Zoho Enters the Business Messaging Market With Arattai for Business
Indian technology company Zoho has expanded its messaging ecosystem with the launch of Arattai for Business, a dedicated platform designed to help businesses communicate with customers through the Arattai messaging network.
The new service represents a major expansion for Arattai, which originally focused on personal communication. With the business version, companies can create a business presence and manage customer conversations directly through the messaging platform.
Zoho has also introduced the Arattai Business Platform, designed for larger organisations that want to connect their existing business software and automation systems with Arattai.
What Is Arattai for Business?
Arattai for Business is designed primarily for small and medium-sized businesses. According to the platform's official documentation, businesses can create a public profile containing their business name, display picture, description, category and operating hours.
The system also provides automated greeting and away messages, allowing businesses to respond to customers even when staff members are unavailable.
The service is intended for a wide range of businesses, including retailers, restaurants, home-service providers, salons, clinics and coaching organisations.
Businesses Can Manage Customer Conversations
The new platform allows companies to communicate with customers through the same messaging environment used for regular Arattai conversations.
Businesses can use their profile to provide customers with basic information and manage incoming conversations. The platform is designed to reduce the need for businesses to build a separate communication system from scratch.
Arattai Business is currently available on Android and can also be accessed through the web as a linked device.
New Platform for Larger Organisations
Alongside the business application, Zoho has launched the Arattai Business Platform. This service is aimed at organisations that require deeper integration between messaging and their existing software systems.
The platform can connect business software and automation systems with Arattai, potentially allowing organisations to incorporate messaging into existing customer-service and operational workflows.
Zoho has said that the Arattai Business Platform will be available free for government and public services such as the Railways. The company is developing integrations for these organisations.
Focus on Privacy and Business Data
Privacy is another major part of Arattai's positioning. Zoho's business documentation states that Arattai Business provides the same privacy controls available in the personal version of the application.
The platform also uses end-to-end encrypted messaging, while businesses can manage their conversations and profile through the dedicated business application.
For organisations increasingly concerned about how customer communication data is handled, privacy and control over business information could become important factors when selecting a messaging platform.
Launch Comes as Business Messaging Costs Change
The launch comes at a time when the business messaging market is undergoing significant changes.
Meta recently introduced changes to WhatsApp Business pricing in India, including charges for certain types of utility messages. These can include communications such as order confirmations and delivery-related updates.
Against this background, Zoho's entry gives Indian businesses another messaging platform to consider for customer communication.
However, Zoho has not announced complete commercial pricing for all business use cases on Arattai for Business. This means businesses will need to evaluate the final pricing structure as the platform develops.
Built for Indian Businesses
Zoho has positioned Arattai for Business as a platform built in India and designed for Indian businesses.
The move also reflects the broader growth of India's domestic technology ecosystem, where local companies are developing alternatives across communication, cloud computing, enterprise software and artificial intelligence.
Arattai itself gained attention as an Indian messaging application and has since expanded its features beyond basic personal communication.
What Could Come Next?
The introduction of a dedicated business platform could allow Arattai to expand into areas such as customer support, automated notifications and business software integrations.
For smaller companies, the dedicated business application provides a relatively simple way to establish a presence on the messaging network. Larger organisations can potentially use the separate Business Platform to connect their existing systems with Arattai.
The success of the strategy will depend on how quickly businesses and customers adopt the platform, how extensive its integrations become and how Zoho structures pricing for commercial users.
India's Messaging Market Enters a New Phase
Zoho's latest move shows that India's messaging market is becoming increasingly important for businesses seeking direct communication channels with customers.
With Arattai for Business, Zoho is moving beyond personal messaging and into a market dominated by established global platforms.
The launch gives Indian businesses another option for digital communication while adding a new layer to Zoho's growing ecosystem of enterprise and consumer technology products.
As more businesses move customer support, sales and automated communication onto messaging platforms, the competition between technology companies in this space is expected to become increasingly significant.
Journalist: Vijay Singh