India Ranks Among World's Most Advanced AI Users, Adoption Remains Uneven: OpenAI Report

India Ranks High in AI Adoption, But Adoption Remains Concentrated in Top Cities

India has established itself as one of the world's most advanced AI markets, excelling in areas such as coding, data analysis, and complex reasoning. However, a recent report by OpenAI highlights a significant capability gap in AI adoption across the country. According to the report, AI adoption in India is three times more concentrated in top cities than in comparable nations, including the US, UK, Brazil, and Germany.

India ranks among the top five nations globally in thinking capability usage per person, as measured by reasoning tokens used by ChatGPT Plus users. Users in India regularly solve complex problems and interact with AI at an advanced level. The country is also one of the fastest-growing AI builder ecosystems globally, with a fourfold growth in Codex users - an AI coding tool - in just two weeks after the launch of OpenAI's Codex app in February 2026.

Despite these achievements, AI usage in India remains highly concentrated in a handful of cities. The top ten cities in India account for about 50% of all AI users, with Delhi NCR leading the way. Delhi NCR has the highest population penetration of ChatGPT in the country.

The following table highlights the significant disparity in AI adoption between leading and lagging cities in India:

| Category | Leading Cities | Lagging Cities | | --- | --- | --- | | Data Analysis Usage | Up to 30 times higher | Lower usage | | Coding Usage | 4 times higher | Lower usage | | AI Developer (Codex) Usage | 9 times higher | Lower usage |

Advanced use cases in areas such as education and health are emerging in regions beyond the top cities. In education and learning, eastern states such as Assam are seeing particularly strong engagement, with 22% of all messages relating to education and learning, 20% higher than the national average. Other states, including Odisha, Manipur, Tripura, and Chhattisgarh, are also showing similar patterns.

In health and wellness, higher engagement is visible in regions such as Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Kerala. In Jammu & Kashmir, nearly 1 in 10 messages relate to health, about 32% higher than the national average.

To bridge the capability gap and extend the benefits of AI to the wider population, OpenAI is advocating for the democratisation of AI technology through language, affordability, and infrastructure. The company's Managing Director - International, Oliver Jay, believes that expanding access, building skills, and enabling more meaningful use across the country will be crucial in addressing this gap.