Zoho’s Arattai: Can India’s Homegrown Messaging App Rival WhatsApp?

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is championing Arattai, Zoho’s India-based messaging app, urging citizens to adopt homegrown platforms in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to support Swadeshi products. The app is available for free on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

In a post on X, Pradhan described Arattai as “secure, user-friendly, and completely free”, emphasizing that it has been fully developed in India.

What is Arattai?

The word “Arattai” comes from Tamil, meaning “casual conversation” or “chat.” Staying true to its name, the app aims to simplify communication while ensuring privacy and security, with a pledge not to share user data with third parties.

Features

Arattai offers a broad set of tools for personal and group communication:

Voice and text messaging

Audio and video calls

Document and image sharing

Group chats with up to 1,000 participants

Dedicated channels for communities

This positions Arattai as a homegrown alternative to WhatsApp and other global messaging services.

Security Concerns

While Arattai provides end-to-end encryption for calls, its messages are not fully encrypted, unlike WhatsApp. This gap may raise concerns for privacy-focused users, as it means Arattai does not yet match WhatsApp’s level of text message security.

Bigger Picture

The push for Arattai reflects India’s broader mission to encourage indigenous technology, strengthen local innovation, and reduce reliance on multinational tech platforms. Whether Arattai can grow to rival WhatsApp’s dominance remains to be seen, but it highlights a growing ecosystem of Indian-made digital solutions.