Key Highlights

· OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Go, most affordable subscription plan at ₹399 ($4.57) per month, starting in India.

· The plan gives access to GPT-5 with higher usage limits and added features, making India the first market for rollout.

Key Facts

· India is the first market where the Go plan is being rolled out.

· Existing paid plans include ChatGPT Plus (₹1,999/month or $20) and ChatGPT Pro (₹19,900/month or $200)

Background

OpenAI has introduced its most affordable subscription plan, ChatGPT Go, for India. The plan comes at a price of ₹399 ($4.57) monthly. With this, it aims to expand its reach in its second-largest market by user base. The plan offers access to the company’s latest model, GPT-5, at less than a quarter of the cost of its existing Plus subscription.

The new plan offers a significant increase in features over the free tier, such as 10 times the message quotas, greater capabilities to generate images, upload files, and 2x the amount of memory, Nick Turley of ChatGPT explained. Lowering ChatGPT cost is one of the most requested features. A social media post by Turley stated that instead of rolling out Go globally, it is launching in India, and will then listen to user feedback before reproducing it in other markets.

OpenAI currently offers two higher-priced tiers: ChatGPT Plus, priced at ₹1,999 ($20 internationally), and ChatGPT Pro, which costs ₹19,900 ($200 internationally) per month. The launch of Go positions India as the testing ground for a budget plan that could later be introduced globally.

This relocation is a result of the meeting between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the Indian IT Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, in February, where they talked about creating a low-cost AI ecosystem in India. Altman commended India as one of the fastest places to adopt AI and a vital market for its growth strategy.

Its launch in GPT-5 earlier this month received a mixed reception, with some users finding it less intuitive. The criticism would later be addressed, where OpenAI restored legacy access to GPT-4 to paying customers. However, analysts interpret the new strategy as a move that will advance its course in the AI penetration into the emerging markets as a way to test the user requirements with affordable premiums.