Perplexity Partners with Airtel to Offer Free Pro Subscriptions to 360 Million Indian Users, Challenging OpenAI’s Dominance

Perplexity, a search-focused AI startup, is making significant strides in its bid to compete with OpenAI by expanding into the Indian market. While OpenAI holds a strong lead in the U.S., Perplexity is leveraging India's vast user base to position itself for widespread adoption in the next phase of AI development. This week, Perplexity announced a partnership with Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, offering a free 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription—worth $200—to all of Airtel's 360 million subscribers. This deal is exclusive, meaning no other telecom companies in India can offer similar Perplexity services. Perplexity's strategy includes more than 25 global telecom partnerships, with recent deals announced with SoftBank in Japan and SK Telecom in South Korea. The focus on India, however, is driven by the country's status as the world’s second-largest internet and smartphone market, presenting a massive opportunity for user growth. Perplexity’s expansion into India has already shown considerable success. According to data from Sensor Tower, the company's downloads in India grew by 600% year-over-year in Q2, reaching 2.8 million. This surge outpaced OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which saw a 587% increase to 46.7 million downloads. Active user metrics also highlighted Perplexity's rapid rise; monthly active users (MAUs) in India increased by 640% year-over-year, making India the largest market by MAUs for Perplexity, though ChatGPT still leads with 19.8 million MAUs compared to Perplexity’s 3.7 million. To further infiltrate the Indian market, Perplexity has formed additional strategic alliances. Earlier this year, the company partnered with Paytm, a leading Indian fintech platform, to integrate Perplexity’s AI-powered search into the Paytm app, which has over 500 million downloads and processes billions of transactions annually. CEO Aravind Srinivas also announced plans to hire an Indian executive and invest $1 million in local AI development, though the hiring plan was temporarily paused due to an overwhelming response. Internally, Perplexity has discussed strategies to target Indian students, recognizing the potential to grow its user base among the tech-savvy young population. This approach aligns with broader trends in the tech industry, as even Google has prioritized launching advanced AI features in India, a market with a relatively limited number of local AI startups but a large pool of active users. Despite its strong user growth, monetizing the Indian market remains a significant challenge. Sensor Tower data indicates that ChatGPT’s in-app purchase revenue in India grew by 800% year-over-year to $9 million in Q2, while Perplexity has yet to generate notable in-app revenue from the country. Globally, ChatGPT's in-app purchases surged 731% to $773 million, compared to Perplexity's 300% increase to $8 million. However, Perplexity is optimistic that strategic partnerships such as the one with Airtel will help it build a substantial paid subscriber base in the short term. Industry insiders suggest that Perplexity’s approach in India could be a game-changer. By focusing on regions with high user density and low competition, the company is positioning itself to attract investor interest. However, the true test will be converting this user base into sustainable revenue. Perplexity’s ability to capitalize on India’s tech-savvy population and the increasing demand for AI solutions will be crucial in this endeavor. The startup's strategic moves in India could potentially disrupt the AI landscape, but it must demonstrate that it can bridge the gap between user growth and profitability to solidify its position in the global market.