‘Made in India, made for the World’: Zoho chief Sridhar Vembu clears air on Arattai’s data privacy
Zoho Corporation has moved to dispel speculation around its homegrown messaging app Arattai and wider operations, with founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu issuing a detailed clarification on Tuesday. Responding to what he described as “false information,” Vembu addressed questions about where Zoho develops its products, how it manages data and the infrastructure it relies on.
Zoho Moves to Clarify Arattai and Operations
Clearing the air on data privacy and user concerns, Vembu emphasised that all Zoho products, including Arattai, are developed in India. The company’s global headquarters is in Chennai, where it pays taxes on worldwide income. Although Zoho has offices in over 80 countries and a strong footprint in the United States, Vembu reiterated that the corporation is firmly rooted in India.
Products developed in India and data hosting
On data management, he noted that Indian user information is hosted entirely within the country at facilities in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, with a new data centre planned in Odisha. Globally, Zoho operates 18 data centres, each handling information within its respective jurisdiction, underscoring the firm’s commitment to data sovereignty.
Infrastructure built in-house
Vembu also clarified that Zoho’s services, including Arattai, are powered by hardware owned by the company and software frameworks it has developed on top of open-source systems such as Linux and PostgreSQL. Crucially, he stressed that Zoho does not host its services on public cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud. While some of these platforms are used for regional traffic switching to improve speed, he confirmed that no customer data is stored on them.
Addressing why Zoho’s developer accounts on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store list a US office, Vembu explained this was a legacy issue from the early days of mobile app testing.
He concluded: “We are proudly ‘Made in India, Made for the World’, and we mean it.”
Arattai’s massive growth in just days
The Arattai app’s daily sign-ups have soared from 3,000 to 3,50,000 within only three days, a staggering 100-fold increase. Zoho’s chief scientist disclosed that teams are working around the clock to scale infrastructure and resolve technical issues triggered by the sudden spike.
“We are adding infrastructure on an emergency basis for another potential 100x peak surge. That is how exponentials work,” he wrote on X, noting that the growth came months ahead of a planned November rollout of new features and marketing campaigns.
Arattai vs WhatsApp
Arattai, Zoho’s Indian-built messaging app launched in 2021, has recently climbed to the top of the country’s app charts, inviting comparisons with WhatsApp. Yet keeping that momentum will be far tougher. WhatsApp is deeply woven into everyday life in India, with more than 500 million users who depend on it for personal chats, commerce, and even government services. Its vast network effects and expanding business platform give it a commanding lead.
Zoho promotes Arattai as a privacy-first service, with all user data stored in India. Voice and video calls are already end-to-end encrypted, while standard messages currently lack this safeguard. A ‘secret chat’ option does offer secure messaging, and full encryption is said to be on the way. Arattai must now convert downloads into regular use, bridge feature gaps, and prove its long-term dependability. Otherwise, its current spike in popularity may fade as quickly as it appeared.
