Tech giants’ efforts to accelerate AI adoption in India may be reaching a tipping point. Companies are ending free promotions in hopes of converting the world’s fourth-largest economy into paying subscribers.
According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, India will become the world’s largest market for downloads of generated AI apps in 2025, widening the gap with the US with installs increasing 207% year-on-year.
Companies like OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity have rolled out extended free premium offers to accelerate user growth in price-sensitive markets. Leading AI companies are also supporting India in its quest to become a global artificial intelligence hub. A major AI summit in New Delhi last week, attended by leaders such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, signals the country’s growing importance in the global AI race.
Some of the initial promotional efforts are now winding down. Perplexity ended its Bundle Pro offer with Indian telco Airtel in January, but OpenAI’s free ChatGPT Go access in India will no longer be available, potentially setting the stage for a clearer test of whether the number of newly acquired users converts into paying subscribers.
Despite strong download growth, India still accounts for a disproportionately small share of AI app revenue, accounting for around 1% of in-app purchases despite driving around 20% of global GenAI app downloads, highlighting monetization challenges in one of the industry’s fastest-growing markets, according to Sensor Tower data shared with TechCrunch.
According to the data, GenAI app adoption in India accelerated sharply through 2025, with downloads peaking in September and October with year-on-year growth of around 320% and 260%, respectively. However, the spike in usage did not fully translate into increased revenue. AI in-app purchase revenue in India decreased by 22% and 18% month-on-month in November and December 2025, respectively. ChatGPT’s revenue declined even more sharply, falling 33% and 32% over the same period after the launch of free access to ChatGPT Go for less than $5 in November, reflecting the short-term impact of aggressive promotional efforts.
ChatGPT still accounts for over 60% of GenAI in-app revenue in India, meaning changes in pricing strategy can have a significant impact on overall market performance.
tech crunch event
boston, massachusetts
|
June 9, 2026
In addition to promotional drives, Sensor Tower attributes the surge in GenAI app adoption in India last year to various new product launches, including the debut of platforms like DeepSeek, Grok, and Meta AI, and upgrades to major chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity. Viral interest in AI-generated content has also driven adoption, with content creation and editing tools accounting for 7 of the 20 most downloaded GenAI apps in India in 2025.
The surge in users is equally noticeable. According to Sensor Tower, India will account for about 19% of the world’s user base of major AI assistant apps by 2025, compared to 10% in the US. While ChatGPT continues to dominate the Indian market in terms of monthly active users, rivals like Google’s Gemini and Perplexity are also growing rapidly with promotional offers. According to previous data from Sensor Tower, ChatGPT was the most downloaded GenAI app in India and the world in 2025. Earlier this month, OpenAI’s CEO said that chatbots now have over 100 million weekly active users in India.
Sneha Pandey, Insights Analyst at Sensor Tower, said the promotion drive in India reflects a broader strategy by AI companies to reduce price friction in a value-conscious market, betting that early user adoption and engagement will lead to stronger long-term retention after the free access period ends.
India’s appeal lies in its large digital infrastructure. The country has more than 1 billion internet users and approximately 700 million smartphone owners, making it one of the world’s largest potential markets for AI services and a key battleground for user growth.
Despite this, user engagement in India still lags behind mature markets. According to Sensor Tower, in 2025, users of leading AI chatbot apps in the US spent approximately 21% more time on the app per week and logged an average of 17% more sessions than other apps in India.
“As users become more deeply integrated into these platforms and continued engagement becomes paramount, AI in-app revenue is likely to see meaningful but gradual improvement,” Pandey told TechCrunch.
He added that given the country’s young and value-conscious user base, pricing pressure in India is likely to remain high, and that low cost tiers, telecom bundles and microtransaction models will be important for long-term retention.
ChatGPT remains the clear leader in the Indian market going into 2026, with 180 million monthly active users in January, followed by Google’s Gemini with 118 million, Perplexity with 19 million, and Meta AI with 12 million, according to Sensor Tower. This number highlights both the scale of the AI opportunity in India and the growing challenge for businesses to turn rapid user adoption into sustainable revenue.
Google, OpenAI, and Perplexity did not respond to requests for comment.
Source link
