Perplexity AI Surges in India, Challenging ChatGPT's Dominance

Perplexity sees India as a shortcut in its race against OpenAI | TechCrunch

While OpenAI has cemented its lead in the U.S., Perplexity is taking a different route -- quietly expanding into India to compete in the next phase of AI adoption. The search-focused AI startup is rapidly adding millions of users in the world's second-largest internet and smartphone market, positioning itself for mass-market scale. This week, Perplexity partnered with Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator after Reliance Jio, to offer a free 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription -- normally worth $200 -- to all 360 million Airtel subscribers. Airtel confirmed to TechCrunch that the deal is exclusive, meaning no other telco in the country can offer Perplexity's services, including free access, to their subscribers. The Airtel partnership is one of Perplexity's most significant moves yet in a global expansion strategy that includes partnerships with more than 25 telcos globally, including those recently announced with SoftBank in Japan and SK Telecom in South Korea. India, the world's most populous country, brings a mass market that the San Francisco-based startup will not find in other geographies. Perplexity is already gaining major traction in the country. In Q2, Perplexity's downloads in India surged 600% year-over-year to 2.8 million, according to Sensor Tower data shared exclusively with TechCrunch. In comparison, OpenAI's ChatGPT saw a 587% increase, reaching 46.7 million downloads in the same period. The growth trend extended to active users as well: Perplexity's monthly active users (MAUs) in India increased by 640% year-over-year in Q2, while ChatGPT's MAUs grew by 350%. India was also the largest market by MAUs for Perplexity in the last quarter, per Sensor Tower. However, ChatGPT maintained a significant lead in absolute numbers, with 19.8 million MAUs versus 3.7 million for Perplexity. Building on earlier partnerships, Perplexity has been working to leverage India's user base to leapfrog Western markets, where OpenAI dominates paid subscribers. Earlier this year, Perplexity partnered with the Indian fintech giant Paytm to offer access to its AI-powered search through the Paytm app, which has over 500 million downloads and is among the top-three apps on the Indian government's Unified Payment Interface network, processing over 1.2 billion transactions worth over ₹1,34,000 crores (approximately $15.6 billion). Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has also taken direct steps to expand in India. In January, he announced plans to hire an Indian executive in the country, which he later put on hold after receiving an "overwhelming" response. He further announced a $1 million investment and a commitment of five hours a week of his time to a group building AI in India. The startup has internally discussed offering its AI search engine to Indian students to grow its reach, sources told TechCrunch. One reason Perplexity views India as a key growth market is the relatively limited number of local AI startups, particularly in the AI search space. At the same time, the country has a large and active base of tech-savvy users -- a fact that has even prompted Perplexity's archrival, Google, to launch AI-powered search features like AI Mode and AI Overviews in India ahead of many other markets. But monetizing that large user base remains a challenge. Perplexity still lags far behind ChatGPT globally in terms of revenue, even as both offer the same $20-per-month starting price. In Q2, ChatGPT's in-app purchase revenue worldwide surged 731% year-over-year to $773 million, while Perplexity saw a 300% increase, reaching $8 million, per Sensor Tower. The revenue challenge is particularly acute in India, where consumers are notoriously price-sensitive. Still, there are promising signs. However, ChatGPT saw an 800% year-over-year increase in in-app purchases to $9 million in the country in Q2. Perplexity has not generated any notable in-app revenue from India, but the startup has room to expand its paid subscriber base through India. Deals like the one with Airtel could help Perplexity effectively increase its subscriber base, at least in the short term. Strategic partnerships in markets like India could help Perplexity catch the eye of investors who value user growth and geographic diversification. But to turn that attention into long-term backing, the startup will need to show that it can convert its expanding user base into revenue. Srinivas did not respond to requests for comment.

Perplexity Leads ChatGPT on Apple App Store in India Post Airtel Offer | AIM

While ChatGPT maintains its lead on the Google Play Store, Perplexity Pro offers access to advanced AI models and the new Comet browser. Just one day after Airtel announced its offer of a complimentary Perplexity Pro subscription, the Perplexity app has seen an unprecedented surge in downloads, particularly on iOS. Thanks to the Airtel promotion, the AI search engine has climbed to the top spot on the App Store in India, overtaking OpenAI's ChatGPT. This milestone was announced by Perplexity AI's CEO, Aravind Srinivas, in a post on LinkedIn. As reported by Mint News, Google's Gemini ranks fifth among the top free apps on the App Store, following Perplexity and ChatGPT. On the other hand, ChatGPT remains at the top of the charts on the Google Play Store, while Perplexity has not yet tried to compete for a position among the leading free apps. Perplexity Pro offers users access to advanced AI models, including GPT-4.1, Claude, Grok 4, and others, as well as image generation capabilities across compatible models. Subscribers also gain access to the company's newly introduced Comet browser, which is currently available only to free users through an invitation. Following Airtel's announcement of its major partnership with an AI startup based in the US to offer a complimentary year-long subscription to Perplexity AI Pro, numerous Airtel subscribers took advantage of the promotion. The Perplexity AI Pro subscription is highly advantageous for students, researchers, professionals, and educators. In India, the annual subscription to the Pro tier costs Rs 17,000 when purchased directly from Perplexity. With the Airtel promotion, a full year's subscription is now available for free, encouraging more individuals to sign up and try it out. This initiative has led to a significant number of subscribers downloading the app via App Stores, as using the app is the simplest method to access the AI model.

