Zoho to Launch Zoho Pay A Chat-Based Payments App
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Zoho is set to make its debut in India’s consumer payments market with the launch of Zoho Pay, a standalone digital payments app that will also be integrated into its homegrown chat platform, Arattai. The move marks a major shift for the Chennai-based tech giant as it expands from enterprise software into the broader fintech ecosystem.
According to Zoho Payments Tech CEO Sivaramakrishnan Iswaran, Zoho Pay will allow users to send and receive money, make secure payments, and complete transactions seamlessly within Arattai chats. The product is currently in internal testing and will be rolled out in phases over the coming months.
Zoho Pay is the company’s latest step in building a wider financial services ecosystem. The firm plans to extend its reach beyond digital payments into invoicing through Zoho Billing, payroll management, marketplace settlements, and eventually lending, broking, insurance, and wealth management services. “Our approach to fintech is incremental. We’re starting with payments and gradually expanding into other financial services,” Iswaran said.
Zoho’s fintech arm already operates business payments and point-of-sale (POS) devices, and last year obtained final approval for a payments aggregator licence from the Reserve Bank of India. This regulatory milestone positions the company strongly as it moves into the consumer fintech segment. Zoho has also been engaging with industry bodies to strengthen its payments infrastructure and align with India’s growing digital finance ecosystem.
Arattai, Zoho’s privacy-focused messaging platform launched in 2021, will play a central role in this strategy. With tens of millions of downloads and an expanding user base, Arattai offers a ready gateway for embedding payments within conversations—a model successfully adopted by Asian superapps like WeChat and GCash. The app has been marketed as a “Made in India” alternative to global messaging platforms, aligning with the country’s push for indigenous technology solutions.
By merging chat and payments, Zoho aims to drive adoption among existing Arattai users and small businesses already using its business tools. The company hopes its deep integration with Zoho’s suite of products, combined with its strong presence among SMBs, will help it stand out in India’s crowded digital payments landscape.
However, the company will face stiff competition from entrenched players such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and BharatPe—all of which dominate India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem. Winning users in this saturated market will require Zoho to leverage its brand trust, offer seamless cross-platform experiences, and possibly introduce strategic incentives for early adopters.
While Zoho has not announced an official launch date for Zoho Pay, key developments to watch include the outcome of ongoing internal testing, regulatory updates for consumer payments operations, merchant onboarding progress, and early adoption rates among Arattai users.
Zoho’s move signals a bold step into consumer fintech, combining chat, payments, and business integration into a single digital ecosystem an approach that could redefine how small businesses and consumers transact within India’s digital economy.
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