ChatGPT developer OpenAI said it will establish its first Indian office in New Delhi later this year after registering a local legal entity and beginning to hire staff. The expansion gives the Microsoft-backed company a direct foothold in its second-largest market by user numbers. Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman called the move "an important first step" toward making advanced AI widely available and building "AI for India, and with India." OpenAI data show ChatGPT’s weekly active users in the country have quadrupled in the past year. To court price-sensitive consumers, the firm on 19 August rolled out its lowest-priced subscription, ChatGPT Go, at ₹399 ($4.60) a month. OpenAI plans to host an Education Summit this month and its first Developer Day in India later in 2025 as it seeks partnerships with local businesses and government under the IndiaAI mission. The company faces intensifying competition from Google’s Gemini and startup Perplexity, as well as copyright lawsuits brought by Indian publishers accusing it of unlicensed content use.