Arattai Messenger sees downloads soar after Education Minister Pradhan backs Zoho’s swadeshi app.
Zoho’s swadeshi Arattai Messenger has recorded a dramatic 100-fold surge in traffic following endorsements from senior government officials. Earlier this month, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urged citizens to adopt Indian platforms, while Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan promoted Arattai, calling it a secure, homegrown alternative to WhatsApp.
Launched in 2021, Arattai (meaning “chat” in Tamil) offers text, voice, and video communication, document sharing, and story features. It also enables users to schedule and join meetings. The app requires mobile number registration, and all calls and messages are end-to-end encrypted.
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu confirmed the spike. “We have faced a 100x increase in Arattai traffic in 3 days. New sign-ups went vertical from 3K/day to 350K/day,” he said, adding that infrastructure is being scaled up urgently.
Vembu revealed that Zoho had planned a major relaunch with new features in November, but strong public response has accelerated the app’s growth.