OpenAI to expand in India with New Delhi office in 2025

ChatGPT owner OpenAI will open its first office in India later this year, as it looks to introduce more offerings into its second-largest market at affordable prices.

Confirming the development on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he will visit India next month.



The Sam Altman-led company has been established as a legal entity in India and has begun hiring a local team, Reuters reported on Friday, citing a company statement.

"Opening our first office and building a local team is an important first step in our commitment to make advanced AI more accessible across the country and to build AI for India, and with India," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in the statement.

As per listings on the OpenAI website, the company is looking to hire for sales three positions in India — Account Director, Digital Natives; Account Director, Large Enterprise; and Account Director, Strategics. Applicants need to have at least seven years of experience, Bloomberg reported.

It currently has one employee in the country — Pragya Misra, who joined last year and looks after public policy and partnerships here. The company had onboarded former Twitter India head Rishi Jaitly in 2023 as a senior advisor to engage the government for talks on AI policy.

Eye on India

Talking to ET earlier this month, Altman said that "incredibly fast-growing" India can surpass the US to become OpenAI's largest market.

"We are especially focused on bringing products to India, working with local partners to make AI work great for India, (making) it more affordable for people across the country. We've been paying a lot of attention here, given the rate of growth," the OpenAI CEO had said on the sidelines of the launch of its new model, GPT-5.

Earlier this week, the company introduced ChatGPT Go in India, an affordable subscription tier priced at Rs 399 per month (around $4.60). The plan offers a significant upgrade over the free version and is designed to give Indian users wider access to some of ChatGPT’s most popular features.

Even before entering India, OpenAI is facing legal challenges in the country. News agency ANI alleged in November that the company used its content without prior permission. The Federation of India Publishers — a body of domestic and foreign publishers active in India — joined the lawsuit later. The company has denied any wrongdoing.

Also Read: OpenAI’s GPT-5 release raises revenue risk for Indian IT firms