Topline
Arattai, an Indian messaging app backed by the billionaire Vembu family, has seen a surge in signups and downloads over the past two weeks in its home country, boosted by the Indian government’s calls to reject foreign products and embrace home-grown alternatives as the country’s trade ties with the U.S. have been stung by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Arattai, an Indian WhatsApp rival has seen a surge in downloads, boosted by the government’s calls for local alternatives to foreign platforms like WhatsApp.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key Facts
Arattai, developed by Indian enterprise tech firm Zoho, is a messaging platform similar to Meta’s WhatsApp (WhatsApp has over 500 million users in India).
The Indian app launched quietly in 2021 and saw fewer than 10,000 downloads in August, but has surged up the charts on both Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store since late September to become the country’s topdownloaded app.
Late last month, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu said the app has seen a “100x increase” in traffic, with signups surging from 3,000 per day to 350,000 per day, with single-day signups hitting 2 million on October 1.
The surge in user numbers means Arattai now has over 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store, prompting curiosity from the Indian media over whether the Zoho-owned platform can make a long-shot play to take on Meta’s messaging giant WhatsApp.
The surge in Arattai’s popularity coincides with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government’s messaging around embracing made-in-India products and brands, while ditching foreign rivals.
Both Vembu and Zoho’s leadership have embraced the “Swadeshi” (made-in-India) push with the company’s founder even arguing that his company is the only one in the world positioned to take on Microsoft’s suite of enterprise apps.
What Have Indian Ministers Said About Zoho And Arattai?
Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s federal education minister, was among the first senior government figures to come out in support of switching to Arattai. In a post on X, Pradhan referred to Arattai as “free, easy-to-use, secure, safe and ‘Made in India’” as he shared a download link to the messaging app.A few days later, a similar post was made by Piyush Goyal, India’s commerce minister, who wrote on X: “Nothing beats the feeling of using a #Swadeshi product…My team and I are on board and are looking forward to also connecting with you here.” AIndia’s Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Home Minister Amit Shah, Modi’s closest ally and the most powerful minister in his cabinet, have also endorsed Arattai.
What Has Modi Said About Zoho And Self-Reliance?
While several ministers in his cabinet have endorsed Zoho and its suite of apps, including Arattai, Modi has not done so himself directly. However, in a televised speech last month, the prime minister said: “A lot of products we use daily are foreign-made, we just don’t know … we will have to get rid of them.” He added: “We should buy products that are made in India.” A month earlier, on India’s Independence Day, he said: “I want our traders, shopkeepers to display boards for ‘Swadeshi’ products.” While Modi never directly referenced the U.S. in his speeches the push for “swadeshi” has coincided with Trump’s imposition of a 50% tariff on imports of Indian goods.
How Have Other Indian Alternative Apps Fared In The Past?
This is not the first instance of an Indian made app or platform that has seen a boost due to a push for self-reliance or a bid to boycott foreign-made platforms. In 2020, shortly after India and China’s military clashed briefly along the two countries’ mountainous borders in the Himalayas, New Delhi responded by banning several prominent Chinese-owned apps. The biggest of these was TikTok, which had more than 120 million monthly active users in the country at the time, making India its biggest market. A slew of clones like Moj and MX TakTak emerged soon after, attempting to fill the gap left by TikTok’s exit, but after initial hype, neither managed to challenge foreign rivals like Meta’s Instagram Reels and Google-owned YouTube Shorts. When a massive farmer’s protest broke out in India in 2021, Twitter, now X, refused an Indian government order to restrict accounts belonging to Indian journalists, activists and politicians. Soon, several government agencies and prominent ministers joined Koo, a homegrown clone of Twitter, positioning it as an embrace of an Indian brand. However, the initial hype failed to materialize into success as the company, once valued at $300 million, shut down operations last year.
Forbes Valuation
Sridhar Vembu and his siblings, who hold a majority stake in the private-owned Zoho, have an estimated combined net worth of $6 billion. This puts them 47th on Forbes’ 2025 list of India’s 100 richest people. Despite this, Vembu himself is technically not a billionaire as he personally owns only a 5% stake in Zoho, which in 2023 was estimated to be worth around $225 million. Vembu’s sister Radha owns a 47.8% stake in Zoho, while brother Sekar owns 35.2%. Vembu’s estranged wife, Pramila Srinivasan, who is embroiled in a divorce battle with him in the U.S., has alleged he transferred his ownership of the company to his siblings without telling her.
Surprising Fact
Arattai is a Tamil word that means casual conversations or banter with friends and family.
Further Reading
In High Stakes Divorce Battle, Estranged Wife Of Indian Software Tycoon Claims He Transferred Ownership Without Telling Her (Forbes)
Why Zoho’s Arattai Might Not Overtake WhatsApp In India (Medianama)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/10/09/whatsapp-rival-in-india-is-boosted-by-modis-calls-for-self-reliance-amid-us-tariff-battle/
