OpenAI Launches Affordable ChatGPT GO Subscription Plan in India at ₹399 per Month, Targeting Over 850 Million Internet Users
OpenAI has introduced a new, cost-effective monthly subscription plan for its chatbot service, ChatGPT, in India. Named ChatGPT GO, the plan is priced at ₹399 ($4.60), making it significantly more affordable than the existing Plus Plan which costs ₹1,999 (approximately $23) per month.
The company has recently implemented local currency pricing for all its plans and with this launch, users in India will also be able to pay via UPI, the nation’s unified payment interface.
Nick Turley, Vice President at OpenAI and head of ChatGPT, stated that the new plan will enhance message generation, image creation, and file upload capabilities by tenfold over the free tier. Moreover, it will facilitate improved memory retention for more personalized responses, according to Turley.
“We are excited to make ChatGPT more accessible for users in India! The Go plan represents a significant step towards achieving that goal, with plans to evaluate user feedback before expanding to other regions,” said Turley.
From a currency conversion perspective, the Plus plan was priced higher than $20 when offered in local currency for Indian users. The new Go plan offers a more economical alternative to those primarily using ChatGPT for chat, image generation, and file processing.
In previous reports, software engineer Tibor Blaho, known for accurately predicting upcoming AI products, had hinted at this very plan and its specifics.
Although the plan is currently exclusive to India, OpenAI has expressed plans to expand it to other regions in the future.
Last month, Turley announced that ChatGPT boasts over 700 million weekly users globally, up from 500 million in March. Since its launch of an updated image generator feature for ChatGPT in March, there has been a noticeable surge in usage in India. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, recently mentioned during a podcast that India ranks as the company’s second-largest market. With the Go plan, they aim to capitalize on this growing user base.
As per app analytics firm AppFigures, India leads in terms of ChatGPT app downloads across platforms, with over 29 million downloads originating from the country in the past 90 days. However, the app has only generated $3.6 million in revenue from users within the country during this period.
This pricing adjustment is expected to encourage more subscriptions for ChatGPT usage in India. Other AI companies have also taken measures to attract users from India’s internet user base of over 850 million. Last month, Perplexity partnered with network provider Airtel to provide free Perplexity Pro subscriptions, while Google offered a complimentary one-year AI Pro plan for Indian students.
While OpenAI’s move does not involve any freebies, local and affordable pricing is expected to increase the subscription conversion rate for ChatGPT in India.
