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Indian tech giant Zoho is preparing to make its entry into the consumer payments space with the upcoming launch of Zoho Pay, a standalone digital payments application that will also be integrated into its proprietary chat platform, Arattai. The move marks a significant strategic expansion for the Chennai-headquartered company as it ventures beyond enterprise software into the fast-growing fintech ecosystem.
According to Sivaramakrishnan Iswaran, CEO of Zoho Payments Tech, Zoho Pay will enable users to send and receive money, make secure payments, and complete transactions directly within Arattai chats, creating a seamless conversational payments experience. The app is currently in internal testing and will be rolled out in phases over the coming months.
Zoho Pay is a key component of Zoho’s broader ambition to build a comprehensive financial services ecosystem. The company plans to expand beyond payments into related domains such as invoicing through Zoho Billing, payroll management, marketplace settlements, and later into lending, insurance, broking, and wealth management.
“Our approach to fintech is incremental. We’re starting with payments and gradually expanding into other financial services,” Iswaran explained.
Zoho’s fintech division already operates business payments and point-of-sale (POS) devices and last year received final approval for a payment aggregator licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)—a major regulatory milestone that strengthens its position in the financial technology sector. The company has also been engaging with industry stakeholders to enhance its payments infrastructure and align with India’s rapidly evolving digital finance ecosystem.
Central to Zoho’s consumer fintech strategy is Arattai, its privacy-focused messaging platform launched in 2021. With tens of millions of downloads, Arattai provides an ideal foundation for embedding payments into conversations—a model successfully leveraged by Asian superapps like WeChat, Alipay, and GCash. Promoted as a “Made in India” alternative to global messaging apps, Arattai reflects Zoho’s commitment to supporting India’s digital sovereignty and indigenous innovation.
By integrating chat and payments, Zoho aims to drive adoption among Arattai users, small businesses, and entrepreneurs already using its suite of business applications. The company believes its deep integration across Zoho products and its strong SMB presence will help it stand out in India’s crowded digital payments market.
However, Zoho will face strong competition from established UPI-based players such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and BharatPe. To compete effectively, the company will need to leverage its brand reputation, provide frictionless cross-platform experiences, and potentially introduce user incentives to encourage early adoption.
While Zoho has yet to announce an official launch date for Zoho Pay, key factors to watch include progress in internal testing, regulatory approvals, merchant onboarding, and early user adoption trends among Arattai’s growing base.
Zoho’s foray into chat-based payments represents a bold expansion into consumer fintech, merging communication, payments, and business integration into one ecosystem. If successful, Zoho Pay could redefine how small businesses and consumers transact in India’s rapidly advancing digital economy.
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