Homegrown messaging platform Arattai, developed by Zoho Corporation, is witnessing a sudden spike in adoption. Daily sign-ups have surged from 3,000 to 350,000 within just three days, a 100x spike, as informed by Sridhar Vembu, Co-Founder of Zoho Corporation in a tweet recently.
The sudden boom follows Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s call to adopt indigenous digital tools, with Arattai leading the list. Social media buzz and comparisons with WhatsApp have since amplified its visibility.
It was launched without much fanfare or buzz in 2021. Arattai, meaning casual chat in Tamil, is Zoho’s privacy-first messaging app. It offers one-to-one and group chats, voice and video calls, stories, and broadcast channels, positioning itself as a spyware-free alternative to global rivals.
Arattai includes multi-device support, desktop apps, and even Android TV integration. Its biggest draw is Zoho’s commitment not to monetise user data, which is sure to resonate with privacy-conscious users.
The unanticipated growth is resulting in teething issues, such as OTP delays, contact sync issues and call failures, for Arattai. Zoho acknowledged the strain, promising server expansions and fixes within days.
Can it rival WhatsApp?
Despite the hype, Arattai faces an uphill task against Meta’s WhatsApp which has over 500 million users in India. One gap remains critical: unlike WhatsApp, Arattai has yet to roll out end-to-end chat encryption. Sustaining momentum will depend on how fast Zoho scales infrastructure and delivers on privacy promises.
In addition, WhatsApp comes with global presence and has become an integral part of Indian social and professional communication. This is not easy to match. For instance, Indian micro blogging platform, Koo, was launched a few years back to rival X. However, it was forced to shut down operations last year because it failed to gain traction in the country in spite of several prominent people, including politician Piyush Goyal, author Amish Tripathi, cricketer Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble, joining the platform.
Further, WhatsApp is not just a messaging app anymore. It is also a business tool and a payment platform, among other features. In this context, it is hard to avoid WhatsApp in India for professional as well as personal communication, besides carrying out several everyday tasks.
The rise of Arattai reflects a broader shift in India’s digital ecosystem, where government backing of “Made-in-India” platforms and growing user concerns over data privacy are shaping competition against entrenched global players. While WhatsApp remains deeply embedded in everyday communication, Arattai’s viral growth underlines appetite for local, privacy-first alternatives.
