Rapid User Growth Fueled by Free Promotions

India has become the world’s largest market for generative AI app downloads, surpassing the United States with a year‑over‑year increase of 207 percent. Companies such as OpenAI, Google and Perplexity rolled out extended free premium offers to accelerate user acquisition in the price‑sensitive market. The strategy was underscored by a major AI summit in New Delhi that attracted leaders including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, signaling India’s growing importance in the global AI race.

Transition Away From Promotional Offers

Recent months have seen several of those early promotional pushes wind down. Perplexity ended its bundled Pro offer with Indian telco Airtel in January, and OpenAI’s free ChatGPT Go access is no longer available. This shift sets the stage for a clearer test of how many newly acquired users will convert to paying subscribers once free access expires.

Monetization Challenges Despite Strong Adoption

Although India drives roughly 20 percent of global generative AI app downloads, it accounts for only about one percent of AI app revenue, reflecting a significant monetization gap. In‑app purchase revenue for AI apps fell 22 percent in November and 18 percent in December, while ChatGPT’s revenue dropped 33 percent and 32 percent over the same periods. Despite the revenue dip, ChatGPT still commands more than 60 percent of generative AI in‑app revenue in India, meaning its pricing strategy heavily influences overall market performance.

Drivers of the Surge

The surge in adoption has been attributed to a mix of new product launches—including DeepSeek, Grok and Meta AI—and upgrades to major chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. Viral interest in AI‑generated content also played a role, with content creation and editing tools featuring among the most downloaded generative AI apps in 2025.

User Base and Engagement Metrics

India accounted for about 19 percent of the global user base of leading AI assistant apps in 2025, ahead of the United States at 10 percent. Monthly active users for ChatGPT reached 180 million in January, followed by Google’s Gemini with 118 million, Perplexity with 19 million and Meta AI with 12 million. However, U.S. users spent approximately 21 percent more time per week on AI chatbot apps and logged 17 percent more sessions on average than their Indian counterparts.

Future Pricing Strategies

Analysts note that pricing pressure in India is likely to remain elevated given the young and value‑conscious user base. Lower‑cost tiers, telecom bundles and micro‑transaction models are expected to be critical for long‑term retention and revenue growth. While the market presents a massive user base—over a billion internet users and around 700 million smartphone owners—the challenge remains converting rapid user adoption into sustained revenue.

Overall, the transition from free promotions to paid models marks a pivotal moment for AI firms seeking to capitalize on India’s expansive yet price‑sensitive market.

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