In a major boost to India’s rapidly expanding artificial intelligence ecosystem, OpenAI has announced plans to open new offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai later this year, significantly expanding its footprint in one of its fastest-growing global markets. The company already has an operational presence in New Delhi, which was announced in August 2025 as its first India office.

The expansion comes at a pivotal moment for India’s AI journey. Just days after rival AI firm Anthropic opened its office in Bengaluru, OpenAI has signalled its intent to deepen engagement across enterprise, infrastructure, education, and sovereign AI development in the country.

The announcements were made during the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, where OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, along with senior leadership including COO Brad Lightcap, Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane, and Chief Economist Ronnie Chatterji, outlined an ambitious roadmap for the company’s India strategy.

India Emerges as a Global AI Powerhouse

India is no longer just a fast-growing tech market—it is now central to OpenAI’s global ambitions.

According to the company, India is currently the second-largest market for ChatGPT, with more than 100 million weekly users spanning students, teachers, developers, entrepreneurs, and enterprises. Globally, ChatGPT had surpassed 800 million weekly users as of October 2025.

Altman has previously suggested that, given current growth momentum, India could soon become ChatGPT’s largest market worldwide.

“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 at the Summit.

He further emphasised that India is uniquely positioned not just to build AI systems, but to shape their global direction. “India is well positioned to lead in AI — not just to build it, but to shape it and decide what our future is going to look like,” he noted, adding that it is important to move quickly as AI adoption accelerates.

Launch of “OpenAI for India”

At the heart of the expansion is “OpenAI for India”, a nationwide initiative aimed at expanding access to artificial intelligence, strengthening sovereign AI capabilities, and accelerating enterprise and workforce transformation across sectors.

“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,” Altman said.

The initiative focuses on three key pillars:

• Sovereign AI infrastructure

• Enterprise-scale AI deployment

• Workforce skilling and certifications

Landmark Partnership with Tata Group and TCS

A cornerstone of OpenAI’s India strategy is its multi-dimensional strategic partnership with the Tata Group and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

The collaboration aims to drive AI-powered innovation across enterprise, consumer, and social sectors — and could mark one of the world’s largest enterprise AI deployments.

Under the agreement:

• Tata Group will deploy ChatGPT Enterprise across its workforce over the coming years.

• The rollout will begin with hundreds of thousands of TCS employees.

• Eventually, several thousand Tata Group employees will gain access to Enterprise ChatGPT tools.

• TCS plans to leverage OpenAI’s Codex, its AI coding agent, to standardise AI-native software development and improve software engineering outcomes.

India is already the fastest-growing market for Codex, underscoring strong adoption among the country’s vast developer community.

N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, described the partnership as transformational.

“This strategic collaboration between OpenAI and Tata Group marks a major milestone in India’s vision to become a global leader in AI,” he said. “We are pleased to partner with OpenAI to create state-of-the-art AI infrastructure in India. This is a unique opportunity for OpenAI and TCS to transform industries. Together we will skill India’s youth and empower them to succeed in the AI era.”

Building Sovereign AI Infrastructure in India

Beyond enterprise deployment, the partnership also includes a substantial infrastructure commitment under OpenAI’s global Stargate initiative.

OpenAI will become the first customer of TCS’s HyperVault data centre business, beginning with 100 megawatts of AI-ready data centre capacity, with the potential to scale up to 1 gigawatt over time.

This infrastructure will:

• Enable advanced AI models to run securely within India

• Deliver lower latency for Indian users

• Meet data residency, security, and compliance requirements

• Support mission-critical and government workloads

The development of local AI-ready data centre capacity is designed to strengthen India’s sovereign AI capabilities — a growing priority for governments worldwide seeking greater control over data governance and AI infrastructure.

Altman praised India’s leadership in sovereign AI, citing its efforts in building infrastructure and small language models (SLMs) tailored for domestic needs.

Expanding Enterprise Partnerships Across India

The Tata collaboration builds on OpenAI’s rapidly expanding enterprise partnerships in India.

Recent and ongoing collaborations include:

• JioHotstar

• Eternal

• Pine Labs

• Cars24

• HCLTech

• PhonePe

• Cred

• MakeMyTrip

JioHotstar Launches Conversational Streaming

JioHotstar has introduced ChatGPT-branded Conversational Streaming in India. Powered by OpenAI APIs, the feature enables users to explore the country’s largest streaming library through natural language voice and text conversations in multiple Indian languages.

Pine Labs and Agentic Commerce

Pine Labs is integrating OpenAI APIs directly into its payments infrastructure, a move expected to accelerate “agentic commerce” in India — where AI agents help users make transactions seamlessly.

These partnerships collectively demonstrate how AI is being embedded into consumer platforms, fintech systems, travel services, and enterprise IT across the country.

Skilling India’s Workforce for the AI Era

OpenAI’s India push goes far beyond technology deployment. Workforce development is a central pillar.

OpenAI Certifications Expand to India

OpenAI will expand its certification programmes in India, with TCS becoming the first participating organisation outside the United States.

These certifications aim to help professionals build practical AI skills applicable across industries and job roles.

University Partnerships

OpenAI has also partnered with leading Indian institutions, including:

• IIM Ahmedabad

• AIIMS New Delhi

• Manipal Academy of Higher Education

• University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

• Pearl Academy

As part of these tie-ups, OpenAI will provide more than 100,000 ChatGPT Edu licenses to equip students with workforce-relevant AI skills.

In October, the company also offered a one-year free subscription to ChatGPT Go, its entry-level tier, for all users in India — reinforcing its commitment to expanding adoption in the world’s second-largest internet market.

Democratising AI: A Core Philosophy

Throughout his address, Altman repeatedly emphasised the importance of democratising AI.

“Democratisation of AI is the best way to ensure that humanity flourishes,” he said, adding that the world urgently needs thoughtful AI regulation.

He acknowledged that artificial intelligence will disrupt certain jobs. “Technology always disrupts jobs; we always find new and better things to do,” he said, framing AI as a force that historically creates new categories of work even as it transforms existing ones.

Why This Expansion Matters

OpenAI’s decision to open offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai — India’s leading technology and financial hubs — signals long-term commitment rather than short-term market experimentation.

With:

• 100 million weekly ChatGPT users in India

• One of the largest enterprise AI rollouts globally

• A potential 1 gigawatt AI-ready data centre pipeline

• Expanding certifications and university partnerships

• Deep integration into fintech, streaming, travel, and IT services

India is emerging not just as a user market, but as a strategic AI infrastructure and deployment hub.

As AI adoption accelerates across sectors — from government to enterprise to education — OpenAI’s India expansion positions the country at the centre of the global AI transformation.

In Altman’s words, India is not merely participating in the AI revolution — it is helping shape what the future of democratic AI adoption at scale will look like.

With inputs from agencies

Image Source: Multiple agencies

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