Sridhar Vembu's Zoho Arattai messaging application has fallen out of India's top 100 apps list, losing significant momentum after a brief surge in popularity just one month ago. This decline highlights the ongoing dominance of established rivals like WhatsApp and Telegram in the highly competitive Indian digital communication market. Arattai, a homegrown platform, struggled to maintain user engagement despite initial enthusiasm and government backing.^[1][2][3][4] ### Arattai's Brief Ascent and Steep Decline Zoho Corporation launched Arattai, which means "chat" in Tamil, in early 2021 as a privacy-focused, "Made-in-India" alternative to global messaging giants.^{[5][1][2][6][4][7]} The app experienced a significant spike in adoption during September and October 2025. This surge followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" (self-reliant India) and endorsements from Union Ministers like Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Piyush Goyal.^{[8][1][9][3][6][10][11]} The initial boost also coincided with renewed privacy concerns surrounding WhatsApp's updated terms of service.^[5][1][2][4] During its peak in October 2025, Arattai briefly claimed the number one spot in the Google Play Store's communication category.^[8][9] The app saw daily sign-ups increase 100-fold in three days in September 2025, from about 3,000 to more than 350,000.^[5][12][11] Downloads skyrocketed to 13.8 million in October 2025, a sharp rise from 2.6 million the previous month.^[2][3] However, this momentum proved short-lived. By early November 2025, Arattai's ranking had plummeted. It dropped to 105th on Google Play and 123rd on Apple's App Store in the free category.^[9][2][3][4] Downloads plunged to just under 200,000 by early November.^[2][3] Monthly active users also decreased from 4.35 million in October to 4.09 million in November 2025.^[9][2][3] ### Challenges for a Homegrown Contender Arattai faced significant challenges in sustaining its initial traction. Industry observers pointed to several factors, including limited unique features, usability concerns, and intense competition from entrenched players.^[8] Building a critical mass of users and overcoming the "network effect" of established apps proved difficult for Arattai.^[1][2][4] Unlike market leaders that have spent over a decade building their user bases, latecomers struggle to convince entire social circles to switch platforms.^[1] Initially, Arattai lacked end-to-end encryption for plain text messages, a key feature offered by many competitors.^[5][1][4] However, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu recently confirmed that Arattai now supports end-to-end encryption for personal conversations. Users can also set encrypted chats as the default.^[13] Vembu emphasized Zoho's long-term engineering approach, even calling Arattai a "hopelessly foolish" idea at its inception. He stressed the importance of building robust technology that works well on low-end smartphones and low-bandwidth networks, a critical consideration for India's diverse digital landscape.^{[10][12][14][7]} Zoho also plans to integrate Arattai with its other business products, including the upcoming Zoho Pay app.^[1] ### Rivals Maintain Stronghold in India While Arattai struggled, rival messaging applications continued their strong performance in India. WhatsApp remains the undisputed leader, both globally and within India.^{[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]} India is WhatsApp's largest market, with approximately 853.8 million monthly active users in 2024.^[17][18] Globally, WhatsApp's user base is projected to reach 3.14 billion by the end of 2025.^[23] As of 2024, WhatsApp holds a massive 84% market share in India.^[15] Its business version, WhatsApp Business, also reported over 764.38 million monthly active users during the fourth quarter of 2024.^[18] Telegram has also shown significant growth. The app surpassed 1 billion monthly active users globally by 2025.^[24][25][26] India is Telegram's largest market by downloads, with around 100 million downloads in 2024.^[24][25] About 45% of the Indian population regularly uses Telegram.^[26] Signal, known for its strong privacy features, had between 70 million and 100 million monthly active users worldwide as of 2025.^[27][28] Signal also saw a notable increase in downloads in early 2021 following WhatsApp's privacy policy changes.^[29][30][31] The rapid decline of Zoho Arattai underscores the immense challenge new entrants face in disrupting the established network effects of dominant messaging platforms in India. Despite initial patriotic fervor and high-profile endorsements, sustained user engagement and a compelling value proposition remain crucial for long-term success in this competitive market.

AI Insights Hub