OpenAI to Add Bengaluru, Mumbai Offices Under ‘OpenAI for India’ Initiative

Weeks after competitor Anthropic opened its first India office in Bengaluru, OpenAI is expanding its own footprint in the country.

OpenAI will open new offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai later this year, adding to its existing presence in New Delhi, which was launched in August 2025.

The process is part of "OpenAI for India", a national initiative aimed at increasing access to AI, expanding the country's own AI capabilities, and accelerating its adoption by businesses and the workforce.

What's Driving OpenAI's Current Growth In India?

Currently, India is ChatGPT's second-largest market, with over 100 million active users each week, including developers, educators, businesses, and students. As of October 2025, ChatGPT has over 800 million weekly users worldwide.

Chief executive Sam Altman said India’s strong technology base and policy support make it central to the company’s long-term plans.

“India is already leading the way in AI adoption,” Altman said, pointing to the country’s tech talent, optimism about AI’s potential and government backing.

The announcement comes during the India AI Impact Summit 2026, where global leaders are discussing responsible AI governance and inclusive growth. OpenAI executives, including COO Brad Lightcap, Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane and Chief Economist Ronnie Chatterji, were also attending.

The Bengaluru and Mumbai offices are expected to allow closer collaboration with developers, startups, enterprises and government partners. The company said the new centres will support localised AI development, multilingual capabilities, training programmes and integration of its models into Indian use cases.

Altman has previously suggested that India could eventually become ChatGPT’s largest market if current growth trends continue.

How Does Infrastructure Fit Into OpenAI’s India Strategy?

Alongside its physical expansion, OpenAI is investing in infrastructure partnerships to deepen its India presence.

The company is working with the Tata Group to build AI-ready data centre capacity under its global Stargate initiative. As part of the arrangement, OpenAI will become the first customer of Tata Consultancy Services' HyperVault data centre business.

The partnership will start with 100 megawatts of power and may eventually grow to 1 gigawatt. For business and government workloads in particular, the infrastructure is built to satisfy data residency, security, and regulatory requirements.

The objective is to lower latency for local consumers while enabling sophisticated AI models to operate safely within India.

On the enterprise side, Tata Group plans to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise across its workforce over the coming years, starting with thousands of TCS employees. TCS also intends to use OpenAI’s Codex tools to standardise AI-native software development across teams.

The announcement came at a time when IT stocks had been under pressure. TCS shares traded higher during the session, even as the broader market remained weak.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock touched ₹2,748, almost 2% up on 19 February 2026, and at the same time, Nifty was down by 0.88%. The collaboration spans AI-led innovation within Tata Group companies, joint go-to-market initiatives for global clients, and the creation of large-scale AI infrastructure in India.

OpenAI has also entered partnerships with companies, including:

• JioHotstar

• Eternal

• Pine Labs

• Cars24

• HCLTech

• PhonePe

• CRED

• MakeMyTrip

Pine Labs said it is integrating OpenAI’s APIs directly into its payments infrastructure to accelerate what it calls agentic commerce.

Also Read - Adani Announces $100 Billion AI Data Centre Push in India, Lifts Group Shares

What Is OpenAI Doing On Skilling And Education?

Beyond corporate partnerships, OpenAI is expanding its training and certification efforts.

TCS will become the first organisation outside the United States to participate in OpenAI Certifications. These programmes are intended to equip professionals with practical AI skills across industries. The company has also partnered with educational institutions, including:

• The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

• The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

• The Manipal Academy of Higher Education

• The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies

• The Pearl Academy.

More than 1,00,000 ChatGPT Edu licences will be provided under these tie-ups to help students develop workforce-relevant skills.

In October, OpenAI also offered a one-year free subscription to ChatGPT Go for all users in India as part of its adoption push in the world’s second-largest internet market.

OpenAI’s India expansion signals a broader effort to embed AI across sectors, from startups to government systems, in one of its most important growth markets.

Sources:

Moneycontrol

Financial Express