OpenAI is offering its ChatGPT Go subscription free for one year to all users in India, a major move to expand its presence in one of its largest and fastest-growing markets.
The promotion will begin on November 4, coinciding with the company’s first DevDay Exchange event in Bengaluru, reports Bloomberg. The offer is open to new sign-ups, and existing ChatGPT Go subscribers will also receive the free 12-month plan, according to TechCrunch.
ChatGPT Go was first introduced in India in August as OpenAI’s most affordable paid tier, costing 399 rupees (less than $5) per year. The plan offers 10 times more usage than the free version for responses and image creation, larger file uploads, and improved memory for more personalised answers.
Local team expands OpenAI presence
India is ChatGPT’s second-largest market, and AI model builders are competing to amass users and human-generated data from millions of English-speaking Indians. Since its August debut, ChatGPT Go has “more than doubled OpenAI’s paid subscribers in India,” according to the company. OpenAI opened a New Delhi office in August and is building a local team to expand its presence.
“Since initially launching ChatGPT Go in India a few months ago, the adoption and creativity we’ve seen from our users has been inspiring,” said Nick Turley, vice president and head of ChatGPT, in a statement.
The aggressive promotion comes as rivals also target India’s massive user base, which includes over 700 million smartphone users. Perplexity AI offers its premium plan for free through a partnership with telecom giant Bharti Airtel. At the same time, Google has made its Gemini AI Pro membership free for students for a year.
Despite rapid user growth, making money in the country has proven challenging. In the 90 days leading up to August, the ChatGPT app saw over 29 million downloads in India but generated just $3.6 million in in-app purchases, according to Appfigures data.
