Tech giants’ efforts to boost AI adoption in India may be hitting a tipping point as companies end free campaigns with hopes of converting the world’s fourth-largest economy to an unexpected number of paid subscribers.
India became the world’s largest market for generative AI app downloads in 2025, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, extending its lead over the US as installs rose 207% year-on-year.
Companies including OpenAI, Google and Perplexity rolled out extended free premium offerings to accelerate user growth in the price-sensitive market. Leading AI companies have also supported India in its efforts to become a global hub for artificial intelligence. A major AI summit in New Delhi last week was attended by leaders including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodi and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai – a sign of the country’s growing weight in the global AI race.
Now, some of the early promotional push is winding down. Perplexity ended its bundled Pro offering with Indian telco Airtel in January, while OpenAI’s free ChatGPT Go access in India is no longer available, potentially setting the stage for a clearer test of how many newly acquired users convert to paying subscribers.
Despite strong download growth, India still generates a disproportionately small share of AI app revenue, accounting for about 1% of in-app purchases, although it drives about 20% of global GenAI app downloads, according to Sensor Tower data shared with TechCrunch, highlighting the monetization challenge in one of the industry’s fastest-growing markets.
GenAI app adoption in India accelerated sharply through 2025, with downloads peaking in September and October with year-over-year growth rates of around 320% and 260%, respectively, according to the data. Yet the increase in consumption did not fully translate into revenue gains. In November and December 2025, revenue from AI app purchases in India fell by 22% and 18% month-on-month, respectively. ChatGPT’s revenue fell even more sharply – down 33% and 32% in the same period after the launch of free ChatGPT Go access under $5 in November – reflecting the short-term impact of aggressive promotional pushes.
ChatGPT still commands more than 60% of GenAI in-app revenue in India, meaning changes in its pricing strategy could significantly impact overall market performance.
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In addition to campaign pushes, Sensor Tower attributed the rise in GenAI app adoption in India last year to a mix of new product launches, including the debut of platforms such as DeepSeek, Grok and Meta AI, as well as upgrades to major chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. Viral interest in AI-generated content also helped drive adoption, with content creation and editing tools accounting for seven of the 20 most downloaded GenAI apps in India by 2025.
The increase in users has been just as pronounced. India accounted for about 19% of the global user base of leading AI assistant apps by 2025, ahead of the US at 10%, Sensor Tower said. ChatGPT continues to dominate the Indian market by monthly active users, although rivals including Google’s Gemini and Perplexity have also seen rapid growth following promotional offers. ChatGPT was the most downloaded GenAI app in India and globally in 2025, according to previous Sensor Tower data. Earlier this month, OpenAI’s CEO said the chatbot now has more than 100 million weekly active users in India.
The promotional push in India reflects a broader strategy by AI companies to reduce price friction in a highly value-conscious market, betting that early user adoption and engagement will translate into stronger long-term retention once free access periods expire, said Sneha Pandey, insights analyst at Sensor Tower.
India’s appeal lies in its vast digital base. The country has more than a billion internet users and around 700 million smartphone owners, making it one of the largest potential markets for AI services globally and a critical battleground for user growth.
Nevertheless, user engagement in India is still trailing more mature markets. By 2025, users of leading AI chatbot apps in the US spent about 21% more time per week on the apps than their counterparts in India and logged 17% more sessions on average per week. Sensor Tower.
“In-app AI revenue is likely to see meaningful but gradual improvement as users become more deeply integrated into these platforms, making sustained engagement paramount,” Pandey told TechCrunch.
She added that pricing pressure in India is likely to remain elevated given the country’s young and value-conscious user base, making lower costs, telecom bundles and micro-transaction models important for long-term retention.
ChatGPT remained the clear market leader in India going into 2026, with 180 million monthly active users as of January. Sensor Tower, followed by Google’s Gemini with 118 million, Perplexity with 19 million and Meta AI with 12 million. The numbers underscore both the scale of India’s AI opportunity and the growing challenge for companies to convert rapid user adoption into sustainable revenue.
Google, OpenAI and Perplexity did not respond to requests for comment.