In a powerful move to accelerate AI adoption across India, Bharti Airtel has announced a strategic partnership with U.S.-based AI company Perplexity, offering free access to the premium version of its AI search and research platform—Perplexity Pro—to over 360 million Airtel subscribers. The announcement comes just a month after Google launched a one-year free Gemini AI Pro subscription exclusively for Indian college students.
Through this partnership, all Airtel users—including those using mobile, broadband, and DTH services—can now claim a one-year free subscription to Perplexity Pro, normally priced at ₹17,000 annually. The offer is available directly via the Airtel Thanks app.
Unlike traditional search engines, Perplexity uses generative AI to deliver real-time, cited answers to complex queries. Its Pro version includes up to 300 AI-powered searches daily, priority access to advanced language models such as GPT-4.1 and Claude, image generation tools, support for file uploads and document summaries, and access to Perplexity Labs, a feature that allows users to ideate, analyze data, and build mini apps and research workflows.
This initiative aims to make advanced AI tools available to a broader audience across India, beyond students and tech professionals. According to Airtel, the goal is to empower users—ranging from students to homemakers to small business owners—with intelligent tools to solve everyday problems, enhance productivity, and explore creative solutions using AI.
The announcement follows Google’s own high-profile move in June, where it began offering a free year-long subscription to its Gemini Advanced AI suite to students aged 18 and above in India. Google’s student-centric initiative includes access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, enhanced tools like NotebookLM, Veo 3 video generator, Deep Research, and 2 TB of Google One cloud storage. While Gemini’s offer is limited to students and ends on September 15, 2025, Airtel’s Perplexity partnership has no such demographic restrictions.
Commenting on the launch, Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel, said, “This is a game-changing AI collaboration. We are putting cutting-edge intelligence tools in the hands of every Airtel customer in India.” Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas added, “We are excited to work with Airtel to make our AI search and research assistant accessible to millions of users. India is a key growth market and this partnership helps fulfill our mission of providing trustworthy AI to everyone.”
The offer reflects a broader shift in India’s digital landscape. With the country rapidly digitizing and adopting AI for personal, professional, and academic purposes, telecom companies and tech giants are racing to provide intelligent services as part of their customer ecosystem. For Airtel, the move helps increase user engagement within its digital services platform. For Perplexity, this marks its formal entry into the Indian market, giving it exposure to one of the largest mobile subscriber bases globally.
While both Airtel and Google are offering free access to powerful AI tools, their approaches differ in scale and focus. Google’s Gemini plan is narrowly targeted at students and tied to its larger educational cloud ecosystem. In contrast, Airtel’s partnership with Perplexity opens the door for mass adoption—spanning education, business, personal productivity, content creation, and more.
Industry experts see these parallel launches as a sign of India becoming a battleground for AI platforms, with telecom companies and global tech firms racing to capture attention and loyalty. As AI tools become more integrated into daily life—from chat-based search and summarization to automation and content generation—access and ease of use will likely shape consumer preferences.
The Airtel–Perplexity deal could be a major differentiator in India’s highly competitive telecom space, giving Airtel an edge by bundling not just connectivity but intelligent services. As users explore AI for learning, creativity, research, and decision-making, this partnership could significantly influence how people engage with digital information in the years to come.
For now, Airtel users can begin claiming their free Perplexity Pro accounts directly through the Airtel Thanks app. The rollout has already begun and will continue through the coming weeks.
This move not only disrupts the AI subscription model but also brings India closer to the global frontier of accessible, responsible, and democratized artificial intelligence.
