Key Highlights:
- OpenAI plans deeper engagement with the Indian government and new partnerships.
- India now has 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
- India is ChatGPT’s second-largest market globally, after the United States.
- Students are driving adoption, making India the largest student user base for ChatGPT worldwide.
India has crossed 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, cementing its position as one of OpenAI’s most important global markets. The figure was disclosed by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, ahead of a major government-hosted AI summit in New Delhi.
The milestone matters because it highlights how quickly AI tools are scaling in emerging markets. It also shows why India now sits at the center of global AI expansion plans.
Altman shared the data in an article published in the Times of India, as OpenAI prepares to participate in the five-day India AI Impact Summit starting Monday.
Why India Is Critical to OpenAI’s Growth Strategy
India’s scale is hard to ignore. The country has a young population and more than a billion internet users. For AI companies, that combination offers unmatched growth potential.
Altman said India is now ChatGPT’s second-largest user base, behind only the United States. Globally, ChatGPT had about 800 million weekly active users as of October 2025 and is reportedly nearing 900 million.
To support this growth, OpenAI opened a New Delhi office in August 2025. It also adapted pricing for India’s cost-sensitive market, launching a sub-$5 ChatGPT Go tier, which was later made free for Indian users for a year.
How Students Are Powering ChatGPT Adoption in India
Students have emerged as the biggest driver of ChatGPT usage in India. Altman said the country now has the largest number of student users on the platform worldwide.
This trend reflects a broader race among AI firms to enter classrooms. Google offered Indian students a free one-year subscription to its AI Pro plan in September 2025. Google executives have also said India leads global usage of Gemini for learning.
As a result, India has become a testing ground for how AI integrates into education at scale.
Can Massive Adoption Turn Into Economic Impact?
Despite rapid growth, monetization remains a challenge. India’s price sensitivity and uneven infrastructure complicate large-scale deployment.
Government programs like the IndiaAI Mission aim to close those gaps. The initiative focuses on expanding computing capacity, supporting startups, and accelerating AI use in public services.
Altman warned that without broad access, AI’s economic benefits could concentrate in too few hands. He also said OpenAI plans to announce new partnerships with the Indian government, focused on widening access and practical AI use.
Why the 100M ChatGPT Users Mark Matters
With 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, India is no longer just a growth market. It is shaping how AI tools evolve, scale, and reach everyday users. For OpenAI and its rivals, India’s influence on the future of AI adoption is now impossible to overlook.
