Every well established or growing company knows targeting India is a smart move. And that’s exactly why every Major AI brand is aiming to target India- they have the largest pool of digital users. Additionally, the country has a multilingual population who are waiting for advanced tech that speaks their language. That’s why companies like Google, Perplexity and ChatGPT are providing free AI subscriptions. The goal? Is to build trust, gain loyalty and thereby lock in millions of paying customers. In this article, we’ll dive into the 3 major players who are giving premium access to AI subscriptions. I’m sure you would have heard the partnerships and offers by now- Jio has partnered with Google, Perplexity with Airtel and OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Go. Let’s find out which actually might be the best free offer.
Jio-Google AI Pro: Best for Google Users
The Offer: If you are a Jio subscriber of the age group 18-25 and on a 5G plan, you are eligible for an 18-month free Gemini 2.5 Pro subscription. The value of this is Rs 35,100. Jio, as the company, is planning to extend this offer to all its users shortly. I tried availing this offer, instead of directly getting Gemini 2.5 Pro, you get a message which says “Thank you for your interest, we’ll get back to you soon.” So, this might take a while. If you want to know everything about How to Claim Your Free Google Gemini Pro check out our blog.
What You Get:
- Gemini 2.5 Pro for writing, coding, and research in multiple Indian languages
- 2TB cloud storage spread over Google Drive, Gmail, and Photos (my favorite thing about the offer). iPhone users will no longer have to complain about storage
- Veo 3.1 Flash that takes the text and then creates the video with sound
- Nano Banana for advanced image creation
- Creative tools like NotebookLM, Flow for AI filmmaking, and Whisk
Who Should Choose This: Students, online content producers, advertisers, and working people. Mostly those who are already deeply integrating Google services in their work or personal life. And if you’re short on storage(iPhone users XD) this one’s for you.
The Catch: Only a Jio user on an eligible plan can take advantage of this. And the sub classification here is Jio user aged between 18-25, your KYC is linked to your sim, thus your date of birth is also on record. In case you are not a daily user of Google products, most of the features will remain unutilized in my opinion. But it’s free, so if you’re in the age group and have a 5G plan just go for it.
Airtel-Perplexity Pro: Best for Research
The Offer: A free one year subscription to Perplexity Pro is available to all Airtel customers (mobile, Wi-Fi, DTH, broadband). Total value of the same is Rs. 17,000 approximately.
What You Get:
- Access to three different AI models: GPT-4, Gemini, and Claude
- You can choose the model that gives you the best answer to your question
- A very comprehensive research engine with up-to-the-minute sources(my favorite thing about the offer as in my opinion perplexity is the best for research and online web search)
- 300 premium searches allowed per day(which is wild in comparison to a normal perplexity account that gives you only 3 premium searches every day, the benefit is 100x)
- Creation of images and uploading of documents for further work
- Perplexity Labs for brainstorming and project workflows
Who Should Go For This: Students doing homework, researchers, business analysts, content creators. Actually, you can’t really categorize, anyone who needs verified facts along with sources that’s literally everyone in this world. By simply switching from one AI model to another, you have the freedom that is not available in other AI subscriptions.
The Catch: You need to have an active plan, if you don’t you can’t access this subscription. Furthermore, I’ve heard a lot of people actually have faced issues to just activate perplexity pro. Let me help you out, I also faced the same issue when I was trying to the same for my friend. After activating Perplexity Pro, if your Airtel thanks app tells that your account is active and yet shows the normal perplexity account and not the pro when you’re trying to use it ,follow these steps- Tap the Perplexity Pro card → Manage → Recover Account. I hope this helps!
ChatGPT Go: Best for Beginners
The Offer: OpenAI gave a 1-year free subscription of GPT Go to users in India from 4th November 2025. The cost is usually Rs 399/month (Rs 5,000/year).
What You Get:
- Complete access to GPT-5, OpenAI’s most recent model
- Usage limits that are 10 times higher than those of the free version (my favorite part of the offer)
- Support for Hindi and other Indian languages
- Python coding tools and file analysis
- Custom GPTs where you create your own specialized bots, this is honestly a game changer
- Projects feature for organizing ongoing work
- Twice the memory for better conversations
Who Should Choose This: Everyone! You get to use these features regardless of what sim you use. Upgrade it for free and just get started. This is the easiest learning curve of all three AI subscriptions.
The Catch: No advanced research features or cloud storage. More restricted than Jio and Airtel. Further asks for an autopay of Rs. 399 that will be deducted after 12 months if not cancelled.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | Jio-Google AI Pro | Airtel-Perplexity Pro | ChatGPT Go |
| Free Duration | 18 months | 12 months | 12 months |
| Retail Value(in rupees) | 35,000 | 17,000 | 5,000 |
| AI Models | Gemini 2.5 Pro | GPT-4, Gemini, Claude | GPT-5 |
| Cloud Storage | 2 TB | None | None |
| Video Creation | Yes (Veo 3.1) | No | No |
| Research Tools | NotebookLM | Deep Research with citations | Basic |
A Win For India? What This Means For India
These free AI subscriptions are re-shaping the lives of millions of Indians who are working, learning, and creating. The point is:
- Language Access is Improving: Each of the three platforms supports Hindi as well as other Indian languages. Thus AI tools have become accessible to non-English-speaking metros as well.
- AI for Everyone: No expensive hardware or technical skills are necessary. A smartphone and an internet connection will suffice.
- Local Competition Drives Value: Telecom providers are turning AI subscriptions into their competitive advantage to attract customers. Therefore, consumers get the benefits of better deals.
- Skills Gap is Closing: Students from remote areas now can use the same AI instruments that professionals in Mumbai or Bangalore have.
Wrapping It Up
These free AI subscriptions have a motive behind them. Of course one of them is getting access to the large pool of digital users. The other major thing is that by offering free premium features make users quickly dependable. And losing access to the benefits triggers loss aversion. What this will eventually do is- most users will pay to keep what they’ve grown to value and use daily. It’s behavioral psychology, the major AI companies are doing this to ensure they’ll end up getting the paid plan once the trial period ends.
