AI Giants Go Free: Why OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity Are Battling for India

The move is aimed at rapidly expanding their user base in the country, where low data costs and a massive smartphone population are driving strong demand for AI-powered services.

India has become a key battleground for AI firms due to its large smartphone user base of around 730 million and some of the cheapest mobile data rates in the world.

Users in the country consume about 21 gigabytes of data every month, paying just 9.2 cents per gigabyte, making heavy usage of AI tools far more affordable than in many other countries.

OpenAI has taken a similar route by making its ChatGPT Go plan free for one year in India. The plan, which allows higher usage than standard versions of ChatGPT, is usually paid in over 100 countries and was earlier priced at $54 in India. The free offer, launched nationwide in November, is available only to Indian users.

These moves have led to a sharp jump in usage. Data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, shows daily active users of ChatGPT in India surged 607 per cent year-on-year to 73 million as of last week.

This figure is more than double the number of daily users in the United States. India has now become the largest market by daily users for both chatbots.

Perplexity has also stepped up its India push by offering its Pro plan, which costs $200 a year globally, free for one year to customers of Airtel.

The company said the plan gives users unlimited access to its most advanced research tools. Following the offer, India now accounts for more than one-third of Perplexity’s global daily active users, up from just 7 per cent last year.

User engagement data suggests ChatGPT currently leads in India. In November, about 46 per cent of its monthly users opened the app daily, compared with 20 per cent for Perplexity and 14 per cent for Gemini.

- IANS