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Sridhar Vembu has said that Zoho is steadily building its messaging service, Arattai. His latest comments may answer questions about the app’s place in the crowded chat market.
When an X user asked the Zoho Founder, “what about Arattai…why the app is not talked much about now?”, Sridhar Vembu stated Arattai has been updated weekly with very important features.
“We will market it more once we feel we are satisfied with the feature set! This is a marathon. We are geared for it,” Sridhar wrote, signaling a long-term approach rather than a growth-at-all-costs push.
This statement was in response to the X user’s post valuing Telegram at around $30 billion, with just 30 employees working from home, without any formal office structure in place.
However, Sridhar’s reaction hinted at the company’s belief that Zoho was more focused on making their products mature and reliable, especially in areas where trust, size, and speed matter.
Arattai (meaning casual chats in Tamil), the new messaging service launched in January 2021 as an alternative to Meta’s WhatsApp. Though the response was lukewarm at the beginning, there has been increased engagement in the last few months. The service gained momentum earlier in September when Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Piyush Goyal endorsed it.
That month, Arattai briefly topped the App Store rankings. It managed to register 3,50,000 downloads within 3 days, indicating that people are taking an interest.
Also Read: Zoho Arattai Effect? WhatsApp Updates Bring Fun Features for Gen Z & Gen Alpha
There are features such as one-on-one and group messaging, voice note recording, multimedia messaging, audio and video calling with end-to-end encryption, support for multiple devices, including desktop and Android TV, as well as stories and channels for broadcasting.
Some of the issues reported by users include OTP delays, slow contact synchronization, and call glitches caused by server congestion, especially during peak traffic hours.
Zoho introduced end-to-end encryption across the entire Arattai system. The founder described the move as a forced upgrade to the platform, stating that the process involved extensive redesign and internal testing by the company.
6,000 employees had the chance to put their weight behind the feature during testing. In Zoho’s case, the transformation of Arattai seems to be a long-term game in which stability, security, and growth are favored over virality.
