ChatGPT Begins Testing New Local Pricing Feature in India, Revolutionizing Payment Accessibility
OpenAI has reportedly initiated a pilot program to test local pricing for ChatGPT in India, allowing users to make payments in Indian rupees for the first time. This move places India alongside select markets such as the UK and parts of Europe in the effort to streamline payments, making them simpler and more accessible for the country’s rapidly expanding user base.
Within this pilot program, the ChatGPT Plus plan has been priced at ₹1,999 per month (including GST). For those seeking a more advanced offering, the Pro plan is set at ₹19,900 per month, while the Team plan costs ₹2,099 per seat per month. Previously, Indian users were required to make payments in US dollars, with rates at $20 (approximately ₹1,750) for the Plus plan, $200 (approximately ₹17,500) for the Pro plan, and $30 (approximately ₹2,600) per seat for the Team plan.
This change comes shortly after the recent launch of GPT-5, OpenAI’s most advanced model to date, which brings improved performance across 12 Indian languages. This localization aims to make the service more relevant and user-friendly for the Indian market.
According to various reports, OpenAI might soon introduce a new plan called ChatGPT Go, which could be priced at ₹399 per month. This budget-friendly tier is likely to appeal to casual users, students, and first-time subscribers who are interested in AI assistance but not ready to commit to premium plans.
The demand for local pricing was a significant topic of discussion with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during his visit to India in February 2025. Indian startup founders and developers had voiced concerns that dollar-based pricing presented a significant barrier to adoption. OpenAI’s vice president of engineering, Srinivas Narayanan, had previously mentioned that the company was focused on making its tools more affordable for Indian developers, in alignment with its global goal of making technology more accessible.
India has ascended to become OpenAI’s second-largest market outside of the United States. Sam Altman has even suggested that India could soon surpass the United States in ChatGPT usage. The introduction of local pricing underpins the platform’s increasing significance in the country’s AI adoption journey.
However, the competitive landscape for OpenAI in India is challenging. Competitors such as Perplexity AI are offering Bharti Airtel’s 360 million customers a free one-year subscription to its premium tier. Moreover, Google is extending a year’s free access to its AI tools to Indian college students, indicative of the robust competition that OpenAI faces in the region.
