OpenAI announced plans to open new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru, expanding beyond its New Delhi base. Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit, CEO Sam Altman said India is central to the company’s global AI ambitions. Through its ‘OpenAI for India’ initiative, the firm aims to build infrastructure and partnerships locally.

OpenAI announced plans to open new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru, deepening its presence in India beyond its existing New Delhi base, as the company made a series of sweeping commitments at the India AI Impact Summit this week.

Speaking at the four-day summit, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman positioned India at the heart of the company's global ambitions. "India is already leading the way in AI adoption, and with its homegrown tech talent, optimism about what AI can do for the country, and strong government support, it is well placed to help shape its future and how democratic AI is adopted at scale," Altman said. "Through OpenAI for India, we're working together to build the infrastructure, skills, and local partnerships needed to build AI with India, for India, and in India."

OpenAI now accounts for 100 million wekly active users in India

The announcements come as India cements its status as OpenAI's second-largest user market. Altman revealed that India now accounts for over 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, with Indian students representing the largest student user base of ChatGPT anywhere in the world. OpenAI had already tailored its approach to India's price-sensitive market, rolling out a sub-$5 ChatGPT Go tier that was later made free for a year for Indian users.

OpenAI announces partnerships with IITs

On the education front, OpenAI announced partnerships with IIT Delhi and IIT Ahmedabad, embedding AI tools like ChatGPT Edu into engineering, management, healthcare, and creative courses, with over 100,000 students and faculty set to gain access to generative AI training and research resources.

The summit, held at the sprawling Bharat Mandapam convention complex in New Delhi, is the fourth in a global series of government-hosted AI events following Bletchley Park, Seoul, and Paris. More than 250,000 visitors were expected, with over 300 exhibitors spread across a 70,000-square-metre expo floor. The event drew an extraordinary constellation of global leaders - from Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani and French President Emmanuel Macron, who joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi on stage.

OpenAI was not alone in making bold India bets. Nvidia announced a partnership with Larsen & Toubro to construct a gigawatt-scale sovereign AI factory, with GPU clusters being scaled in Chennai and Mumbai to enable large-scale AI workloads for national needs. AMD teamed up with Tata Consultancy Services to develop rack-scale AI infrastructure based on AMD's "Helios" platform, while Blackstone picked up a majority stake in Indian AI startup Neysa as part of a $600 million equity fundraise, with the company planning to deploy more than 20,000 GPUs.