Perplexity’s strategy of giving Indian consumers free access to its premium AI service has significantly expanded its user base in the country, turning India into one of the company’s most important markets. The company’s push was led by a partnership with Bharti Airtel that offered a 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription at no cost to Airtel customers, giving the AI search startup access to a distribution network of hundreds of millions of Indian users. Airtel said the annual subscription was worth ₹17,000 at the time of the offer.
The strategy has produced a sharp increase in Perplexity’s Indian adoption. TechCrunch reported that Perplexity’s downloads in India rose 600% year over year to 2.8 million in the second quarter of 2025, while its monthly active users in the country increased 640% year over year. India also became Perplexity’s largest market by monthly active users, highlighting the potential of free premium access as a customer-acquisition strategy in a highly price-sensitive but digitally active market.
Perplexity’s India Strategy Was Built Around Free Premium Access
The central element of Perplexity’s India strategy was its partnership with Airtel.
In July 2025, Airtel announced that all of its roughly 360 million customers across mobile, Wi-Fi and DTH services could receive 12 months of Perplexity Pro for free. The offer was significantly broader than a conventional promotional campaign because it used an existing telecom customer base to distribute an AI subscription at national scale.
Perplexity India Offer: Key Numbers
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Airtel customer base covered by original offer | 360 million |
| Free Perplexity Pro period | 12 months |
| Reported annual Pro value | ₹17,000 |
| India downloads in Q2 2025 | 2.8 million |
| India download growth | +600% YoY |
| India monthly active-user growth | +640% YoY |
| India position by Perplexity MAUs | Largest market |
The offer was designed to reduce the biggest barrier to premium AI adoption: price.
Perplexity Pro was positioned as a higher-end product with access to more advanced models and features such as deeper research, file analysis and image generation. Airtel described the partnership as a way to make professional-grade AI available to its customers without an additional subscription cost.
India Became A Major Growth Engine For Perplexity
The impact of the Airtel partnership became visible in Perplexity’s user and download numbers.
According to Sensor Tower data shared with TechCrunch, Perplexity downloads in India increased 600% year over year to 2.8 million in Q2 2025. Monthly active users rose even faster, increasing 640% year over year.
Perplexity India Growth
App downloads
2.8 million
██████████████████████████████
+600% YoY
Monthly active users
+640%
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The growth rate was particularly notable because Perplexity was competing against much larger AI platforms.
TechCrunch reported that ChatGPT downloads in India reached 46.7 million in Q2 2025 after growing 587% year over year. While Perplexity remained far smaller in absolute downloads, its growth rate showed that the company was rapidly gaining ground in the Indian AI market.
Perplexity Vs ChatGPT: India Growth
The Indian market became an important battleground between Perplexity and OpenAI.
Q2 2025 India Data
| Metric | Perplexity | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 downloads | 2.8 million | 46.7 million |
| Year-on-year download growth | 600% | 587% |
| India MAU growth | 640% | 350% |
| Position | Rapidly growing challenger | Market leader |
The comparison shows two different forms of growth.
ChatGPT had a vastly larger installed base and therefore generated many more downloads. Perplexity, however, was growing its Indian monthly active-user base at a much faster rate.
That made India strategically valuable for Perplexity as it attempted to close the gap with larger AI companies.
Free Access Helped Perplexity Solve The Distribution Problem
For an AI startup, acquiring millions of users individually can be expensive.
Advertising, app-store visibility and brand-building campaigns can take years to produce the scale that a telecom partnership can deliver almost immediately.
Airtel effectively provided Perplexity with a ready-made distribution channel.
The Distribution Model
Airtel
↓
360 million customers
↓
Free 12-month Perplexity Pro
↓
Lower price barrier
↓
Millions of potential new users
↓
Higher Perplexity adoption in India
This model is particularly powerful in India because telecom operators have enormous customer bases and consumers are accustomed to receiving digital services as part of connectivity packages.
The Free Offer Was Worth ₹17,000 A Year
Airtel said the annual Perplexity Pro subscription offered through the partnership was worth ₹17,000.
That made the promotion materially different from a short free trial.
Users received access for an entire year, giving them enough time to incorporate AI search into everyday activities such as research, education, writing, coding and professional work.
Value Of The Promotion
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Monthly equivalent at ₹17,000 annual value | ~₹1,417 |
| 12-month access | Free |
| Original subscription value | ₹17,000 |
| Eligible Airtel ecosystem | Mobile, Wi-Fi and DTH |
The economics of the promotion also reveal why India can be attractive for AI companies. A company can subsidize premium access to build habits and market share before attempting to convert a portion of those users into paying customers.
The Real Test Is User Retention
The initial surge in downloads and monthly active users is only one part of the story.
The bigger question for Perplexity is how many users remain active after their promotional access ends.
A free subscription can encourage people to experiment with a product. Converting that experimentation into a long-term habit is much harder.
Perplexity’s India Growth Funnel
Free access
↓
User registration
↓
AI experimentation
↓
Regular usage
↓
Habit formation
↓
Potential paid subscription
The final two stages are particularly important because they determine whether a free-user acquisition campaign becomes a sustainable business strategy.
Airtel’s Offer Has Now Ended For New Activations
Airtel’s current FAQ states that the Perplexity Pro promotion was available from July 17, 2025, until January 16, 2026, and that new users can no longer redeem the offer. Existing users who claimed it before the deadline can continue using their 12-month subscription through the applicable offer period.
