ChatGPT is experiencing rapid growth in India, outpacing its expansion in most other regions including the United States, according to a new JPMorgan research report.
The AI chatbot from OpenAI has seen faster download growth in India than elsewhere, driven by the country’s massive mobile-first population of over 945 million mobile phone users and one of the world’s youngest demographics. Viral use cases such as AI-generated images in Studio Ghibli style have helped fuel adoption.
This growth has translated into sustained user acquisition and increased market share, particularly at the expense of competitors like Google’s Gemini, which saw roughly a 6% decline in total download share in India during the same period, according to JPMorgan data.
The investment bank’s analysts believe India represents a strategic growth frontier for OpenAI, with the country’s tech-savvy urban population using smartphones as central tools for productivity, communication, and entertainment. CEO Sam Altman’s vision of ChatGPT as a personalized AI companion that integrates into daily life may particularly resonate in this market.
However, significant monetization challenges remain. India’s lower average discretionary income may limit paid subscription conversion rates in the near term. OpenAI currently relies heavily on subscription revenue and has not yet implemented advertising or freemium models in India, while the costs of providing free AI services remain substantial.
“We suspect OpenAI is making a calculated decision that delaying monetization of free users will payoff long term,” JPMorgan analysts wrote, comparing the strategy to Meta’s approach of building massive user bases on social platforms before adding advertising.
The analysts warned that unlike traditional software services, AI inference costs are significantly higher, making such prolonged monetization delays potentially unfeasible.
Despite these challenges, OpenAI’s global growth strategy and $63 billion in funding to date suggest clear intent to deepen its presence in emerging markets. JPMorgan estimates the global AI market could be worth more than $700 billion by 2030.
