Just two words on a TOI front page, no context: inside Puch AI’s curiosity-first strategy

A full-fledged front-page ad in The Times of India carrying just two words "Puch AI" left readers puzzled. Some assumed it was a new marketing gimmick from established AI platforms like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Others guessed it was a new company, while a few tried translating the phrase into English to decode its meaning.

That curiosity, it turns out, was the point.

With no explainer and no context- just a brand name: Puch AI set out to make people search for it. 

This approach reflects Puch AI’s core thesis: discovery before explanation. By prompting users to actively look up the brand, the company ensured that the first real interaction happened on its own terms, rather than through a conventional explainer-led funnel.

Puch AI is an AI-powered personal assistant that lives inside WhatsApp. Instead of downloading a new app or navigating a complex website, users simply message a WhatsApp number- or even place a voice call- to get things done.

Founded in mid-2025 by Siddharth Bhatia and Arjit Jain, Puch AI positions itself as a platform built to democratise AI for India. Bhatia believes that India has seen three defining shifts over the past decade: Jio made the internet accessible, UPI transformed digital payments, and quick commerce reshaped shopping. The next shift, he argues, will be mass AI adoption.

Puch AI functions as a multilingual assistant that understands and responds in several Indian languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada and Punjabi. The print ad, however, was only one part of its marketing playbook.

Beyond print, it was also a sponsor of Lionel Messi’s GOAT India Tour. As a top-tier sponsor, its logo appeared prominently across venues-from stadiums in Kolkata to meet-and-greet events in Delhi- again without much explanation beyond the name itself.

This strategy extended organically to social media. When photos of creator Elvish Yadav with Messi sparked widespread speculation, many users assumed the images were AI-generated. Those were later confirmed to be real. Through its sponsorship, Puch AI enabled Indian creators to meet the football legend, blending the worlds of AI, pop culture and live sporting history.

The platform has also drawn attention from India’s startup ecosystem. Shaadi.com founder Anupam Mittal wrote on X after trying several local GPTs: “Tried a few local GPTs including Puch AI. Very colloquial. Very Indian. Use cases most global models don’t think about.”

Six months after launch, a LinkedIn post by Bhatia claimed that over 60% of its nearly one million users were experiencing AI for the first time.

Despite operating with limited resources, Puch AI says its self-hosted platform already delivers stronger multilingual capabilities than Meta AI and better video generation than Grok.

“If we wanted, we’d love to beat them at their game. But the bigger game is having them come to us for distribution. That’s the only game I’m playing- and the one I intend to win,” Bhatia wrote.

Why did we buy India’s most expensive number?
Because India deserves its own AI.

Sovereign AI is a bigger priority than even nuclear energy in ways we can’t yet imagine. China is already releasing powerful open-source models, but every single one of them calls Arunachal Pradesh… pic.twitter.com/qqZ2pNZeZs

— Siddharth Bhatia (@siddharthb_) September 2, 2025

Additionally, he mentioned that the offering will always be free even though many warned him that a free product would be dismissed as ‘second-class’. For Puch AI, accessibility and empowerment come first.