The Indian messaging app that wants to take on WhatsApp

Can an Indian-made messaging app compete with the WhatsApp giant?

Over the past two weeks, the Arattai app, developed by Indian tech company Zoho, has created a buzz in the country. The company says it saw seven million downloads in “seven days last week,” without specifying dates. According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Arattai downloads were less than 10,000 in August.

Arattai, which means prank in Tamil, was launched in 2021, but not many have heard of it. The sudden rise in popularity is linked to the federal government The push towards self-reliance As India deals with the impact of steep US trade tariffs on its goods.

It’s a message that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers have been repeating over the past few weeks: Make in India, Spend in India.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the same when Posted about Arattai on X Two weeks ago he urged people to use “Made in India apps”. [to stay] Connected.” Since then, several ministers and business leaders have also posted about Aratay.

The company says pressure from the government “certainly contributed to the spike in Arattai downloads.”

“In just three days, we have seen daily subscriptions increase from 3,000 to 350,000. In terms of active users of our user base, we have seen a 100-fold jump, and that number is continuing to rise,” Zoho CEO Manny Vembo told the BBC, adding that this also shows that users are “excited about a homegrown product that can meet all their unique needs and requirements.”

The company did not provide details about its active users, but experts say they are still a far cry from Meta’s WhatsApp’s 500 million monthly active users in India.

India is WhatsApp’s largest market, and the app is almost a way of life in the country, with people using it for everything from sending good morning wishes in bulk to running their businesses.

Arattai has similar features to WhatsApp, and allows users to send messages and make voice and video calls. Both apps also offer a range of business tools, and as with WhatsApp, Arattai claims to be designed to work seamlessly on low-end phones and even on slow internet speeds.

Many users praised Arattai on social media, with some saying they liked its interface and design while others felt it matched WhatsApp in ease of use. Many are also proud of it being an Indian-made app and encourage others to download it.

Arattai is not the first Indian app to dream of replacing big international competitors. in the past, Indian made apps like Koo They were touted as alternatives to X and TikTok (after the Indian government banned the Chinese app in 2020), respectively, but never took off after their initial success. Even ShareChat, which was once described as A big competitor to WhatsApphe has He tempered her ambitions.

Delhi-based technology writer and analyst Prasanto K Roy says it will be difficult for Arattai to penetrate WhatsApp’s vast user base, especially since the Meta-owned platform hosts a large number of companies and government services on the platform.

He says Aratai’s success will depend on its ability not only to attract new users, but also to retain them, which cannot be driven by nationalist sentiment alone.

“The product has to be good, but even then, it is unlikely to be able to replace an app that has billions of existing users in the world,” Roy adds.

Some experts have also raised concerns about data privacy on Arattai. Although the app offers end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for video and voice calls, it does not currently extend this feature to messages.

“The government wants to create traceability for messages that flag security concerns, and that can be done easily without end-to-end encryption,” says Shashidhar KJ, managing editor at MediaNama, a portal that reports on technology policy in India. He adds that this puts people’s privacy at risk.

Arattai says it is actively working to deploy end-to-end encryption for text messages.

“We initially planned to launch this application after E2EE, which was going to happen in a couple of months,” Mani Vembu said. “However, timelines have been brought forward, and we are trying to provide some critical features and infrastructure support as quickly as possible.”

WhatsApp provides end-to-end encryption for messages and calls, but according to its policy, it can share metadata – such as messages or call logs – with governments under valid legal conditions.

India’s internet laws require social media platforms to share user data with the federal government under certain circumstances, but obtaining this data from global companies is difficult and time-consuming.

Global giants like Meta and X also have the legal and financial backing to lobby against government requests or rules they believe are unfair.

In 2021, WhatsApp files a lawsuit against India The government has criticized the government’s new digital rules to regulate content on social media and streaming platforms, saying they violate WhatsApp’s privacy protections. X has also faced legal challenges Against the powers of the Indian government to block or remove content.

So, experts wonder, will the Indian-made Arattai be able to stand up to government demands that may put users’ privacy rights at risk?

Until there is more clarity on Arattai’s privacy structure and Zoho’s stance on sharing user-generated content with the government, many people may not feel comfortable using it, says Rahul Mathan, who specializes in technology law.

Mr Roy says it’s possible that Zoho feels indebted to the government, especially since federal ministers have promoted the app. He also adds that it may not be easy for an Indian startup to put up a strong fight when asked to comply with the country’s laws and law enforcement requests.

When asked what Arattai would do if it received such requests, Mani Vembu said the company “wants its users to retain full control of their data while adhering to the country’s IT rules and regulations.”

“Once full end-to-end encryption is deployed, we will not even be able to access the content of user conversations. We will be transparent with our users about any legal obligations,” he said.

Experience suggests that the odds are stacked against Indian apps, especially when habit-shaping giants like WhatsApp and Facebook dominate. It remains to be seen whether Aratai will be able to break through – or will fade away like so many before him.

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