OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has announced plans to open its first office in New Delhi later this year. This move comes as multinational companies turn to India for AI talent, attracted by the country’s lower costs compared with the US and Europe.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman highlighted India’s potential, stating, “India has all the ingredients to become a global AI leader — amazing tech talent, a world-class developer ecosystem, and strong government support through the IndiaAI Mission”.
He added that the office marks an important first step in making “advanced AI more accessible across the country and to build AI for India, and with India”.
OpenAI will collaborate with the government on its $1.2 billion IndiaAI Mission, focused on developing voice-first AI models for Indian languages of various scales.
India has become one of ChatGPT’s fastest-growing markets, ranking second globally in terms of user numbers.
In just one year, the number of weekly active users increased by over four times. To further strengthen its presence, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Go, a subscription plan priced at ₹399 per month with UPI payment integration, tailored to the Indian market.
OpenAI is also expanding its AI literacy programme in collaboration with India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology through the OpenAI Academy. Its GPT-5 model has shown significant improvements in understanding Indic languages.
India is becoming a hub for AI investment, with companies such as McDonald’s planning to set up data-centric, “global capability centres”.