Zoho Launches Arattai for Business, Free for Government Services

Zoho has launched Arattai for Business, expanding its homegrown messaging platform into business communications and positioning it as an option for companies to connect with customers and employees. Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu announced the launch on October 1, saying the app is now available for businesses to use for customer communication.

Alongside the business messaging app, Zoho has also introduced the Arattai Business Platform, which allows organisations to integrate different software systems with the platform. Vembu said the service would be free for government and public services, specifically mentioning organisations such as the Railways.

Zoho is also offering incentives to healthcare and educational institutions to adopt Arattai Business. These organisations will receive a free allowance of up to one million messages per month, according to the company. The announcement expands Zoho's effort to make Arattai useful beyond individual messaging and into institutional and commercial communication.

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Arattai for Business is designed to allow businesses to communicate both internally and with customers. Zoho says the platform was built in India for Indian businesses and includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, secure chat synchronisation across devices and data ownership features.

The business-focused version follows the wider Arattai messaging app, which gained significant attention in India last year as a homegrown alternative to WhatsApp. The name Arattai refers to casual conversation or chit-chat in Tamil. The business application was first spotted on the Google Play Store in August and has now been made available for download.

The launch comes shortly after Meta introduced changes to WhatsApp Business pricing in India from October 1, including charges for certain utility messages such as order confirmations and delivery updates. Zoho has not yet announced pricing for Arattai for Business. With the new platform, the company is expanding Arattai from a consumer messaging service into a broader business and public-service communication platform.

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