Anand Mahindra downloads Arattai ‘with pride’, Sridhar Vembu thanks support, says ‘gives us more determination’

Billionaire industrialist Anand Mahindra and Zoho's Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu's conversations on social media over up-and-coming ‘swadeshi’ messaging app Arattai, has warmed netizens' hearts.

The interaction began with Mahindra & Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra sharing on X (formerly Twitter), that he has downloaded Arattai “with pride”, as the indigenous messaging app looks poised to give Meta's WhatsApp some competition in the Indian market. He wrote, “Downloaded Arattai today… With pride.”

Heartwarning interaction follows: ‘Gives us more determination’, ‘Cheering for you’

Sridhar Vembu responded to Anand Mahindra's post saying, “Thank you so much, this means a lot”, and then quoted it to tell the billionaire that a team member pointed out the praise, and this “gives us even more determination”.

Vembu wrote: “I was in a meeting in our Tenkasi office with our Arattai engineers, working out refinements to the app and a team member showed this tweet. Thank you Anand Mahindra this gives us even more determination.”

In what turned into a heartwarming conversation, Anand Mahindra, quoted Vembu's post saying: “We’re cheering for you, @svembu”.

How did netizens react?

There were a host of positive reactions. One user said, “I love it so much when one entrepreneur backs another. This is such an inspiring factor for us”.

Another wrote: “Make in India, aatmanirbhar Bharat hamara.”

The Arattai official account also responded to Mahindra's original post, saying: “Welcome to Arattai, Mr Anand Mahindra. We are truly honoured to have you onboard and grateful for your support.”

However, some users also took the chance that Anand Mahindra's blast gave the topic, to bring Arattai's lack of end-to-end encryption for chats into the spotlight.

Radhika Gupta wishes for ‘emergence of truly world class Indian brands’

Zoho and Sridhar Vembu have seen a lot of support these past days. Edelweiss Mutual Fund Chief Radhika Gupta congratulated Arattai for reaching milestone users and positioning itself as an alternative to WhatsApp and wished for ‘emergence of truly world class Indian brands’.

Radhika Gupta shared that she is a user of Arattai and as a “big believer in Made in India brands”, hopes to “see the emergence of truly world class Indian brands across categories over the next 20 years! Built in India, trusted by the world”.

Prior to this, Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas also congratulated Zoho Corporation on the rapid success of its homegrown messaging app, which till September-end saw daily sign-ups soar from 3,000 to 350,000 within just three days.