Is Arratai a WhatsApp wannabe or a serious contender?

Chennai-born messaging app Arattai — meaning ‘chat’ in Tamil — from Zoho has become the latest social media buzzword, recording a 100X surge in traffic in a few days.

Launched in 2021, Arattai isn’t new. But it went viral only this week after senior government ministers endorsed it and India’s startup and venture capital community quickly adopted it.

India’s track record with homegrown digital products is mixed, raising questions about whether Arattai can scale.