Arattai for business launched, Sridhar Vembu says govt and public services can join for free

After Arattai grabbed the spotlight last year, Zoho is going a step further. The homegrown company now wants to enter the business messaging space with Arattai for business, as it competes against WhatsApp. Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu also announced the Arattai Business Platform which will be free for all government and public services.

On X, Sridhar Vembu announced that Arattai for business was now available for business to use as a way to connect with customers."The Arattai-for-Business app is live. This app allows businesses to communicate with customers," he wrote.

Going a step further, Zoho has also released Arattai Business Platform where organisations can integrate their different software systems, likely including the messaging service. This platform, Vembu explained, would be free for all public services. "The Arattai Business Platform is free for government and public services like Railways," the Zoho founder added.

In addition, Zoho is also offering incentives to healthcare and educational institutions to use Arattai Business with a "free allowance of 1 million messages per month."

What is Arattai for business?

Arattai for business is a messaging platform designed for businesses to communicate with customers as well as employees. That is, a business can potentially set up Arattai for business for communication within the organisation and talk to customers on the same platform.

The app was first spotted on the Google Play Store last month, and is now available to download. Zoho says that Arattai for business was "built in India and designed for Indian businesses." It comes with end-to-end encrypted messages, secure chat syncing across devices and data ownership.

Arattai for businesses follows the standard Arattai app. The messaging app went viral last year as a homegrown alternative to WhatsApp, reaching the number 1 spot on app stores in India. The name "Arattai" means chit-chat or casual conversation in Tamil.

Zoho's Arattai for business launch comes just a day after Meta announced changes to WhatsApp Business pricing. From October 1, businesses who use the platform are charged for certain service messages that had been free before. While a limited number of messages will remain free, Meta now charges for utility messages on WhatsApp Business, such as order confirmations and delivery updates, even if they are sent within that 24-hour window. Though Zoho has not revealed the pricing for Arattai for business just yet.