Sridhar Vembu says will make Arattai interoperable, ‘do not want monopoly ever’

Sridhar Vembu, the Chief Scientist at Zoho, emphasized the company's commitment to making its messaging application, Arattai, interoperable, drawing parallels to established systems like UPI and email. On September 30, he took to the social media platform X to express his vision, stating, "We do not want to be a monopoly ever." In his post, Vembu revealed that discussions are underway with Sharad Sharma of iSpirt, the organization responsible for the technical foundations of UPI, to standardize and publish messaging protocols. He expressed admiration for the UPI initiative and his confidence in Sharma's guidance. Vembu reiterated the need for Arattai's systems to be open and accessible, contrasting this with the closed nature of competitors like WhatsApp. He reinforced Zoho's commitment to this goal, stating, "We are committed to that goal and we will work with iSpirt to make this happen." In addition, Vembu addressed misconceptions regarding Zoho, confirming that the company is headquartered in Chennai, India, and that all its products are developed domestically. He asserted, "We are proudly 'Made in India, Made for the World' and we mean it." The Arattai app has seen an explosive increase in daily sign-ups, skyrocketing from 3,000 to 350,000 within just three days—a remarkable surge of 100-fold. In response to this demand, Zoho's teams are working tirelessly to enhance infrastructure and tackle technical challenges. Vembu noted on X that they are preparing for another potential 100x increase in user activity. Launched in 2021, Arattai has recently soared to the top of India's app charts, prompting comparisons with WhatsApp. However, its ability to maintain this momentum hinges on converting downloads into consistent usage and addressing existing feature gaps. With a focus on privacy, Arattai ensures that user data is stored in India, and while voice and video calls are currently end-to-end encrypted, the rollout of full encryption for standard messages is on the horizon. The future of Arattai will depend on its capacity to prove itself as a reliable alternative in a market dominated by WhatsApp.