Google, OpenAI and Perplexity bet on India to train next generation of AI
Indian visitors talk on their mobile phones in front of the Google booth at the India Mobile Congress in New Delhi on September 27, 2017.
Prakash Singh | AFP | Getty Images
AI companies racing to expand in India are not just chasing customers, they are also recruiting millions of users to help train AI models for the world.
Google and Perplexity AI are offering their services free for 12 to 18 months through partnerships with local telecom providers Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, while OpenAI has made its ChatGPT Go plan free nationwide for a year.
“India stands at the intersection of youth, digital fluency and rapid AI adoption,” said Sharmila Senthilraja., Vice President and industry platform leader at Capgemini India.
Senthilraja said low internet costs and a strong digital foundation allow consumers between the ages of 18 and 35 to freely experience emerging technologies. He added that half of internet users in India reported using some form of artificial intelligence.
India has one of the highest smartphone and internet penetration rates in the world. “With over 700 million internet users and widespread smartphone usage, India generates massive amounts of data that is fuel for training AI models,” said Boston Consulting Group. report He said in June.
BCG added that the country’s artificial intelligence market is estimated to exceed $17 billion by 2027, making it one of the fastest growing markets in the world.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO of US-based Greyhound Research, says AI players aren’t just building “a simple user base; they’re creating a new data and cognition infrastructure powered by human participation and trained on a national scale.”
He added that AI platforms offered through telecom providers will also shape corporate behavior. “The tools your employees try at home today will be the same tools they use at work tomorrow,” he said.
According to 2024 estimates shared by India’s IT and technology industry body NASSCOM, India’s AI workforce is expected to grow from around 650,000 professionals to over 1.27 million by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 15%.
Artificial intelligence is driving demand for jobs in data science, data optimization, AI engineering and analytics in India. As of August 2025, approximately 865,000 candidates have enrolled or studied in various emerging technology courses, including 320,000 in Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics.
“India is becoming the robot education capital of the world,” Saurabh Mukherjea, founder and chief investment officer of Marcellus Investment Managers, told CNBC. He added that the country is also poised to become a major global hub for data cleansing.
