Why India should build, not borrow softwares?
“I really don’t care to operate in a pure hype environment. We are here to produce really long-term technology.” said Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu after the initial hype of Arattai subsided. He was quizzed about the popular messaging app Arattai dropping out of the top 100 apps in both Google Playstore and Apple’s app store. He emphasized that fluctuation in the ranking of app isn’t cause for concern but is normal part of product development.
Arattai app developed by Zoho had recently risen to prominence after Indian government and public at large pushed for domestic alternative to foreign apps. Even though 90 percent of Zoho’s revenue comes from outside India, it’s a home grown company at a time when geo-political winds are blowing against India. There is an ongoing tariff war directed against India. India predominantly relies on Western tech companies and fears that punitive measures could extend to the tech sector too. To prevent a shocking disruption, India fast-forwarded adoption of domestic alternatives to face a possible tech blockade. In October 2025, Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted that he has switched to Zoho mail. By announcing a change in email address, he sent a message that future of Indian tech belongs to the domestic companies. Over the past one year, Indian government has been migrating it’s email platform to Zoho right from the level of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to central government employees. Zoho has the confidence of government because of its demonstrable success in developing world-class tech products and scaling it in the international market.
The dominance of American tech giants in India
Even though India with it’s huge population forms the biggest user base of technology, the country has been lagging in developing home-grown software solutions. The software stacks commonly used in corporate India are almost entirely foreign-built. Apart from advanced AI apps and vibe coding platforms, basic services like email accounts, social media platforms and website development modules too are entirely non-Indian. India has the highest number of social media accounts storing data in foreign locations simply because it’s an open society with democratic norms. In sharp contrast, China has isolated its internet user base from the rest of the world in terms of technology. China has developed home-grown alternatives to Big Tech global giants while India has relied on borrowed platforms and tech solutions. The most widely used messaging app in India isn’t developed in India. Whether it’s communication amongst government officials or privacy of general public, Indian government has little control over the treasure trove of data collected by multi-national corporations. In the unfortunate event of tariff wars escalating into diplomatic stand-off, India is a sitting duck due to it’s excessive reliance on foreign tools. The dependence is an Achilles heel for India especially if defense sector tools like spywares, drones or missile systems run on foreign codes. If state-of-the-art weapon systems imported from abroad are susceptible to kill-switches controlled by foreign powers, it will render our military toothless in times of a crisis. With the aid of softwares transmitting sensitive information in the background, foreign intelligence agencies can remotely infiltrate devices of law enforcement agencies to secure real-time intelligence on the country. India already has little to no control over the algorithms in the borderless digital world that determine information flow in social media platforms. Software installations in billions of personal devices and military equipments worsens the vulnerability. In the cybersecurity sector and defense equipment industry, the share of Indian software stacks is less than 5%. With such a miniscule share in sensitive sector, India faces challenging times if foreign powers turn on us. India isn’t capable of a full-fledged AI-powered war.
The goal of self-reliant software stacks
The progress of India with messaging apps like Arattai alone cannot deliver a comprehensive tech-dominance. India should wean away from foreign softwares and start building home-grown alternatives to ensure self-sustenance in technology. A long-standing commitment to invest in Indian developers who can deliver world-class tech products is the need of the hour. The goal isn’t to replace foreign companies temporarily or to secure a higher ranking in Google Playstore and Apple store. The goal is a comprehensive tech ecosystem for the local market so that our software stacks remain immune to the whims of world leaders and tech titans. China is already paving it’s way in the AI world by developing Deepseek – a credible alternative to American and European LLM’s. India has government-backed AI platform called Bhashini launched under the AI mission tailored to over 22 Indian languages. India AI mission is producing impressive results as the race to develop Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) tightens. Unless India can build it’s technology that withstands the global competition, the reliance on subscription of foreign softwares will keep Indians vulnerable. Zoho is making its mark in the international stage. India needs a dozen companies like Zoho and hundreds of disruptive startups to become self-reliant over the long term.
