Will Arattai be India’s answer to WhatsApp? – The Economic Times

India’s swadeshi rival to WhatsApp Arattai added two million new users on the last day of September. While the numbers are impressive, there are many who look askance at its prospects as a rival to WhatsApp, India’s favourite chat app. In the renewed push post Trump tariff for self-reliance, Swadeshi Arattai — meaning “chat” in Tamil — launched in 2021 by Sridhar Vembu’s Zoho has foregrounded the conversation around digital self-reliance. “India First is a powerful sentiment—and it’s exciting to finally see it in the internet space. But it’ll take more than sentiment or a new app launch to overcome the deep network effects built over decades,” said Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder and former CEO of Hike. Mittal added that downloads are easy, but retention is the real battle. “For network products, that challenge is 100x harder, especially if the app is just a clone. Sentiment alone won’t move people’s networks.” Mittal should know. Hike, an instant messaging app launched in 2012, shut down in 2021 despite peaking at over 100 million users and raising funds at a valuation above $1 billion. Cred’s Kunal Shah noted on X that “network effects can’t be displaced with emotions,” though several welcomed the
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