India emerges as OpenAI’s second largest market:Srinivas Narayanan

India has become OpenAI’s second-largest market globally in terms of user base and is among the top five in developer engagement, marking the country’s growing influence in the artificial intelligence landscape. The company is now developing products in India that can be scaled and replicated across global markets, according to Srinivas Narayanan, Chief Technology Officer for B2B applications at OpenAI.Narayanan said, “India is leading in many ways on what is possible with AI.” He emphasized that India’s diverse range of use cases and unique needs make it an ideal testing ground for AI applications that can later be expanded globally.
As part of its localized innovation push, OpenAI has introduced IndQA, a culturally and historically focused dataset designed to evaluate AI model performance across Indian languages. Developed in collaboration with 250 experts covering 12 languages, IndQA is envisioned as a global model for linguistic and cultural inclusivity.OpenAI, which revolutionized the tech world with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, is currently valued at around $500 billion and maintains deep partnerships with industry giants including Nvidia, AMD, Oracle, and AWS.
Early Days of a Global AI Revolution
Addressing concerns over the massive investments in AI and fears of a potential bubble, Narayanan remarked, “We are in the very early stages of probably the most important technological revolution of our lifetimes. Talks of ROI and bubbles are just too early. The pace of innovation and adoption we’ve seen in AI is unprecedented.”As the global race for AI dominance intensifies, OpenAI faces fierce competition from rivals such as Meta, Anthropic, and Google — all of which are aggressively expanding their enterprise AI offerings. Narayanan acknowledged that the battle for top AI talent is highly competitive, with some companies offering record-breaking pay packages.
OpenAI Strengthens India Presence
OpenAI, which opened its India office in August, plans to assemble a small but strategic team in the country. The move aligns with its goal of deepening partnerships with local businesses and startups as it strengthens its enterprise offerings. Narayanan described India as a “huge opportunity” for OpenAI’s expansion into enterprise and startup ecosystems.“We have models that are winning Math Olympiads and coding competitions. They are at the forefront of intellectual abilities,” Narayanan said, noting that while AI capabilities are advancing rapidly, many businesses have yet to fully harness their transformative potential.A recent Menlo Ventures report noted that OpenAI’s enterprise API market share dropped from 50% in 2023 to 25% by mid-2025, as competitors gained ground. Narayanan, however, highlighted that the company has seen tremendous growth, with around five million developers now building on its platform. “Competition just shows how massive the opportunity is. Other companies innovating like we are is a good thing,” he added.
Narayanan also spoke about how AI is reshaping the future of work, particularly in engineering and software development. “What it means to be an engineer will fundamentally change. AI allows you to think less about how to do something and more about what you want to accomplish,” he explained.On the infrastructure front, OpenAI is focused on building robust systems in India to support both local applications and global deployments. Narayanan said that the company is exploring new partnerships with Nvidia and AMD to bolster computing capacity, though he declined to share specifics.

(Business Correspondent)