Airtel Offers One-Year Perplexity Pro To 36 Crore Users At No Cost

Bharti Airtel has partnered with AI-powered search engine Perplexity to offer a free 12-month subscription of Perplexity Pro to its entire base of over 36 crore customers across mobile, broadband, and DTH services.

This marks the first time an Indian telecom operator is offering a generative AI tool’s paid version at scale. Perplexity Pro, which typically costs Rs 17,000 a year, includes advanced search capabilities, access to multiple large language models such as GPT-4.1 and Claude, image generation, deeper research tools, increased daily limits, and additional services through Perplexity Labs.

Airtel said the partnership aims to make AI-driven search accessible to its entire user base, spanning students, professionals and households.

“This collaboration will bring the powerful and real-time knowledge tool for millions of users at their fingertips, at no extra cost,” said Gopal Vittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Airtel. “This first-of-its-kind GenAI partnership in India is focused on helping our customers navigate the emerging trends in the digital world with confidence and ease.”

Aravind Srinivas, Co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, said: “This partnership is an exciting way to make accurate, trustworthy, and professional-grade AI accessible to more people in India—whether a student, working professional, or managing a household.”

Generative AI tools such as Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Microsoft Copilot have seen rising adoption across user segments. Most pro versions of these tools are priced between Rs 15,000 and Rs 30,000 per year.