Telegram is gradually picking up pace in the race to be India's most preferred messaging app and it has wooed  42.9 per cent WhatsApp users so far, revealed a survey.

According to the survey, the results of which were made public on Friday 10, revealed that this shifting from WhatsApp to Telegram has come in the last three years.

With over 53 per cent users, WhatsApp, however, still continues to the leader among the messaging apps.

The survey further revealed that Signal has also gained in its customer base by adding 47 per cent new users in the past year and this has been possible mainly because of their extra security offerings.

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In the case of upcoming WhatsApp data privacy policy from May 15, the Union Ministry of Electronics and IT has asked the messaging platform to withdraw, not defer, the recent change.

In its letter to WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart, the ministry slammed the platform's "all or nothing" approach.

The Facebook-owned platform has over 40 crore users in the country. Telegram has crossed 60 crore users globally, mostly from India in recent months.

"Though there is a clear first-mover advantage for WhatsApp, users are increasingly signing up other platforms like Telegram and Signal for their unique features and better security they offer," reported indiatvnews.com quoting Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst, techARC.

"With this future of messaging apps in India is going to be pluralistic in nature," he added.

The survey result further revealed that at least one in five respondents preferred Telegram over WhatsApp for varied reasons.

It also revealed that around 44 per cent of the respondents were part of some government channel or group on Telegram.

"In terms of engagement, it stands at a tie with WhatsApp with users using them equally at 34.4 per cent," the survey report added.

Over 32 cent of the respondents said they send critical and secret messages over Telegram.

Over 45 per cent of the users are apprehensive about WhatsApp privacy basis media reports.

The findings further revealed that 81 per cent of the users are still confident regarding the privacy and security offered by WhatsApp.

The survey also found that over 70 per cent of respondents will continue to use both WhatsApp and Telegram, even if WhatsApp loses its competitive advantage of most of the contacts for anybody using the app.