Zoho’s homegrown messaging app Arattai recently gained immense popularity. Rival to WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal the app surged to the top spot in India’s app stores. The app has now received attention from Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra. Recently, Mahindra took to social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) to reveal that he has downloaded the Arattai app, prompting a response from Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu. Launched in 2021, Arattai—meaning “chat” in Tamil—was initially seen as a niche side project. But in the wake of AI anxieties, spyware scandals, and scrutiny of Big Tech, its pitch as a “spyware-free, made-in-India messenger” has struck a chord with users. The app’s rise was fueled by endorsements from government officials, including Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who urged Indians to adopt indigenous platforms under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative.

A public nod to Indian innovation

Mahindra Group chairman and industrialist Anand Mahindra recently gave a public shoutout to Zoho’s messaging app Arattai. Mahindra revealed that he has downloaded the app ‘with pride’. His post on X (formerly Twitter) read: “Downloaded @Arattai today… With pride.”The post shared by Mahindra quickly went viral as many praised him for endorsing an Indian-made tech solution.

Sridhar Vembu’s humble response

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu warmly responded to Mahindra’s gesture and also expressed gratitude. Along with this, he also reaffirmed his firm’s commitment to improve the app. “I was in a meeting in our Tenkasi office with our Arattai engineers, working out refinements to the app and a team member showed this tweet. Thank you @anandmahindrathis gives us even more determination,” wrote Vembu.

Features and challenges

Arattai offers familiar features such as:* One-to-one and group chats with text, voice notes, and media sharing* Audio and video calls with end-to-end encryption* Multi-device support, including desktop and Android TV apps* Stories and channels for broadcasting updatesHowever, the app is still ironing out issues. Users have reported OTP delays, slower contact sync, and call glitches due to server overload. Zoho has acknowledged the problems and said fixes will take “a couple of days.”Another limitation is that end-to-end encryption for chats is not yet live, though Zoho says it is working on it.