ATMNIRBHAR BHARAT- OUR OWN INDEGENOUS SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

 

ATMNIRBHAR BHARAT- OUR OWN INDEGENOUS SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

 

(by Ved Pal, IRSE, FIE, FIPWE, MBA; Former Chief Administrative Officer, Ministry of Rlys, Govt of India)

                                                                                               

Some important developments have taken place in wake of the 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the United States on Indian products and the H-1B visa fee hike as given below:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck a “swadeshi” chord in his address to nation today, on September 21, 2025, urging citizens to support local products amid the H-1B visa fee hike and the 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the United States on Indian products. Modi said, “Today, knowingly or unknowingly, many foreign products have become a part of our everyday lives... We should buy products that are Made in India, made with the hard work of our country’s youth—products that carry the sweat of our sons and daughters.” He added “On the first day of Navratri, the country is going to take an important and big step for Atmanirbhar Bharat. With the sunrise tomorrow, the next generation GST reforms will come into effect.”

On the same day Zoho Corp's Sridhar Vembu urged the panic stricken Indian tech professionals in the US "I have heard so many accounts from Sindhi friends about how their families had to leave everything and come to India during partition. They rebuilt their lives and Sindhis have done well in India,..I am sad to say this, but for Indians on an H1-B visa in America, this may be that time. Come back home. It may take 5 years to rebuild your lives but it will make you stronger. Do not live in fear. Make the bold move. You will do well."

On Sep 23, 2025 Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced “I am moving to Zoho—our own Swadeshi platform for documents, spreadsheets & presentations,” Vaishnaw posted on X. “I urge all to join PM Shri @narendramodi Ji’s call for Swadeshi by adopting indigenous products & services.”

On September 24, 2025 Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan encouraged people to support Indian-made digital platforms by switching to Arattai, a messaging app developed by Zoho Corporation, which is seen as a homegrown alternative to Meta’s WhatsApp. In a post shared on social media platform X, Pradhan described Arattai as a “free, easy-to-use, secure, and safe" app that is proudly made in India. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to adopt Swadeshi or locally made products, the minister appealed to people to use India-made apps like Arattai to stay connected with friends and family.

In a circular issued by the Department of Higher Education on Oct 03, 2025, the ministry emphasised that adopting Zoho is part of a broader strategy to reduce reliance on foreign software and strengthen India's homegrown tech ecosystem (Copy of circular given hereunder). The order directs staff to create, edit, and share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations using Zoho, and to leverage its collaborative tools for teamwork and communication. The suite has been integrated into the NIC mail platform, allowing access without extra logins or installations.

Let us learn more about Zoho. Idea was born in mind of Sridhar Vembu during 1990s, in a small apartment located in the suburbs of Chennai. Initially the company was founded in 1996 in New Jersey, USA by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas as AdventNet, Inc., and provided network management software. Company also set up global headquarters at Chennai. AdventNet expanded operations into Japan in 2001 and shifted focus to small and medium businesses. Zoho CRM was released in 2005, along with Zoho Writer, the company's first Office suite product and Zoho Projects, Creator, Sheet, and Show were released in 2006. Zoho expanded into the collaboration space with the release of Zoho Docs and Zoho Meeting in 2007 and in 2008, the company added invoicing and mail applications, reaching one million users by August of that year. On 27 May 2009, the company changed its name to Zoho Corporation. In 2011 Zoho opened an office in Tenkasi, Tamilnadu, where their product Zoho Desk was built and launched. During 2019-20 Vembu moved to Tenkasi, Tamilnadu to operate and expand Zoho,s rural offices. After the outbreak of COVID-19 Zoho planned to open branches in rural areas in southern Tamil Nadu including Madurai and Theni. In 2023, Zoho opened Zoho Labs R&D divisions in Nagpur, Maharashtra, for developing data centre hardware. Zoho is headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and has offices in 80 countries. As of 2023, Sridhar Vembu's sister Radha Vembu and brother Sekar Vembu own 47.8% and 35.2% of the company, respectively, while co-founders Tony Thomas and Sridhar Vembu hold 8% and 5% stakes. As per February 2025 figures Zoho corporation was valued at Rs. 1.04 lakh crores (US$ 12.5 billion).

Notable Zoho Corporation products:

Products of Zoho include Zoho CRM, Zoho Office Suite, Zoho Books, Zoho Desk, Zoho Social, Zoho Projects, Zoho Sign, Zoho Mail (part of Zoho Workplace), Zoho Sites, Zoho Analytics, Zoho Creator, Zoho One, Zoho People and Zoho Vault.

Popular Zoho Apps for common people:

Many Indians were critical that India was unable to produce its own software, cloud services, and social media platforms and reliance on US. Very few were aware that our own things were available for decades and waitin for recognition. Following apps can be used by common people instead of popular foreign apps:

Arattai instead of Whatsapp

Ulaa instead of Google Chrome

Zoho Mail instead of Gmail

Zoho Workplace instead of Office

 

Criticism: Zoho Apps, particular Arattai, have become the focus of a coordinated online smear and hate campaign. Critics have cited ideological reasons for opposing the Indian-developed app, targeting Vembu for his Tamil Brahmin heritage and labeling him as a “Sanghi,” used as a “slur” to denote anyone leaning to the “right” or who supports the central government. The opposition has raised privacy concerns despite Arattai hosting all data in India, providing call encryption, and planning chat encryption upgrades. Common people are hardly concerned about privacy although antinational plotters, terrorists, gangsters, smugglers, corrupt seeking bribes, loose characters afraid of illicit extra-marital relationships and other criminals need be concerned. Some criticism is baseless and simply dirty politics like Ulaa and Arattai sound odd. (Arattai is Tamil word for “casual chat” or “chit‑chat”). They are happy with Google (a Haryanvi will relate it to shit- rot), Yahoo (shout of Shammi Kapoor during a wild dance), Slack (lousy), Kaggle (Australia/US), Analtech (US/Delaware)-less said better about name; but people would find fault with anything Indian.

Challenges: With its sudden rise, Arattai is facing challenges typical of overnight sensations. Zoho has acknowledged issues such as delayed OTPs, slower contact sync, and occasional lag during sign‑ups, all due to the surge in server load. The company says it is “working hard to expand servers” and hopes to mitigate these glitches within a few days. With increased patronage the company will surely outplay WhatsApp and other US apps.

I call upon all Indians to adopt Swadeshi in all walks of life including IT software.