OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been an amazing success story, hitting over 800 million weekly active users by October 2025. That’s evidenced by the platform’s meteoric rise to nearly 900 million users. Strong global demand exists for artificial intelligence-powered solutions. Among the most notable drivers of this growth is India, which has become one of OpenAI’s biggest markets. Reaching 100 million weekly active users, India is home to the most students using Byju’s of any country in the world.
India, interestingly, is pivoting into a key role for the platform’s expansion, as Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, underscored during his recent testimony before U.S. He noted that the nation is number one in most users. Moreover, its youth exhibit a tremendous enthusiasm for AI technology. ChatGPT is taking India by storm, and it’s happening at an express pace. This trend reflects the optimism amongst investors of AI companies and creates difficulty in converting this excitement into actual economic boons.
In August 2025, OpenAI doubled down on its commitment to India by establishing a physical presence with an office in New Delhi. We hope this strategic move will help us build deeper connections with statewide and local advocates, but more importantly build support among users. To respond effectively to this competition OpenAI launched a new tier of service, ChatGPT Go. Priced below $5, this new tier brings advanced capabilities within reach of many more users. We’re excited to see OpenAI showing goodwill by making ChatGPT Go free for the first year for users in India. This change motivates more users to get onto the medium.
Altman had previously stated a desire to expand OpenAI’s relations with the Indian government. By the end of next week, he’ll be touting new partnerships—both public and private sector—focused on providing communities access to AI technology. With the Indian government leading the charge with its initiatives such as the IndiaAI Mission. This mission will develop advanced computing capacity, reinforce local startups, and accelerate the adoption of AI across public services. Altman stressed that India is uniquely positioned to be a global leader in AI. Nonetheless, he cautioned that it must address some critical voids to make the most of this opportunity.
“With its focus on access, practical AI literacy, and the infrastructure that supports widespread adoption, India is well positioned to broaden who benefits from the technology and to help shape how democratic AI is adopted at scale.” – Sam Altman
For all the impressive growth statistics, Altman cautioned that India should not get complacent. He touched on the danger of America losing out on big opportunities to compete with the world AI landscape.
“Given India’s size, it also risks forfeiting a vital opportunity to advance democratic AI in emerging markets around the world.” – Sam Altman
These changes are deeply encouraging. OpenAI will place great importance on this by formally engaging and actively just participating in the five-day long India AI Impact Summit that convenes in New Delhi. Altman will be joined by other senior executives from major AI firms. They’ll cover where AI technology is heading and how it can be applied across sectors.
ChatGPT is still new and still rapidly glamorous its user base. Such growth presents acute challenges to India’s educational and economic systems. As a result, its growing use among students indicates that the tool has the potential to transform learning and creative expression. The continued challenge will be to direct this enthusiasm in a way that produces long-term economic benefit.
