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In the United States, OpenAI has taken the lead in the artificial intelligence market, but Perplexity has chosen a different path, quietly expanding into India, aiming to capture the market in the next phase of AI technology adoption. This search-focused AI startup is rapidly attracting millions of users in India, the world's second-largest internet and smartphone market, paving the way for large-scale applications in the future.
This week, Perplexity formed a strategic partnership with Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, offering its 360 million users a free 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription, which usually costs $200. Bharti Airtel confirmed that this agreement is exclusive, meaning other telecom companies in India cannot offer Perplexity services, including free access, to their users.
Image source note: The image was generated by AI, and the image licensing service is Midjourney.
This collaboration with Bharti Airtel marks one of the most important steps in Perplexity's global expansion strategy. The company has already established partnerships with more than 25 telecom companies worldwide, including recent collaborations with SoftBank in Japan and SK Telecom in South Korea. As the world's most populous country, India offers a vast user base that is unmatched by other markets.
According to Sensor Tower data, Perplexity's downloads in India surged by 600% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2023, reaching 2.8 million, while OpenAI's ChatGPT saw a 587% increase, reaching 46.7 million downloads during the same period. In terms of active users, Perplexity's monthly active users in India grew by 640%, while ChatGPT's increased by 350%. Although Perplexity is experiencing strong growth, ChatGPT still leads significantly in absolute user numbers.
To further solidify its position in the Indian market, Perplexity has also partnered with India's financial technology giant Paytm, embedding its AI search functionality into the Paytm app, which has over 500 million downloads. Additionally, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas plans to hire local executives in India to enhance its influence in the region.