That makes the current situation different from the original launch.
The promotion succeeded in creating a large pool of Indian users, but Perplexity now has to determine how much of that growth can persist without the same free distribution mechanism.
Offer Timeline
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| July 17, 2025 | Airtel launches free 12-month Perplexity Pro offer |
| Q2 2025 | India Perplexity downloads reach 2.8 million |
| Q2 2025 | India MAUs rise 640% YoY |
| January 16, 2026 | New redemptions for Airtel offer end |
| 2026 | Existing eligible users continue through their individual offer periods |
The transition from acquisition to retention is therefore becoming increasingly important for Perplexity.
India Now Matters Beyond User Numbers
Perplexity’s Indian expansion is important because India offers something that few other markets can match: a huge internet population with high smartphone usage and rapidly increasing familiarity with AI tools.
The company is not simply targeting consumers who want a chatbot.
Perplexity positions itself as an AI-powered search and answer engine, meaning its product is closely connected to the way users discover information online. Its app supports real-time answers with cited sources and has expanded its feature set beyond conventional search.
Where Indian Users Can Use Perplexity
| Use Case | Potential Application |
|---|---|
| Education | Research and explanations |
| Business | Market and company research |
| Coding | Technical questions and research |
| Content creation | Research and drafting |
| News | Current-information searches |
| Consumer decisions | Product and service research |
| Productivity | Summaries and information discovery |
This broad use-case potential makes India valuable as a long-term market rather than simply a source of temporary promotional users.
Perplexity Is Competing In A Crowded Indian AI Market
The company’s India push is taking place as several major AI companies compete aggressively for Indian users.
Google, OpenAI and Perplexity have all experimented with free or discounted premium access in India. OpenAI has used ChatGPT Go promotions, while Google has partnered with Reliance Jio to distribute premium Gemini access.
The strategy reflects a broader recognition that India could become one of the world’s most important AI markets.
India’s AI Competition
| Company | India Strategy |
|---|---|
| Perplexity | Airtel distribution and free Pro access |
| OpenAI | Free/discounted ChatGPT offerings |
| Gemini distribution through Jio | |
| Other AI platforms | Local partnerships and free tiers |
The competition is no longer only about which company has the strongest AI model. Distribution, pricing, local partnerships and user habits are becoming equally important.
Why India Is So Important To AI Companies
India combines a huge digital population with strong demand for affordable technology.
A premium AI subscription priced at international levels can be expensive for many consumers. By distributing premium access through telecom operators, AI companies can eliminate or reduce that price barrier and reach users who might otherwise remain on free tiers.
This approach can also help companies understand how AI is used across different languages, professions and consumer segments.
The Challenge: Turning Free Users Into Paying Customers
The biggest strategic question for Perplexity is monetisation.
The Airtel promotion demonstrated that the company can acquire users rapidly. But millions of free users do not automatically translate into millions of paying customers.
Perplexity must persuade users that its advanced features are valuable enough to justify a subscription after promotional access ends.
Acquisition Vs Monetisation
| Phase | Perplexity’s Objective |
|---|---|
| Free promotion | Acquire users |
| Product exposure | Build familiarity |
| Regular usage | Develop habits |
| Pro features | Demonstrate value |
| Subscription renewal | Generate revenue |
This is a familiar challenge across the consumer internet industry, but it is particularly important for AI companies because serving users can involve substantial computing costs.
The Indian AI Market Could Become A Long-Term Advantage
The success of the Airtel campaign suggests that telecom partnerships can be an effective route for AI companies seeking mass adoption.
Perplexity has already demonstrated that a free premium offer can dramatically increase its Indian user base. The next phase will depend on whether those users remain active after the promotional period and whether a meaningful percentage eventually pay for premium services.
If Perplexity can retain a significant share of the users acquired through Airtel, India could become a durable source of growth rather than simply a successful promotional market.
The Bigger Picture
Perplexity’s India strategy demonstrates how AI companies are moving beyond traditional app-store competition and using distribution partnerships to acquire users at unprecedented scale. The Airtel deal gave 360 million customers access to a year of Perplexity Pro for free, while Sensor Tower data showed Perplexity’s Indian downloads and monthly active users rising 600% and 640%, respectively, year over year in Q2 2025.
The important question now is what happens after the free-access period. Airtel stopped accepting new redemptions in January 2026, meaning Perplexity must increasingly rely on product value, organic adoption and paid conversion to retain the momentum created by the promotion.
Looking Ahead
Perplexity’s India expansion has already shown that free premium AI access can rapidly change the competitive landscape. The company used Airtel’s enormous customer base to reduce the cost barrier to its Pro service and turn India into a major growth market. The resulting jump in downloads and active users provides evidence that distribution partnerships can be as important as AI capabilities when companies are competing for mass adoption.
The next phase will be harder. Perplexity must convert the millions of users acquired through free access into regular users and, eventually, paying customers. If it succeeds, India could become one of the company’s most important long-term markets and provide a blueprint for expansion in other price-sensitive, high-growth countries. If retention and conversion remain weak after promotional access expires, however, the dramatic user growth generated by the free offer could prove more temporary than the headline numbers suggest.
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