OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has revealed that India now has 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, making it the chatbot’s second-largest market after the United States.
The disclosure came ahead of the upcoming AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. In a column published in the Times of India, Altman confirmed that the 100 million figure represents weekly active users across both free and paid tiers. According to reports, this is the first time OpenAI has shared a specific user number for India.
Globally, ChatGPT has reached about 800 million weekly active users, with India now accounting for a significant share of that total.
India: The highest number of student users globally
A major force behind the surge is India’s large student population. Altman noted that the country now has the highest number of student users of ChatGPT anywhere in the world, reflecting how AI tools are increasingly used for learning, coding, exam preparation, and research.
India also ranks fourth globally in usage of OpenAI’s Prism tool for scientific research and collaboration, signaling strong engagement beyond casual use. The country’s young, digital-first population and its more than a billion internet users have made it a key growth engine for global AI companies.
OpenAI has been steadily expanding its footprint in the country. The company opened a New Delhi office in August 2025 and introduced India-focused pricing, including a lower-cost ChatGPT Go plan that was later made free for Indian users for a year. Altman also noted that more than 200 nonprofit leaders across four Indian cities were recently trained to use ChatGPT to improve their work and efficiency.
In the article, he added that OpenAI plans to strengthen its engagement with the Indian government and expand partnerships to widen access to AI tools across the country.
Opportunity and a challenge
Despite the rapid growth, the next hurdle for AI companies is turning widespread usage into economic impact.
Moreover, OpenAI isn’t the only giant setting up shop. Google has been matching the pace, offering its own free one-year subscriptions to “AI Pro” to Indian students. In fact, India already accounts for the highest global usage of Google’s Gemini for learning purposes.
Altman will deliver a keynote at the India AI Impact Summit on Feb. 19, joining an impressive roster that includes Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Indian business heavyweights Mukesh Ambani and Nandan Nilekani.
Related OpenAI reading: Learn more about the controversy surrounding ChatGPT and Claude assigning health grades to doctors
