OpenAI offers free ChatGPT Go for one year to all users in India

OpenAI is offering its ChatGPT Go subscription for free for a year to users in India who sign up during a limited promotional period starting November 4, as the company looks to expand in one of its top markets.

On Tuesday, OpenAI announced the promotion, but did not indicate how long the offer would be available. Existing ChatGPT Go subscribers in India are also eligible for the free 12-month subscription, the company said.

Priced at less than $5 per month, ChatGPT Go launched in India in August as OpenAI’s most affordable paid plan. The service was later expanded to Indonesia and to 16 additional countries in Asia earlier this month.

India, the world’s most populous country with more than 700 million smartphone users and over a billion internet subscribers, has been a key market for OpenAI. The company opened its New Delhi office in August and is currently building a local team to expand its presence.

Earlier this year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said India is the company’s largest market after the US. However, making money with ChatGPT’s paid plans in the country has proven to be a challenge. The app was downloaded more than 29 million times in the 90 days leading up to August, but generated just $3.6 million in in-app purchases during that period, according to App Figures data reviewed by TechCrunch at the time.

ChatGPT Go offers 10 times more usage than the free version for generating comments, creating images and uploading files. According to OpenAI, it also features improved memory for more personalized responses.

“Since we first launched ChatGPT Go in India a few months ago, the adoption and creativity we’ve seen from our users has been inspiring,” Nick Turley, vice president and head of ChatGPT, said in a statement. “We’re excited to see the great things our users will build, learn and achieve with these tools.”

OpenAI’s rivals, including Perplexity and Google, are also looking to tap into India’s large and youthful user base. Perplexity recently partnered with Airtel to offer free Perplexity Pro subscriptions to the telecom operator’s 360 million subscribers. Similarly, Google introduced a free one-year AI Pro subscription for students in India.

OpenAI will host its DevDay Exchange developer conference Bengaluru on November 4, where India-specific announcements aimed at local developers and enterprises are expected to be made. India has become one of the fastest growing markets for ChatGPT, with millions of users engaging with the chatbot every day, the company said.