India is now the world's hotspot for AI chatbots
India has officially become the biggest market for large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, says a new Bank of America report.
With 145 million Indians using ChatGPT every month—and nearly 65 million hopping on daily—India alone makes up over 16% of its global users.
Gemini's not far behind with 105 million monthly users here, and Perplexity draws a whopping 38% of its global crowd from India.
Why is everyone in India using these AI tools?
It comes down to three things: super cheap data (think $2 for more than 20GB), over 700 million mobile users, and telecom companies bundling free access to these apps.
This combo led to massive download spikes—like ChatGPT's 24 million downloads in July alone.
What does this mean for the future?
The report calls India an "ideal test bed" for new AI because of its huge, diverse population and languages.
Global tech giants are loving all that training data and user feedback—but there's a catch: Indian startups might get pushed out before they can really grow.
So while it's an exciting time for AI in India, there's still a lot at stake for homegrown innovation.