OpenAI to open first India office in Delhi, targets billion users

ChatGPT parent OpenAI is set to open its first office in India later this year, choosing New Delhi as its hub to strengthen operations in one of its fastest-growing markets. The company has already registered a legal entity in the country and started building a local team, signaling a deeper push into its second-largest market by user base.
India has become a significant growth driver for OpenAI. Earlier this week, the company rolled out its most affordable monthly plan yet, priced at $4.60, aimed at tapping into the nation’s nearly one billion internet users. According to newly shared market data, India accounts for the largest population of student users on ChatGPT, with weekly active users quadrupling over the past year.“Opening our first office and building a local team is an important first step in our commitment to make advanced AI more accessible across the country and to build AI for India, and with India,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement.
However, the expansion comes as the company faces ongoing legal scrutiny in India over how AI models are trained, with OpenAI maintaining that it operates within fair practices.
Competition in the Indian AI space is also intensifying. Google’s Gemini and U.S.-based AI startup Perplexity have rolled out aggressive offerings, with some premium services made available free of cost to users in the market.Backed by Microsoft, OpenAI views its India presence as both a strategic and symbolic step, underscoring the country’s role as a global technology hub and as a testing ground for scaling AI to massive user bases.