After Aravind Srinivas, Radhika Gupta congratulates Zoho, wishes for ‘emergence of truly world class Indian brands’
Edelweiss Mutual Fund Chief Radhika Gupta has congratulated Sridhar Vembu’s Zoho-run Arattai messaging app for reaching milestone users and positioning itself as an alternative to WhatsApp. Besides noting the company’s achievement, Gupta added that she wishes for ‘emergence of truly world class Indian brands’.
Prior to this, Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas also congratulated Zoho Corporation on the rapid success of its homegrown messaging app, which has seen daily sign-ups soar from 3,000 to 350,000 within just three days.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Radhika Gupta tagged Sridhar Vembu and the official Arattai accounts, and shared that she is a user of Arattai. She added that as a “big believer in Made in India brands”, hopes to see more such indigenous crop up over the next 20 years.
What did Radhika Gupta say? Full text
“Congrats Sridhar Vembu on the launch of Arattai. Happy to be a user and hope to see the network expand,” she wrote.
“A big believer in made in India brands – built for India and the world. On a recent trip to Tokyo as I was walking down Ginza street, I was struck by the sheer number of brands across categories that Japan has produced. It is not just the legacy bastions like cars, gaming and electronics, but even newer categories like shoes, beauty, textile and chocolates,” she noted.
Adding: “I am hoping we see the emergence of truly world class Indian brands across categories over the next 20 years! Built in India, trusted by the world.”
Sridhar Vembu on Arattai’s massive growth
The app’s daily sign-ups have soared from 3,000 to 350,000 within only three days, a staggering 100-fold increase. Zoho’s Chief Scientist and co-founder, Sridhar Vembu, disclosed that teams are working round 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.
What is Arattai?
The name Arattai, meaning “casual chat” in Tamil, reflects the app’s mission of simple, everyday communication. It provides features familiar to messaging users, including text, image, video and document sharing, voice and video calls, and stories.
Businesses can also use channels to connect with audiences, broadening the platform’s appeal beyond personal use. Privacy is central to its design, with end-to-end encrypted calls ensuring secure conversations.
With rapid adoption, a strong privacy focus, and vocal government support, Arattai is quickly emerging as a serious alternative to global players. Its growth signals that the country may have its own answer to WhatsApp.