Perplexity: How 31-year-old Indian founder is trying to shake ChatGPT, Google's Gemini AI dominance

Perplexity AI, led by Aravind Srinivas, has surpassed ChatGPT to become the top free app on Apple's App Store, fueled by a strategic partnership with Airtel. This collaboration grants Airtel customers complimentary access to Perplexity Pro, valued at Rs 17,000 annually, unlocking advanced AI models and exclusive features. Cashing in on Mittals' Airtel subscribers base, Aravind Srinivas-led Perplexity AI achieved has achieved a big feat -- it has dethroned giants like ChatGPT by clinching the top spot among free apps on the Apple App Store. The abrupt surge follows a strategic alliance with telecom operator, which now provides its customers with free access to the Perplexity Pro subscription costing Rs 17,000 a year. Apart from free access, Perplexity is also giving its non-paying users early access to the company's exclusive Comet browser, which is currently invite-only. Why is the Perplexity-Airtel deal a hit? Unlike Google's Gemini Pro offer, which is targeted at students, Airtel's collaboration with Perplexity covers a wider demographic -- from school and college students to researchers and working professionals. Perplexity Pro offers real-time, structured answers by tapping into models like GPT-4.1 and Claude, effectively replacing traditional search results with contextual, citation-based insights. Users can upload documents, ask follow-up questions, and summarise complex data within a single interface. For students managing research deadlines or preparing for exams, Perplexity Pro acts like a digital assistant, simplifying dense academic material and generating organised responses from trusted sources. Professionals in fields such as consulting, design, and law can use the tool to extract insights from reports, draft content, or generate visuals. The Pro version also includes tools like Perplexity Labs for image generation and coding support, making it useful across a range of tasks. Similar to Perplexity, ChatGPT observed a surge due to the Ghibli art trend, which went viral in India. At that time, OpenAI said the platform gained one million users in an hour -- a moment CEO Sam Altman called one of the "craziest viral moments" he had seen. By comparison, the chatbot took five days to hit one million users in 2022. While Perplexity has topped the iOS charts, ChatGPT is still the most popular app on the Google Play Store, where Perplexity hasn't yet made an appearance. Dominance of ChatGPT, others Within three years, the AI startup is valued at $18 billion after it raised fresh capital by bringing in $100 million with the financing, said a Bloomberg report. The deal is an extension of a previous round from a few months ago that valued the company at $14 billion. Due to its rising popularity and the talent it possesses, the platform saw keen interest from Apple and Meta Platforms for a possible takeover. Zuckerberg's tech giant had moved ahead with a multibillion-dollar investment in Scale AI before it had plans for Perplexity. Apple, which has failed to have big wins in the AI space and lost more than $640 billion in market value, is also warming up to such a move. Bloomberg News reported last month that executives have held internal talks about making an offer for Perplexity, which would add talent and help Apple develop an AI-based search engine. As of now, model builders like OpenAI and Anthropic remain the biggest companies on the list, having raised large sums of cash from marquee Silicon Valley venture capitalists. The two AI behemoths have accumulated a combined $81 billion in venture funding, more than half of the total $142.45 billion that companies on this year's AI 50 list have raised, according to Forbes. Amid facing tight competition from big giants, Srinivas, who previously worked with Google and OpenAI before co-founding the platform with Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, remains confident of his product. "Competition is real. Let's acknowledge that OpenAI is extremely well-funded and doesn't face the same innovative constraints under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). ChatGPT is their most successful consumer product, which makes it tough to compete directly. That's why I prefer to focus more on the browser space. I believe Comet, the browser, can become an abstraction layer above chatbots," he said.

