interview

Zoho CEO Mani Vembu On Why India Needs Arattai, Growth Surge And Integrating Businesses | Exclusive

Exclusive | Zoho CEO Mani Vembu on Arattai’s 100X surge: In this candid conversation with Zoho CEO Mani Vembu, dive into how Zoho’s 20-year-old tech backbone powers Arattai - the homegrown messaging app that saw a “100X surge” amid an explosive user growth. Mani Vembu shares insights on: Why India needs this tech: “Need this tech within India for data sovereignty” The massive rollout plans: “We were planning for wider rollout in November, but the scale became unimaginable.” Arattai’s growth milestones: “Meetings crossing 100,000 every day” and “More than half a million calls every day.” Competing with WhatsApp, Signal & Telegram: “Every app stands on its own merit… We will have our own space.” Building a super app: “Looking at adding more services. Payment is one of the areas we are looking to integrate.” Commitment to product & privacy: “We keep focus on improving the product… Users should find the app valuable.” Future features: “Have an option called Secret Chat, will enable end-to-end encryption soon.” This interview reveals the vision behind Arattai, Zoho’s long-term investment philosophy -“Learning by doing” - and how they are powering India’s digital independence. Mani Vembu spoke to Monecontrol's Chandra R Srikanth and Bhavya Dilipkumar

first published: Oct 7, 2025 01:03 pm