Zoho Corporation is taking a big step with its homegrown messaging app Arattai, making it interoperable just like UPI payments or email systems. The move comes as Arattai sees a massive surge in downloads across India, according to Chief Scientist and Co-founder Sridhar Vembu.
Vembu shared on X (formerly Twitter) that Zoho wants Arattai to stay open and connected across platforms, unlike closed apps such as WhatsApp. “I’m a huge fan of UPI and really respect the team’s work,” he wrote, emphasizing that Zoho has no plans to dominate the market. Instead, the focus is on building an open, secure, and collaborative network similar to email or UPI.
This announcement hits at a perfect time for Arattai, which has exploded in popularity. Sensor Tower data reveals downloads in India skyrocketed 185 times from the previous week between September 21 and 27, while daily active users jumped 40 times in the same period. The boost started when government officials spotlighted the app, propelling it to the top of India’s app store charts.
Since September 25, Arattai has averaged about 100,000 downloads per day—up from just 300 before. Vembu also addressed rumors about Zoho’s setup, confirming that all its products, including Arattai, get built entirely in India. User data stays secure within the country at centers in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai, with a new facility coming soon in Odisha.
Zoho skips public cloud services like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. Instead, the company runs everything on its own hardware and software powered by open-source tech, putting privacy first for Indian users.
The rapid growth hasn’t come without hurdles. Daily sign-ups leaped from 3,000 to 350,000 in just three days, so Zoho rushed to scale up its infrastructure. Vembu noted the team is gearing up for potentially another 100-fold increase, especially as they fast-track new features and marketing campaigns originally set for November.
Launched in 2021, Arattai stands out as a privacy-focused messaging app with all Indian user data stored locally. It already offers end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls, and standard messages will get the same protection in upcoming updates.
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