Quick answer
Published India data is uneven: 100 million weekly ChatGPT users, 5.8 percent of Claude.ai use, and a top three ranking for Gemini and AI Mode, while Copilot and DeepSeek have no reliable public India figure. Where none exists we say so.
India comes up constantly in conversations about AI usage, but the published evidence is uneven. Some companies have shared India specific figures, and others have not. This note lists what exists and marks the gaps plainly.
100M
ChatGPT weekly users in India (OpenAI CEO, Feb 2026)
5.8%
India's share of Claude.ai use (Anthropic, Nov 2025 sample)
~14M
Perplexity monthly users in India, July 2026 (Sensor Tower)
Platform by platform
- ChatGPT: 100M weekly users, second largest market after the US, per OpenAI's CEO.
- Gemini: Google says India is a top three country for Gemini. No user count or share for India was published.
- Claude: 5.8% of Claude.ai use, second to the US. India leads the world in software focused use at 45.2%.
- Perplexity: monthly users peaked near 22M in October 2025 during a telecom bundle, and were about 14M by July 2026, per Sensor Tower.
- Google AI Overviews: launched in India in August 2024. No India specific user count was published.
- Copilot: no reliable public India figure found.
- DeepSeek: no reliable public India usage figure found. Government advice covers official devices, not the public.
Why we show gaps
An independent check from a news survey
Most of the India figures on this page come from the companies that make the products. The Reuters Institute's 2025 Digital News Report offers a separate view, from a survey of respondents in 48 markets. It found that 18% of its Indian sample used chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini to access news weekly, compared with 7% across all markets and 3% in the UK.
7%
use AI chatbots to get news each week, across 48 markets
15%
of under-25s use them weekly for news
18%
of the Indian sample used chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini for news weekly
The Reuters Institute reports that these numbers are small overall but much higher among younger audiences, and that ChatGPT is the most used tool. Averaged across markets, 4% said they had accessed ChatGPT for news in the last week. The India figure is worth noting for any brand selling there: it is well above the global average.
It is a self-reported measure of one activity, news, so it should not be stretched into a claim about total AI use or shopping. It does add an independent data point: in a survey not run by an AI company, the Indian sample reported high weekly use.
Reach statements from Google
On its July 2025 earnings call, Alphabet's chief executive said AI Mode had more than 100 million monthly active users in the United States and India. The statement combines two countries and gives no split, so it must not be read as an India-only figure. It is included here because it shows that India is one of the two markets where Google has brought AI search to a large audience.
How to weigh the different kinds of evidence
| Type | Examples | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company statements | OpenAI's weekly-user figure, Google's reach statements | Direct from the operator | Definitions vary, and there is no independent audit |
| Company research | Anthropic's Economic Index brief | Detailed, with a method | One product, one sample week |
| Independent survey | Reuters Institute Digital News Report | Not run by an AI vendor | Self-reported, one topic |
| App intelligence | Sensor Tower estimates | Comparable across time | Estimates, and app-only |
The gaps, stated plainly
- There is no reliable public India usage figure for Copilot that we found.
- There is no reliable public India usage figure for DeepSeek that we found.
- Gemini and Google AI Overviews have not published India-specific user counts.
- No platform publishes a brand-level comparison of results by Indian language.
Where a figure does not exist we say so instead of estimating. A plausible-looking number that nobody measured is worse than an honest gap.
Why not combine the figures into one India total?
The sources measure different things over different periods with different definitions. Adding them would produce a number that looks precise and means nothing.
How often is this page updated?
When a new primary source is published or an existing one changes. Each figure carries its own date and source.
Sources
- 1. TechCrunch: India has 100M weekly active ChatGPT users (15 Feb 2026)
- 2. Anthropic Economic Index: India country brief (Nov 2025 data)
- 3. Google: AI Impact Summit 2026 (18 Feb 2026)
- 4. Unite.AI on Perplexity India (Sensor Tower) (18 Aug 2026)
- 5. Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025: Executive summary (2025 edition, 48 markets)
- 6. TechCrunch: Google's AI Overviews have 2B monthly users, AI Mode 100M in the US and India (Alphabet Q2 2025 earnings call, 23 Jul 2025)
Cite this page
BrandWater AI Research. (2026, 5 September 2026). India and AI assistants: what has and has not been published. https://brandwaterai.in/research/india-and-ai-assistants
How we work
Figures are dated and linked to their sources. Where none exist we say so. Read our methodology and AI transparency pages.