Sridhar Vembu explains the tech behind Zoho’s Arattai, a Swadeshi messaging app: ‘Built on deep engineering’

Zoho co-founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu has shed light on the technological depth powering Arattai, the company’s homegrown messaging and calling app, emphasising the years of R&D and engineering frameworks that form its foundation.

Arattai, a simple product built on deep engineering

In a post on X on 5 October 2025, Vembu described Arattai as a product that appears simple on the surface but is “built on a vast amount of deep engineering.” He outlined several proprietary frameworks developed in-house by Zoho that underpin the app’s performance, scalability and security.

Refined real-time communication framework

According to Vembu, Arattai’s real-time communication capabilities are driven by Zoho’s custom-built messaging and audio-visual (AV) framework — a system that has been refined over 15 years to deliver “crisp calls and meetings that connect quickly.”

He also highlighted Zoho’s distributed computing framework, perfected over two decades, which enables efficient workload distribution across servers and databases while ensuring fault tolerance, performance monitoring and robust security. This same infrastructure, he noted, supports many of Zoho’s other products and safeguards the company’s cloud ecosystem.

“Our staying power comes from the depth of all the R&D we do,” Vembu wrote, adding that he has now moved full-time into research and development. He hinted that users can expect to see “many more innovations” emerging from the company’s labs in the near future.

Vembu also praised the perseverance of the Arattai team, acknowledging their dedication over more than five years of development. Drawing a parallel between engineering and spiritual discipline, he said, “Being a dedicated engineer is like being a Rishi,” urging his team to remain focused regardless of external praise or criticism.

A homegrown alternative built on indigenous tech

Arattai, which means “chat” in Tamil, was launched as a privacy-focused alternative to mainstream messaging apps, built entirely on Zoho’s indigenous technology stack. Vembu’s remarks reaffirm the company’s long-standing commitment to building deeply integrated, homegrown software from the ground up.

Arattai vs WhatsApp

Arattai is fast emerging as a strong Indian alternative to WhatsApp, offering a host of distinctive features that enhance both productivity and privacy. One of its standout tools is Meetings, which allows users to host, join, or schedule video conferences directly within the app—bringing functionality similar to Google Meet or Zoom into a simple chat interface.

Another clever addition is Pocket, a built-in space that serves as personal cloud storage, enabling users to save messages, media, and important notes without having to message themselves, as is common on WhatsApp. The app also includes a Mentions section inspired by Slack, helping users easily track messages in which they’ve been tagged.

Crucially, Arattai maintains a no-ads policy and ensures that user data is not exploited for marketing or promotional purposes, unlike WhatsApp’s integration with Meta’s advertising systems. Moreover, it currently features no compulsory AI integration, steering clear of intrusive AI tools and giving users a simpler, distraction-free communication experience.