Prøve GULL - Gratis
SIZING UP SWADESHI AMBITION
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
|October 18, 2025
HE meteoric rise of Zoho's messaging app Arattai in India looks like a real-world example of aapada mein avsar (opportunity in adversity), a stage prop which usually serves to dress up debacles as challenges that fortune considerately strews in our path.
The app debuted in 2021 and enjoyed indifferent growth until the end of September, when its graph suddenly soared-it was being downloaded over 100 times more frequently than before and hit 2 million downloads in a single day on October 1. The earlier baseline was about 3,000 downloads per day.
The Arattai surge was propelled by a concerted wave of endorsements from Union government ministers, whose data and communications are hosted by Zoho to secure digital sovereignty. And these were actually proxy endorsements of the prime minister's call for post-Mahatma swadeshi, even in the choice of messengers. And that, in turn, was an aapada mein avsar response to the tariff war being conducted against India by Donald Trump, an attempt to paper over India's foreign policy setback by dressing it up as an opportunity to support Indian enterprise with Nehru-Gandhi era protectionism. And the windfall beneficiary of this intricate web of global and local forces is Chennai's digital entrepreneur Sridhar Vembu, who promoted Zoho and Arattai.
The primary question is: though tariffs are now spurring protectionism, in the long run, will they actually encourage India to integrate more deeply with globalisation and explore new markets, abandoning protectionist barriers that could have been thrown out long ago with the licence-permit raj? For decades, there's been a case for overhauling frameworks and attitudes to the boilerplate on which the nation runs, but the efforts have been piecemeal, slow and incomplete.
Denne historien er fra October 18, 2025-utgaven av The New Indian Express Tiruchy.
Abonner på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av kuraterte premiumhistorier og over 9000 magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
FLERE HISTORIER FRA The New Indian Express Tiruchy

The New Indian Express Tiruchy
EPS, senior leaders mark AIADMK foundation day
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday led the party's 54th foundation day at the party headquarters here.
1 min
October 18, 2025
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
PROTECT ELEPHANTS FOR A HEALTHIER ECOSYSTEM
INDIA'S elephant population has fallen by 17.8 percent since 2017, according to the latest report from the Wildlife Institute of India.
1 mins
October 18, 2025
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
Amendments to highways, pvt colleges Acts among 16 bills adopted in Assembly
THE Assembly on Friday adopted 16 bills spanning various departments.
1 min
October 18, 2025
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
Setback to Choksi as Belgian court okays diamond bizman extradition
ONE of the eight Antwerp courts for distinct civil and criminal matters has ruled that fugitive Indian diamond merchant Mehul Choksi can be extradited to India, and termed his arrest by the Belgian authorities on the basis of India's request valid, officials here said on Friday.
2 mins
October 18, 2025
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
EPS indulging in ‘Insta reel politics’, says Sivasankar
TRANSPORT Minister SS Sivasankar blamed AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami for indulging in “Insta reels politics\" because of his new acquaintances, indirectly referring to his recent support for actor Vijay's TVK.
1 min
October 18, 2025
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
₹7.5 CR CASH CBI sends Punjab DIG to 14-day custody
A CBI court in Chandigarh on Friday sent Punjab DIG Ropar Range, Harcharan Singh Bhullar, to 14-day judicial custody following his arrest in a highprofile corruption case. Authorities recovered ₹7.5 crore in cash, 2.5 kg of gold, 26 luxury watches, and documents linked to over 50 properties from his residence.
1 min
October 18, 2025
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
Rajnath on board of LCA Tejas Mk1A inaugural flight, praises ‘self-reliance’
DEFENCE Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday inaugurated the third Production Line of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Nashik. The move is aimed at increasing production to fill gaps in IAF combat squadrons left by the retirement of MiG fighters.
1 mins
October 18, 2025
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
SC flags digital arrests, says assault on rule of law
VOICING serious concern over digital arrests, the Supreme Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of such incidents in which fraudsters allegedly impersonate law enforcement agencies and fabricate judicial orders to extort money from people, particularly senior citizens, and sought responses from Centre and the CBI.
1 mins
October 18, 2025
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
HC puts PMLA authority on notice for action on Akash in Tasmac case
THE Madras High Court on Friday issued statutory notice to the PMLA Adjudicating Authority for issuing summons to film producer Akash Baskaran by disobeying the interim orders of the court staying all further proceedings initiated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the raids on his premises linked to the alleged Tasmac scam.
1 min
October 18, 2025
The New Indian Express Tiruchy
Chennai-based Sify Infinit Spaces files DRHP for ₹3,700 crore IPO
To utilise net proceeds for capital expenditure
1 mins
October 18, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size