Key Points

Vembu said the company does not want Arattai to be a closed ecosystem like WhatsApp, but instead an open network that works seamlessly across platforms.

"I am a huge fan of UPI and hugely respect the work the team did," Vembu wrote on X, adding that Zoho does not aspire to become a monopoly.

He said the goal is to ensure that Arattai remains open, secure and collaborative, just like email and UPI.

The announcement comes at a time when Arattai has seen explosive growth. Data from Sensor Tower shows that downloads in India jumped 185 times week-over-week between September 21 and 27, while daily active users rose 40 times during the same period.

The surge began after government representatives highlighted the app, driving it to the top of India's app charts.

Since September 25, Arattai has been averaging around one lakh downloads per day, compared to just 300 earlier.

Vembu also moved to clear speculation around Zoho's operations, stressing that all products, including Arattai, are built in India.

He said user data is stored entirely within the country across centres in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, with a new facility planned in Odisha.

He clarified that Zoho does not host its services on public cloud platforms like AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, but instead relies on its own hardware and software built on open-source systems.

The sudden growth has brought technical challenges. Daily sign-ups have soared from 3,000 to 3.5 lakh in just three days, forcing Zoho to add infrastructure on an emergency basis.

Vembu said the company is preparing for another potential 100x surge as new features and campaigns, originally planned for November, are rolled out earlier.

Arattai, launched in 2021, is positioned as a privacy-first messaging app with all Indian user data hosted within the country.

Voice and video calls are already end-to-end encrypted, while standard messages will get encryption in future updates.

- IANS