Who doesn’t like freebies–and in today’s economy?
In July 2025, Bharti Airtel announced that all of its active users—mobile and broadband—could unlock a yearlong free pass to Perpexity Pro. That’s worth approx. ₹17,000.
Months later, in October, Google partnered with Reliance Jio to offer Jio’s Unlimited 5G users 18 months of free access to Gemini Pro (now with Gemini 3 included). That’s worth ₹35,100.
Both out of pocket. Not cheap giveaways.
OpenAI joined the party in November, doling out free ChatGPT Go subscriptions to millions of Indian users.
But training large language models (LLM) is pretty expensive, and running them is even more so.
Then why are these Big AI companies, which are yet to mint profits, giving this VIP treatment to Indians? Is distribution really that important?
The Freemium Gold Rush: Strategy, not Generosity
First of all, do NOT even consider this a charity of some sort. The intention behind these moves is a carefully built business plan to grab the bigger pie of India’s digital user base–one of the largest and fastest-growing across continents.
The Power of A Near-Billion User Base
It’s simple mathematics. India is a massive market. And AI needs users. The country currently houses over 95 crore (950 million) Internet users, a number that’s growing at 8% year on year (y-o-y). Not to mention, people here enjoy some of the cheapest Internet plans worldwide.
A major chunk of India’s digital population comprises twenty and thirty-somethings. The age group that lives, works, and socializes online. As such, India offers a perfect environment for testing and scaling AI services.
Indians Just Love Freebies: History Rhymes
Remember how Jio shook India’s telecom market in 2016 by offering customers about 6 months of free 4G data and voice services? Big AI companies are rolling a similar dice. They know that Indians are price-conscious. Whenever they get a whiff of discounts from any store, they flock to that store without thinking twice.
In a similar vein, offering free, easy access to Gen AI tools opens the door for millions of users here.
How? Either by joining hands with telecom giants and bundling their Gen AI tools with the Internet plans you already use (like Jio-Gemini and Airtel-Perplexity) or simply removing the paywall for a limited time (like ChatGPT).
As such, the Big AI companies don’t need to convince everyone to sign up for their LLM apps one by one. This is the fastest way to bring the product within the fingertips of the masses.
Free Now, Pay Later: A Gateway to Mass Sign-ups
The Big AI companies are making these calculated investments as a long-term bet on India’s promising digital future. The idea is to get Indians hooked onto Gen AI before asking them to pay for it once the free period ends. Because it will end.
But why not China, an even bigger market? Well, China does have more Internet users than India, but its heavily regulated tech ecosystem limits foreign access. India, fortunately, welcomes foreign tech companies with open arms, and Big AI is pouncing on the opportunity to lock in millions of users here to train their LLMs.
So, what happens after the free trial ends? Of course, Big AI will unlikely slap users with expensive subscriptions but can rather offer low-cost, value-laced plans. Similar to how Jio went for the kill after it got the nation hooked to its network in 2016.
But then many away users will shy away from renewing their subscriptions. They’ll either wait for alternatives to show up or sneak out ways to continue the free trials–using a different mobile number or email ID. The “Great Indian Jugaad,” as we proudly say with a smirk on our faces.
Still, India’s sheer volumes offer huge promise. Even if 5-6% of users nod to pay for subscriptions, let’s say, that’ll still bring a respectable revenue.
Train the Gen AI Brain: The Real Scoop
India’s real strength lies in its incredible diversity. 121 distinct languages and thousands of dialects. We are a “masala mix” of ethnicities, languages, mindsets, and cultures.
When an Indian user enters a prompt into a Gen AI tool, it could be in English, Hindi, Bengali, or even Hinglish (“Bhai, give me some quirky one-liners on Holi”). The question could come from a college student in Tamil Nadu or a grocery store owner in Rajasthan.
Every such valuable interaction enriches the datasets, which makes these LLMs better understand local behaviors and cultural nuances and become more accurate, inclusive, and reflective of diverse perspectives. The more unique and raw data AI companies get, the smarter their LLMs will become.
Actually, the heart of these Gen AI systems lies in the interaction layer: getting prompts from users. They analyze usage patterns, error correction, what people ask for and how they do it, what media they upload, and how the model functions across contexts.
That’s the data goldmine that AI companies are digging to refine future versions of their LLMs for Indians and people around the world. For them, training Gen AI systems on data generated by Indian users is a critical stress test that will help them iron out complex communication patterns.
In a nutshell, if a Gen AI tool can work well in India, it can work well anywhere.
The Plan Has Worked Already
These moves by Big AI have done wonders so far.
Following its limited-time offer, ChatGPT’s daily active users (DAU) in India soared 607% y-o-y to 73 million during mid-Dec 2025. This number has further clocked 100 million in Feb 2026.
Gemini and Perplexity also tasted a similar success. Gemini’s DAU in India rose by 15% since its deal with Reliance Jio kicked off. Similarly, Perplexity quickly hit the top spot in the iOS App Store in India right after partnering with Airtel. Moreover, India now makes up for over a third of the San Francisco-based AI startup’s global DAU (as of 2025), a considerable leap from 7% in 2024.
On Route to Becoming the Global Bot Training Capital
India’s AI market will likely clock US$17 Bn by 2027, riding on the triple forces
of digital fluency, youth, and rapid adoption. Big AI players aren’t just building a user base; they’re building a data and cognition infrastructure trained and run by human emotions at a national scale. They’re betting on a market that promises unmatched scale, diversity, and ROI over the long term.
Right now, India is that race track where the Big AI players are toiling hard to outpace each other. Whoever crosses the finish line first on the Indian track might just win anywhere in the world. Time is supreme.