India has emerged as one of the world’s most advanced markets for artificial intelligence usage, especially in areas such as coding, data analysis, and complex reasoning, according to a recent OpenAI report. The country ranks among the top five nations globally in advanced AI usage per person, showing how quickly Indian users are adopting tools like ChatGPT and AI coding platforms.
At the same time, the report points out that this progress is highly uneven across the country. AI adoption is concentrated mainly in a few major urban centers such as Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai. The top ten cities account for nearly 50% of all AI users, even though these cities represent less than 10% of India’s population. This means AI usage in India is around three times more concentrated than in countries like the US, UK, Brazil, and Germany.
The gap becomes even wider in advanced use cases. According to the findings, data analysis usage is up to 30 times higher in leading cities compared to lagging regions, while coding usage is four times higher and AI developer tool usage shows a nine-times gap. However, the report also notes encouraging growth in sectors like education and health, with states such as Assam showing strong educational AI engagement and regions like Kerala and Punjab seeing higher use in health-related queries.
Overall, the report highlights that while India has strong AI capability and a rapidly growing builder ecosystem, the next challenge is democratizing access through affordability, language support, infrastructure, and digital skills. Expanding AI benefits beyond metro cities will be crucial for India’s next phase of technological growth and inclusive development.
