Union home minister Amit Shah announced on Wednesday that he has switched his official email address to homegrown service Zoho Mail.

“Hello everyone, I have switched to Zoho Mail. Kindly note the change in my email address. My new email address is amitshah.bjp@zohomail.in. For future correspondence via mail, kindly use this address. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter,” Shah wrote on X.

This move aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘Swadeshi’ or self-reliance, encouraging the adoption of Made-in-India products to foster economic growth and innovation in response to US tariffs.

Responding to Shah, Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu wrote on X: “Thank you, Sir, for your faith in us. I dedicate this moment to our hardworking engineers who have devoted over 20 years to Zoho. They stayed in India and persevered because they believed in our vision. Their faith has been vindicated. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat.”

Part of a broader government push

Earlier, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced his transition to Zoho, which drew immediate appreciation from Zoho’s CEO Sridhar Vembu. He called it a significant encouragement for his development team.

The education ministry has also directed officials to use the Zoho Office Suite for official document-related tasks.

According to the ministry’s circular, adopting Zoho’s suite of productivity tools is a strategic step towards reducing dependency on foreign software.

What is Zoho?

Zoho is an Indian multinational technology company providing over 80 web-based business applications, covering sales, marketing, finance, human resources, IT, analytics, and more.

Established in 1996 under Sridhar Vembu, Zoho has emerged as a cost-effective, unified alternative to global services like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Salesforce.

Zoho Mail, part of the Zoho ecosystem, is recognised for its privacy-focused, ad-free email service and robust productivity tools.

Zoho’s Messaging App: Arattai

Zoho’s homegrown messaging app, Arattai, is positioned as a “WhatsApp killer” in India.

While it offers end-to-end encryption for calls, encryption for chat messages is being rolled out soon.

“End-to-end encryption keeps that data on the device only (no cloud storage, unless a backup is specified). So it is actually easier on our servers and lowers our cost to serve users. In case of a back up, the encrypted device data is backed up but no server-level features are provided (unlike Zoho Cliq, see below),” Vembu explained on X.

He added: “Zoho Cliq, from which Arattai started, keeps data in cloud storage because business users and admins need search, filtering, archiving, integration and other functions. We are actually turning off that cloud storage in Arattai to offer end-to-end encrypted chat. That is in testing right now. We were going to roll it out in November and we have accelerated the schedule now.”

Arattai vs WhatsApp

Arattai also comes with features that WhatsApp lacks:

• Pocket: Personal cloud storage for messages, media, and notes across multiple devices.
• No Forced AI: Unlike WhatsApp’s integration of Meta AI, Arattai does not impose AI features.
• Meetings: Users can create, join, or schedule meetings directly within the app, eliminating the need for Zoom or Google Meet.

By adopting Zoho Mail and promoting Arattai, Shah’s move signals a stronger push for indigenous digital platforms and aligns with India’s vision of self-reliance in the technology sector.