Arattai App: Arattai, the homegrown instant messaging app by Zoho Corporation, has seen a massive jump in users after senior Union ministers promoted it. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan asked people to use the “swadeshi” app, calling it safe and easy. His promotion came right after IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw mentioned that the government uses Zoho’s productivity tools for official work.
This sudden attention caused the number of new sign-ups to rise dramatically. According to Sridhar Vembu, Zoho’s co-founder and chief scientist, registrations jumped 100 times in just three days, going from around 3,000 daily to nearly 3,50,000.
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Vembu said the team is working hard to keep up with demand. He explained that engineers are fixing glitches and adding extra capacity quickly. The company had a big release planned for November with new features and more server capacity, but the surge happened unexpectedly. Zoho is addressing stability problems like OTP delays and call drops, and end-to-end encryption for messages is already being tested and will be added soon.
What Arattai Offers
Arattai, which means ‘chat’ in Tamil, was quietly launched in 2021. It lets people send messages, photos, videos, voice notes, documents, and make audio or video calls. Users can also share stories and broadcast channels, like other popular apps. The platform works on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux. While calls are already end-to-end encrypted, full chat encryption is still in progress. Zoho has promised that user data will not be monetised, presenting Arattai as a privacy-friendly alternative.
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Can it Compete with WhatsApp?
WhatsApp still dominates India with over 500 million users. Arattai’s growth shows people want homegrown apps but it cannot yet match WhatsApp’s reach or everyday use. Missing features like full chat encryption and a smaller ecosystem are hurdles for people which needs to be fixed efore it get marketed.
its rapid rise Indian branding, and privacy promise may attract users looking for a local option. Vembu said the company is “all hands on deck” to stabilize the app and deliver new features quickly.