Airtel Partners with Perplexity to Offer Free Pro Subscriptions

An Airtel press release dated July 17 announced that Bharti Airtel has partnered with Perplexity to offer a free 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription to its user base. Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine that delivers cited answers to user queries. The subscription to Perplexity Pro, which the press release says is priced at Rs 17,000, is available to virtually every Airtel user. For context, the Pro subscription offers more daily searches, access to AI models like Claude and GPT 4.1 for queries, multiple research tools, image generation, file uploads, and access to Perplexity Labs. In contrast, the free standard model of Perplexity offers a limited number of daily searches with access to only core Perplexity functionality. MediaNama Founder Nikhil Pahwa weighed in on this development, remarking, "Perplexity is looking to ramp up its user base as quickly as it can. India is mostly a prepaid market. While this partnership with Airtel gives Pro for free, for the past many months there has been something of what might be a guerrilla marketing exercise mimicking piracy: on Reddit groups access to Perplexity Pro is being sold for $10 for the year (I've bought this, so I know), even though the press release says ₹17,000 per year ($200). "At this point in time, it's all about increasing adoption for Perplexity, which isn't the household name that Google's Gemini is or ChatGPT has become, nor does it have the distribution of a Meta AI on WhatsApp. Internet businesses scale first, monetise later, and Pro is a better product with lower usage limits than the regular Perplexity." - Nikhil Pahwa, MediaNama Founder-Editor He further stated: "There's no market, better in India for increasing (inflating?) your user base. Onboarding new users to Pro via Airtel should not only help improve stickiness and usage, but more importantly, ensure Perplexity remains in the game and can raise more money. It has added $2 billion to its valuation (up to $15 billion) in just the last couple of months. For Airtel, this is a value add for its user base, though it doesn't really need it. More importantly, as a brand that positions itself as a premium offering, this is more about the right announcement that furthers that positioning. A win-win for Perplexity and Airtel." Interestingly, rural India (55%) has more internet users than the rest of the country, as per an Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) report titled 'Internet In India 2024'. Also, one in every five internet users in India (20%) makes use of voice-based commands to access the internet. Elsewhere, the report highlights how AI is gaining popularity in the country, both within urban centres and rural regions. About 49% of rural users revealed that they enjoy using AI features across different platforms. Meanwhile, 33% of these users said that AI tools make them more productive and efficient. However, everything is not hunky-dory when it comes to AI usage in rural India, as 51% of rural users still find it difficult to use AI tools or interact with them, and 29% do not trust AI bots and their responses. Moreover, there are those who do not use the internet altogether. Over the years, non-internet users have been declining in the country, but even then, 41% of India's population does not access the internet, says the report. Notably, 27% of rural respondents revealed that they are simply not interested in accessing the internet. Meanwhile, 25% of these respondents said that they are not aware of the internet's benefits Partnering up with Airtel to offer a free one-year subscription to Perplexity Pro seems like a wise move by Perplexity AI. Airtel is one of the big three telecom operators in the country, and harnessing its user base might prove beneficial for Perplexity's foothold in the country. At the same time, one must remember that OpenAI's ChatGPT is the most popular AI chatbot in India by far. For context, ChatGPT users in India (13.5%) are more than its US users (8.9%), according to an AI trends report. Meanwhile, Google is also expanding its reach in the Indian market. In its latest move, the tech giant is offering eligible students a free one-year subscription to a Google AI Pro plan to assist them with their studies. Recently, Google has confirmed its Android-ChromeOS merger plan to boost user experience, making way for easier rollouts of new AI features. Therefore, Perplexity AI must not take anything for granted, as the AI market in India will likely witness dynamism in terms of market dominance as new AI players enter and existing ones adapt and evolve.

India chooses Perplexity as it overtakes ChatGPT on App Store

This partnership has significantly boosted Perplexity's visibility and user base in India. There's a new AI leader in town. Perplexity, a rising name in the AI space, has officially taken the number one spot on the Apple App Store in India, overtaking ChatGPT. Making the announcement on X (formerly Twitter), Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas shared, "Perplexity is now the #1 overall app on App Store in India, ahead of ChatGPT." This closely follows a major partnership between Perplexity and telecom giant Bharti Airtel, one that gives millions of Indian users free 12-month access to Perplexity Pro. And with India being one of the fastest-growing digital markets in the world, it's no surprise that this move has made a huge impact. Bharti Airtel recently teamed up with Perplexity AI to offer a 12-month free subscription to Perplexity Pro, a service that usually costs Rs 17,000 a year. With over 360 million users under its belt, Airtel's backing has significantly boosted Perplexity's visibility and user base in India. The subscription brings high-end AI models into the hands of everyday users, allowing them to explore features that were previously limited to paid users or enterprise customers. Also read: Made by Google 2025: Pixel 10 series, Watch 4 and more to launch on August 20 Perplexity Pro subscribers unlock a range of advanced features, including a higher number of daily Pro searches and access to powerful AI models such as Sonar (in-house model), GPT-4.1, Claude 4.0 Sonnet, and Gemini 2.5 Pro. The subscription lets users choose specific models, perform deep research, and interact with various file types. Pro users can also generate images. In addition, they gain access to Perplexity Labs, a versatile tool for creating reports, spreadsheets, dashboards and even simple web apps. With this strategic move with Airtel, Perplexity has managed to overtake ChatGPT on App Store. Whether it can hold that position in the long run remains to be seen.