ChatGPT owner OpenAI to open first India office in Delhi

OpenAI, the parent of ChatGPT, is setting up its first India office, in Delhi, later this year. The move underscores how important India has become for the chatbot.

"It's ChatGPT’s second largest market by users, after the US," wrote Jake Wilczynski, OpenAI’s Asia Pacific communications head, on LinkedIn. He noted that weekly active users in India have grown more than four times in the past year.

That surge helps explain why OpenAI has started tailoring its products to India. Just last week it rolled out an India only subscription plan at Rs 399 per month, offering 10 times more messages and images than the free version.

For students, who use ChatGPT more in India than anywhere else in the world, the lower price point could be a game changer.

The chatbot is not alone in chasing India’s massive user base. Google’s Gemini and Microsoft-backed Perplexity are also vying for attention. Perplexity, for instance, has tied up with Airtel to hand out free subscriptions worth Rs 17,000 a year to its telecom customers.