OpenAI’s India Lad signals major expansion after week of high-level deals
Photo credit: Pragya Misra
OpenAI signaled a deepening India strategy this week through a LinkedIn post from Pragya Misra, who leads the company’s India operations, outlining what she described as “one of the most consequential weeks in OpenAI’s India journey.”
In the post, Misra wrote: “We just wrapped one of the most consequential weeks in OpenAI’s India journey and the momentum is real.”
She added: “Twenty months ago, when I joined OpenAI in India, it began with belief and conversations about what AI could unlock here. Today, that belief is translating into partnerships, infrastructure, adoption, and visible on-ground impact.”
The update followed the formal launch of “OpenAI for India” at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi, alongside a series of government meetings, enterprise agreements, and education partnerships.
India now has more than 100 million weekly ChatGPT users, according to OpenAI, making it one of the company’s largest global markets. Misra wrote: “India now has 100M+ weekly ChatGPT users, one of our largest global communities. Usage for technical tasks is nearly 4x the global average, Codex adoption is ~3x, and users ask more coding and learning-related questions than most markets reinforcing India’s role as a builder economy.”
She concluded: “The momentum is strong.”
Government meetings and infrastructure commitments
In her LinkedIn summary of the week, Misra stated that OpenAI met Prime Minister Narendra Modi alongside Sam Altman “to advance a shared vision of democratizing AI at national scale.” She also referenced engagement with Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan and senior leaders on scaling AI across governance and industry, and confirmed that OpenAI had signed an MoU with the Government of Maharashtra.
Infrastructure formed a central pillar of the announcements. As part of OpenAI’s global Stargate initiative, the company partnered with Tata Group to develop local, AI-ready data center capacity.
OpenAI will become the first customer of Tata Consultancy Services’ HyperVault data center business, beginning with 100 megawatts of capacity and with potential to scale to one gigawatt.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, says: “India is already leading the way in AI adoption, and with its homegrown tech talent, optimism about what AI can do for the country, and strong government support, it is well placed to help shape its future and how democratic AI is adopted at scale. Through OpenAI for India, we’re working together to build the infrastructure, skills, and local partnerships needed to build AI with India, for India, and in India.”
Enterprise rollout and education scale-up
Misra’s post also referenced expanded enterprise adoption, including deeper collaboration with Tata Group and AI integration across large-scale consumer and business workflows. OpenAI has confirmed that Tata plans to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise across employees over the coming years, starting with hundreds of thousands of TCS employees, while TCS intends to use Codex to standardize AI-native software development.
On education and workforce development, OpenAI is expanding its Certifications program in India, with TCS becoming the first participating organization outside the United States.
The company also announced more than 100,000 ChatGPT Edu licenses through partnerships with institutions including Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, and Pearl Academy.
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