In a significant endorsement for homegrown technology, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Wednesday that he has switched to Zoho Mail for his official government communications. The move signals growing trust in the Chennai-based software firm’s robust privacy and security features at the highest levels of the Indian government.
Shah joins a list of senior cabinet ministers, including Ashwini Vaishnaw (Railways and IT), Piyush Goyal (Commerce), and Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance), who have already adopted Zoho’s products. This collective shift is being viewed as a strong push for self-reliant, Indian-built technology solutions to handle sensitive government data.
The timing of the announcement is particularly noteworthy, as it coincides with Zoho’s plan to accelerate the rollout of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) across its suite of applications, a move aimed at making its platform one of the most secure in the world.
Zoho Doubles Down on Privacy
In a series of social media posts on Wednesday, Zoho’s chief scientist and co-founder, Sridhar Vembu, detailed the company’s ambitious privacy-first architecture. Currently, Zoho encrypts all user data on its disk storage, with a strict no-employee-access policy. However, the upcoming E2EE system will take this a step further.
Under the new model, all user data will be stored exclusively on the user’s device. Data will not be sent to the cloud unless a user explicitly opts for an encrypted backup, which would be protected by device-specific keys. Vembu emphasized that this architecture will make it technically impossible for corporate or personal data to be mined for targeted advertising—a direct challenge to the business models of many global tech giants.
Arattai Messenger to Get E2EE First
The company is currently testing this advanced encryption on its instant messaging app, Arattai. Vembu explained the difference between the consumer-focused Arattai and its business-oriented counterpart, Zoho Cliq.
“Zoho Cliq, from which Arattai started, keeps data in cloud storage because business users and admins need search, filtering, archiving, integration and other functions,” he explained. “We are actually turning off that cloud storage in Arattai to offer end-to-end encrypted chat.”
While the E2EE feature was originally slated for a November rollout, Vembu confirmed the company is now fast-tracking the process. “We have accelerated the schedule now,” he wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
This strategic push aligns with the company’s core philosophy. In a recent interview with ET, Zoho CEO Mani Vembu had stated, “Trust is our currency.” He highlighted that the company was betting on data localization and an ad-free model to scale its homegrown applications like the Arattai messenger and its office suite, positioning privacy as its key differentiator in a competitive market.
