatsApp in downloads
The Tamil-named messaging app, meaning “casual chat,” has witnessed explosive growth with daily sign-ups skyrocketing from 3,000 to 350,000 in just three days—a staggering 100-fold increase. “We are adding infrastructure on an emergency basis for another potential 100x peak surge. That is how exponentials work,” Vembu noted, acknowledging the unexpected timing of the viral surge.
The rapid adoption follows endorsements from senior government ministers, including Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who promoted indigenous digital platforms under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative. Vembu admitted the company had planned a major November release with enhanced features and marketing push, but “then it suddenly went viral”
Privacy-First Architecture Distinguishes Platform
Vembu emphasized Arattai’s commitment to data sovereignty, revealing that Indian customer data is hosted exclusively within the country across data centers in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai, with plans for expansion to Odisha. Crucially, he clarified that unlike many competitors, Zoho operates on proprietary hardware and software frameworks built on open-source technologies, deliberately avoiding cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud.
“Arattai specifically is not hosted on AWS or Azure or GCloud. We use some of those services for regional switching nodes to speed up traffic but data is not stored in them,” Vembu specified. The app currently offers end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, though text message encryption remains under development.
Vision for Interoperable Messaging Ecosystem
Looking beyond immediate competition with WhatsApp, Vembu outlined ambitious plans to make Arattai interoperable like India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI). “These systems need to be interoperable like UPI and email, and not closed like WhatsApp today. We do not want to be a monopoly ever,” he stated, announcing discussions with iSpirt, the organization behind UPI’s technical framework.
The app distinguishes itself with unique features including a dedicated meetings section similar to Google Meet, a “Pocket” feature for personal file storage, and a Slack-like mentions system. Despite current technical challenges including server overload and delayed features, Arattai’s promise of ad-free operation and commitment against data monetization has resonated with privacy-conscious users seeking alternatives to global messaging giants.
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