India has become ChatGPT’s largest market in the world by weekly active users, with its user base doubling since January 2026, OpenAI India Managing Director Prabhjeet Singh said on 3 November 2026. Singh said OpenAI now plans deeper localisation, Hindi and vernacular voice features and UPI-linked payment announcements in the coming weeks.

Singh, who took charge of OpenAI’s India business after the company named him Managing Director earlier this year, shared the numbers in his first media interview since joining, with The Economic Times. “In less than a year, it’s doubling. It just gives you a sense of how people are beginning to find relevance and deep use cases,” he said.

How India became ChatGPT’s top market

The milestone moves India up from second place. During his India visit, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had already described India as one of OpenAI’s fastest-growing AI markets and its second-largest user base. Market estimates had earlier put India’s ChatGPT user base at about 100 million.

Singh linked the growth to how Indians use the product. Many users go straight to the dictation button instead of typing, which is pushing OpenAI to focus on voice, Hindi and other Indian languages. “Most of India actually doesn’t use English as a primary. So real big focus is on Hindi and vernacular,” he told The Times of India.

• Voice and languages: work on Hindi and regional-language capabilities through the year is starting to show results, building on ChatGPT’s Hindi voices Neer and Leher.
• Affordability: OpenAI is working to make the full model experience run on entry-level smartphones with limited memory, alongside its low-cost ChatGPT Go plan, which it earlier offered free for a year to Indian users.
• Payments: announcements on UPI and payments are expected over the coming weeks.
• Small businesses: traders are using ChatGPT to write festive messages for customers, and single-person shops are trying it for marketing and inventory, Singh said, though he did not share usage figures.

From pilots to production in Indian enterprises

On the enterprise side, Singh said OpenAI is “seeing a real shift from early days of pilots and demos” to scaled adoption and production-scale deployments. He expects “much deeper localisation and investments in the ecosystem”, spanning product experience, partnerships, work with the government and the developer community.

What OpenAI says on AI safety and regulation

As concern grows over the misuse of increasingly autonomous AI agents, Singh said OpenAI is engaging with government agencies and enterprises on data protection, model safety and cybersecurity, and is making its models available “at different levels of dialogue” to help protect critical infrastructure. He did not say which models or which agencies were involved. He added that constructive regulation could build trust among consumers and enterprises, a debate now live in India as MeitY weighs separate rules for AI intermediaries.

Key takeaways

• India is now ChatGPT’s largest market by weekly active users, and the user base has doubled since January 2026.
• OpenAI’s India push centres on voice, Hindi and vernacular languages, low-end smartphones and UPI-linked payments.
• Enterprise use in India is moving from pilots to production, while OpenAI works with government on securing critical infrastructure.

FAQ

Is India ChatGPT’s biggest market?

Yes. OpenAI India MD Prabhjeet Singh said on 3 November 2026 that India is ChatGPT’s largest market globally by weekly active users.

How fast is ChatGPT growing in India?

The Indian user base has doubled since January 2026, according to Singh, making India the biggest ChatGPT market of any country.

What is OpenAI planning next in India?

Singh pointed to UPI and payment announcements in the coming weeks, more Hindi and vernacular voice features, and deeper investments in partnerships and the local ecosystem.

Featured image: Prabhjeet Singh, Managing Director, OpenAI India. Photo: The Economic Times

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