India’s homegrown messaging app Arattai has shot to the top of app store charts, beating global competitors in just a matter of days. Launched by Zoho in 2021, the app was once seen as an experiment. But, with growing concerns around data privacy, its “spyware-free, made-in-India” promise has suddenly impressed India.
Zoho’s Arattai sign-ups skyrocket 100x in just three days
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu recently shared how dramatic the surge has been. “We faced a 100x increase in Arattai traffic in three days. New sign-ups went from 3,000 a day to 3.5 lakh a day. We are scrambling to add infrastructure for another possible 100x surge. That is how exponentials work,” he wrote on X, adding that the team is working around the clock to fix issues while preparing for a bigger November release.
Zoho’s push to Go Public
As Arattai gained traction, calls grew louder for Zoho to list on the Indian stock exchange. One such comment came from investor Venkatesh Alla, who said it was high time Indians got a chance to invest in a truly homegrown tech company. Reacting to this, Vembu argued that going public would have killed projects like Arattai. “ We understand the push for Zoho to go public,” Vembu wrote on X, adding, “but let me state the reality: Arattai would very likely not have been built by a public company that faces quarter-to-quarter financial pressure.”
He continued, “It was a ‘hopelessly foolish’ project, and even our own employees doubted it would ever work. But we built it because we believed Bharat needed such engineering capability. This kind of long-range R&D simply cannot survive quarter-to-quarter market pressures,” Vembu said.
Vembu highlighted the company’s frugal culture among founders and senior executives, comparing it to how ISRO scientists operate, calling it ‘the essence of Bharat’, a mindset he joked would be hard to explain to Wall Street or Dalal Street .“We essentially ignore short-term profits, as long as we don’t lose money. And we have a culture of founders and senior executives living frugally, like how good scientists and engineers in ISRO would live. To us, that is the essence of Bharat. Japan operated that way when it was developing.” He added, “Imagine saying all that to Wall Street or Dalal Street!”
A bigger vision at Zoho
Vembu described Zoho as more than just a software company. He compared it to an industrial research lab that funds itself. “We have some very ambitious, long-range R&D projects going on in Zoho, including compilers, databases, OS, security, hardware, chip design, robotics (not to mention AI) and on and on. In addition, we have invested in many R&D intensive companies that we know won’t make money soon,” he wrote.
Arattai offers all the essentials, including chats, calls, voice notes, media sharing, and even Android TV support. Its biggest differentiator is its stand on privacy: no user data monetisation and an extra emphasis on control staying with the user. End-to-end encryption for calls is already live, while chat encryption is still under development.
The surge, however, left users facing delayed OTPs and syncing issues. The company has promised fixes in the coming days. “As we add a lot more infrastructure, we are also fine tuning and updating the code to fix issues as they arise. We have all-hands-on-deck working flat out,” Vembu said. So far, Arattai’s challenge is to convert downloads into regular use, build trust, and close feature gaps. For now, it is enjoying its moment in the spotlight. The coming months will show whether it’s a lasting alternative or just a short burst of hype.
