OpenAI, Google and Perplexity have intensified competition in India by offering free access to premium artificial intelligence tools, a move aimed at accelerating adoption in the world’s most populous country.
India has emerged as a major battleground for AI companies, supported by its vast digital base of around 730 million smartphones and some of the lowest mobile data costs globally. Users in the country consume an average of 21 gigabytes of data a month, paying just 9.2 cents per gigabyte, making large-scale usage far more affordable than in many other markets, Reuters reported.
To appeal to price-sensitive consumers, Google began offering its $400 Gemini AI Pro subscription free for 18 months to 500 million customers of Reliance Jio in November. More recently, it expanded the availability of its discounted “AI Plus” package to India, adding the country to a list of dozens where the offer is live, according to Reuters.
OpenAI has followed a similar approach by making its ChatGPT Go plan free for a year in India. The plan, which offers extended usage compared with standard tiers, normally carries charges in over 100 countries and was previously priced at $54 in India before being made free nationwide in November. Like Google’s AI Pro offer, the free ChatGPT Go plan is limited exclusively to India.
These offers are reportedly driving a sharp rise in usage. Data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, compiled for Reuters, shows daily active users of ChatGPT in India jumping 607% year-on-year to 73 million as of last week. This is more than double the number recorded in the US. Gemini’s daily users in India rose 15% after the Reliance Jio offer launched in November, reaching 17 million last week, compared with three million in the U.S. India has now become the largest market by daily users for both chatbots, the data showed.
Perplexity has also entered the fray, making its Pro tool, which is priced globally at $200 a year, free for one year for customers of Airtel. The company says the plan provides unlimited access to its most advanced research tools. As a result, India now accounts for more than a third of Perplexity’s global daily active users, up from 7% last year, according to the Sensor Tower data.
But analysts believe the strategy goes beyond user growth. Multiple AI analysts told Reuters that India’s linguistic diversity makes it a valuable source of training data. They see Indian user interactions as a big test for AI systems seeking to handle complex communication patterns that are largely missing from existing datasets.
The aggressive pricing strategy echoes earlier moves by Reliance, led by Mukesh Ambani, which partnered with Google’s Gemini. Reliance’s telecom arm built a user base of more than 500 million customers after launching in 2016 with months of free data and voice services. Reliance and Disney also previously offered free cricket streaming on their India platforms before merging their local media operations, the Reuters report added.
Usage patterns suggest ChatGPT currently enjoys the highest engagement in India, with 46% of its monthly users opening the app daily in November, compared to 20% for Perplexity and 14% for Gemini, according to the Sensor Tower data.
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