Financial Times, November 13, reported that Indian officials publicly support the Indian instant messaging platform Arattai (meaning "chat" in Tamil), aiming to directly compete with American competitors. In response to "Trump tariffs," Modi and several cabinet ministers have urged citizens to prioritize "Made in India" goods and services, which has rapidly propelled Arattai to the top of India's app rankings, accounting for 80% of its total downloads since its launch in 2021, with daily registrations increasing from 3,000 to 350,000. In comparison, the American messaging platform WhatsApp has 530 million monthly active users in India, the largest user base globally. Experts point out that Arattai's user base is far smaller than WhatsApp's and will not be able to challenge its dominant position in the short term. Although the Indian market is vast, its monetization potential is relatively limited. Data shows that in 2024, Indian users downloaded 24.3 billion (24.3bn) applications, with a cumulative usage time of 1.13 trillion (1.13tn) hours, but total spending was only 1 billion dollars ($1bn). Currently, technological nationalism is driving India to pursue technological self-reliance and develop alternative platforms. However, analysts warn against overestimating Arattai's explosive growth; similar local apps often "fade quickly." On one hand, India's digital ecosystem still deeply relies on American tech platforms. On the other hand, there are doubts about its ability to ensure user privacy, involving both communication security and political connections behind Arattai—its parent company Zoho's CEO was once a member of Modi's government's National Security Advisory Board.
Original article: www.toutiao.com/article/1848848445306888/
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