OpenAI has just launched a special, India-only plan for ChatGPT. It makes access cheaper here than almost anywhere else in the world. At first, it looks like a win for millions of Indians who’ll get to try cutting-edge AI at a fraction of the cost.

But for India’s AI startups, it may be a different story. Competing with global giants that have billions in capital, access to compute, and a head start on scale is already tough. Add aggressive pricing, and the playing field gets even steeper. After all, if Indians aren’t paying with money, they’re likely paying with something else: data and usage.

So where does that leave Indian AI? Can startups like Sarvam, Krutrim, and others still carve out a niche through language, verticals, or local trust or will they be reduced to distributors for the biggies?

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