India among top AI markets globally, says OpenAI

OpenAI has said India is among the world’s most advanced AI markets, with strong growth in coding and data analysis. However, usage remains concentrated in major cities, highlighting the need to expand access and skills across the country

New Delhi: US tech giant OpenAI on Wednesday said that India ranks among the world’s most advanced AI markets, mainly in coding, data analysis and complex reasoning.

India ranks among the top five nations globally in thinking capability usage per person, measured using reasoning tokens used by ChatGPT Plus users, the release from OpenAI said.

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The country is one of the fastest‑growing AI builder ecosystems with four-fold growth in Codex users in just two weeks after the launch of the company’s Codex app in February 2026.

AI usage in India remains highly concentrated in a handful of cities, with advanced use even more unevenly spread, said the company, highlighting a significant opportunity to expand access beyond early adopters in the top few cities.

“The central question now is how quickly the benefits of AI can extend beyond early adopters and leading cities to the wider population. Closing this gap will require expanding access, building skills, and enabling more meaningful use across the country, an effort shaped in large part by India’s young, fast-adopting population”, said Oliver Jay, Managing Director-International, OpenAI.

Advanced capability is highly concentrated as the top 10 cities account for about 50 per cent of AI users, representing less than 10 per cent of the population.

Delhi-NCR has the highest population penetration of ChatGPT in the country. While India has competitive AI capability, its deepest advantages are clustering in a small number of urban hubs, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Chennai, it noted.

The Capability Gap findings highlight that beyond the top cities, some of the most meaningful use cases are emerging in areas like education and health, indicating how AI is already being used in everyday contexts.

In advanced use cases, the company noted wide intra-regional gaps, with data analysis usage up to 30 times higher in leading cities compared to lagging cities. Coding usage was found to be four times higher and Codex developer usage nine times higher.