GLOSSARY: OpenAI Dreams Big in Delhi

OpenAI Dreams Big in Delhi

THE BELAMY

Weekly Newsletter of AIM

Monday, AUG 25, 2025 | By Siddharth Jindal

Now, subscribe to our Digital & Print Editions >

It's official: OpenAI is opening its first office in India this year—and no, it's not in Bengaluru, Hyderabad or Pune. It's the capital, New Delhi. And yes, that choice speaks volumes.

In a city where Lutyens' bungalows share streets with the honking swirl of Connaught Place and chai stalls double up as think tanks, OpenAI is stepping into its fastest-growing AI market. Developers, students and policymakers—everyone's on the guest list.

India is now OpenAI's second-largest market after the United States, with weekly active users growing more than fourfold over the past year. But it's not just about the numbers. The country's booming tech ecosystem, along with a large student population and a government keen on offering support, has made India the stage for the next phase of AI adoption.

Sam Altman himself is flying in next month, soaking up that unmistakable Dilli energy. "AI adoption in India has been amazing to watch…We are excited to invest much more in India," he said.

Delhi Drama

Sure, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune might hog tech headlines, but Delhi has something they don't: the corridors of power. From Raisina Hill to Parliament Street, this is where the decisions that shape India's digital destiny are inked.

"Any global entity serious about AI in India will have to approach public policy or government relations in a formal manner," observes Rahul Mathur, pre-seed investor at DeVC.

That's exactly what Pragya Misra, OpenAI's first representative in India, has been quietly doing since last year—steering the company's public policy and partnerships. Now, with a shiny new office in the capital, OpenAI is slated to strengthen collaboration with the government.

"I grew up in Delhi. The only reason to have an office in Delhi is to lobby the government, there's no tech talent in Delhi," quipped Karan Goel, founder of Cartesia, reminding us of the city's politics-over-coding reputation.

This isn't about cafés in Koramangala or hackathons in HSR Layout. This is about boardrooms in Lutyens' Delhi and corridors of Shastri Bhawan.

Meet the New Team

OpenAI is putting together its India dream team. Sheeladitya Mohanty joins as marketing lead in India, bringing over a decade of experience across Meta, Microsoft and Nokia.

Moreover, Akash Iyer, who spent nearly seven years at Netflix India, takes on the role of social lead. "Joining OpenAI is a deep responsibility to contribute to the mission of building AGI for humanity," he wrote on LinkedIn.

ChatGPT Goes Desi

Say hello to ChatGPT Go—a ₹399/month subscription plan, payable using UPI, that brings premium AI features to India at the cost of a Jio recharge. The plan gives users higher limits across ChatGPT features, including 10x more messages to GPT-5 and image generation, and double the memory for more personalised responses.
OpenAI Academy: In collaboration with the electronics and information technology ministry, this initiative focuses on upskilling developers and students.
Indic Language Support in GPT-5: Bringing AI closer to the masses by speaking their languages.
Study Mode: Inspired by India's tutoring culture, this new mode is designed to offer effective academic support. "Study mode came out of a trip our team took to India," Leah Belsky, OpenAI's VP of education, revealed. Notably, this came as the team observed how families were pouring a large share of their income on tutors and after-school help, and how the youth strongly aspired to reach the next level.

Nick Turley, ChatGPT's VP, kept it simple: "We've been inspired by how millions in India use ChatGPT. With ChatGPT Go, we're making it even more accessible."

Competition Heats Up. OpenAI isn't the only one eyeing Indian wallets. Indian YouTuber Dhruv Rathee has jumped into the AI fray with AI Fiesta, a subscription-based platform giving access to six premium AI models, from ChatGPT and Gemini to Claude and Perplexity, for just ₹999/month. As part of this plan, users can compare AI outputs, auto-refine prompts, and manage custom projects all under one roof.

Meanwhile, Google is offering free access to Gemini Advanced for students, while Perplexity has teamed up with Airtel to give away its ₹17,000 Pro plan free for a year.

Move aside, Google and Perplexity. This is the Netflix moment for AI in India.

The Bigger Picture

Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw summed it up, "India is uniquely positioned to drive the next wave of AI-led transformation. We welcome OpenAI's partnership in advancing this vision to ensure the benefits of AI reach every citizen."

OpenAI will host its first Education Summit in India this month, followed by a Developer Day later in the year. Hiring has already begun, with more details about the Delhi office and initiatives expected soon.

A Wake-Up Call for Indian Startups. OpenAI's new ChatGPT Go plan could rattle India's AI startup scene. For the price of a Jio recharge, users suddenly have access to premium AI features, making it harder for local players to compete on price. While startups like Krutrim, Sarvam and Gnani.ai have been building assistants and Indic tools, adoption has been slow.

While you are here, let's take a quick look at some of the top stories of the week.

Big Tech is reintroducing in-person interviews as AI use by candidates rises. While firms like Google stress face-to-face evaluation, Microsoft allows the use of AI but retains human oversight. Startups mix AI-driven screening with personal interactions, underscoring that genuine skills, adaptability and trust matter more than polished, machine-like responses. Read more here.
Zepto is scaling beyond groceries, now promising land sales in 10 minutes through its app. At KubeCon India 2025, its engineers showcased how a Backstage-powered developer platform cut onboarding time from two days to 10 minutes, boosting efficiency for over 500 developers and streamlining operations across at least applications. Read the full story here.
The AI boom hides a fragile truth. Most startups are thin wrappers around OpenAI, Anthropic or Google APIs, vulnerable to pricing shifts and investor pressure. With giants burning billions and wrappers offering little defensibility, experts warn of an impending correction unless real value, profits and durable models emerge. Full story here.

Now, let's explore some exciting collaborations and exclusive insights from the AIM ecosystem, brought to you with a unique twist outside our standard editorial content.

Despite billions spent, 90% of enterprise AI projects never reach production. Turinton says the "last mile" is the real barrier, tackling it with a zero-ETL, governance-first platform that cuts timelines from months to weeks. Its approach promises operational AI, delivering measurable business value instead of stalled pilots.
Tredence has launched the Agentic AI Playbook to help enterprises move beyond pilots and scale AI across core functions. Targeted at chief data and analytics officers and AI leaders, it offers a structured framework for aligning humans and AI agents, reengineering processes and building resilient, AI-native organisations across "Now, New, Next" phases.
Tredence, in collaboration with AIM, hosted The AI Foundry, a hands-on developer event focused on building agentic GenAI systems. Moving beyond theory and demos, teams designed autonomous workflows for real-world challenges, explored AI observability and created blueprints for enterprise pilots—marking a shift toward practical, scalable AI adoption.

[Must Watch] In this episode of What's The Point?, we talk to Pragya Misra, OpenAI's first employee in India, about how OpenAI is transforming AI adoption in the country.