Perplexity sees India as a shortcut in its race against OpenAI

Perplexity is strategically expanding into India to compete with OpenAI by partnering with major telecom operators like Bharti Airtel to offer free Pro subscriptions to 360 million users. The AI search startup saw 600% year-over-year growth in downloads and 640% growth in monthly active users in India during Q2, though ChatGPT still maintains significantly higher absolute numbers. Despite strong user growth, Perplexity faces monetization challenges in the price-sensitive Indian market, generating minimal revenue compared to ChatGPT's $773 million quarterly revenue globally.