Sridhar Vembu on Zoho's Arattai operations: ‘Made in India, made for the world’

Zoho Corporation has taken steps to clarify misconceptions surrounding its messaging app, Arattai, and its broader operations. Founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu released a comprehensive statement addressing what he termed "false information" about the company’s product development, data management, and infrastructure. In his remarks, Vembu emphasized that all Zoho products, including Arattai, are developed in India. The company's global headquarters, located in Chennai, serves as a hub where it pays taxes on its worldwide income. While Zoho has a presence in over 80 countries, including a significant footprint in the United States, Vembu stressed the company's strong Indian roots. Regarding data management, Vembu assured users that all information pertaining to Indian clients is stored entirely within the country in facilities located in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai. Plans are also underway for a new data center in Odisha. Globally, Zoho operates 18 data centers, each dedicated to handling data in compliance with local regulations, highlighting the firm's commitment to data sovereignty. Moreover, Vembu clarified that Zoho's services, including Arattai, utilize hardware owned by the company and are built on proprietary software frameworks developed atop open-source platforms like Linux and PostgreSQL. Importantly, he noted that Zoho does not rely on public cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud for hosting its data. While these platforms may be used for routing regional traffic to enhance performance, no customer data is stored on them. In response to inquiries about Zoho's developer accounts on platforms like the Apple App Store and Google Play Store that list a US office, Vembu explained that this is a legacy issue from the company’s early mobile app testing phase. He reaffirmed the company's ethos, stating, "We are proudly ‘Made in India, Made for the World’, and we mean it." Arattai has seen a remarkable surge in daily sign-ups, skyrocketing from 3,000 to 350,000 in just three days—a staggering increase of 100 times. Vembu mentioned that Zoho's teams are working tirelessly to scale its infrastructure and address technical challenges fueled by this sudden growth. "We are adding infrastructure on an emergency basis for another potential 100x peak surge. That is how exponentials work," he noted on social media. Launched in 2021, Arattai has recently ascended to the top of India’s app charts, drawing comparisons to WhatsApp. However, maintaining this momentum poses significant challenges. With over 500 million users, WhatsApp has become integral to daily life in India for personal communication, commerce, and even government services. Zoho positions Arattai as a privacy-centric alternative, ensuring all user data remains in India. The app already offers end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, with plans for standard messages to be secured as well. A ‘secret chat’ feature provides an added layer of security, with full encryption expected in future updates. Moving forward, Arattai faces the task of converting its surge in downloads into sustained usage, addressing feature gaps, and establishing its reliability in the long run.