The Rise of Zoho and India’s Digital Sovereignty Push
Zoho Arattai — For years, India’s digital story has been told in the language of American logos. Google, WhatsApp, Microsoft, Facebook . But now New Delhi wants to rewrite that story. And at the heart of this campaign stands an unlikely protagonist, a company called Zoho. It’s founded by Shred Darveu. Two decades later, Zoho runs a global software empire over 50 plus cloud apps powering everything from CRM systems to spreadsheets. Now, Zoho is stepping into messaging with Zoho Arattai.
It’s a business suite rivals Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. And now it has something new, a homegrown messaging app called Arat t ai . Now that’s Tamil for chat. The government says it’s time Indians give it a try. In the past few weeks, Indias education ministry has made Zoho the official office suite. It is now compulsory for all its departments, phasing out Microsoft and Google tools.
Ministers have publicly flaunted presentations made on Zoho. It’s part symbolism and part strategy, a bid for digital sovereignty, the idea that India should control its own data infrastructure and online ecosystems, one that is free from foreign dependency. And for India’s digital self-reliance Green One Symbol might just be our time. This is the promise of Zoho Arattai.
Why Zoho Arattai Is Gaining Traction
Now, Zoho’s new messaging app that’s quietly making ways it’s light, it runs on weak Internet connections, it works on low cost phones, and more importantly, it even has an Android TV version, a feature WhatsApp still doesn’t offer . But it’s also built with privacy in mind, promising users that their data won’t be shared with advertisers or foreign entities.
Ministers are already on it, entrepreneurs are praising it. And downloads are surging. For a brief moment, our tie even overtook WhatsApp on the Play Store charts. Zoho Arattai represents more than an app—it’s a statement.
The Ghosts of Indian Apps Past
But behind the celebrations lies a bigger question can it last India has been here before there was Koo Koo which was billed as the Indian twitter for a year it looked like India had built its own social Put up for a year, it looked like India had built its own social network. Then the funding driver service went quiet and coup shut down.
There was also Hike Messenger . It was once India’s WhatsApp rival. Hike 2 faced a similar fate. Despite millions of downloads, the novelty faded. Users drifted back to WhatsApp. The same story repeated across a dozen short video apps the likes of Marge, Chingari and Mitron. They all promised it tick tock replacement, but they all disappeared due to poor innovation and investor fatigue. So why do Indian apps struggle?
Can Zoho Arattai Break the Cycle?
Because building an app is easy, keeping users is hard. Most Indian platforms fall into what many call the copycat trap, cloning global products without improving them. Zoho has one advantage here. It is profitable and independent. It is also debt free. But messaging itself is a different beast. Apps like WhatsApp and Telegram operate at massive scales. There are billions of users. And they have server farms across continents. Encryption technologies are perfect.
The farms across continents. Encryption technologies are perfected over years. But I retired to complete its mass, build a world class infrastructure. And then there’s trust. Indians may love the idea of a made in India app, but they also value reliability. Arat ta i currently doesn’t encrypt all messages into end, a red flag for privacy conscious use users. So India’s tech story stands today at a crossroads. On one side there’s ambition, the desire to build a very own digital ecosystem.
On the other is realism. Z oho Zarate may not dethrone WhatsApp overnight, but that’s not really the point. What matters is that India is finally trying to build, not borrow. And Zoho Arattai is leading the charge.
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