In a push to develop its AI footprint in rising markets, Google has partnered with billionaire Mukesh Ambani–led Reliance Industries to bundle its AI Pro subscription with Jio 5G plans at no additional price.
On Thursday, Google introduced a partnership with Reliance, India’s largest firm by market capitalization, to offer its AI Pro subscription free for 18 months to eligible Jio users. The alliance comes simply three months after Perplexity teamed up with Reliance’s arch-rival Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, to present free access to Perplexity Pro for Airtel’s 360 million subscribers.
India, the world’s most populous nation and the second-largest web market with over a billion users, has lengthy been an irresistible goal for international tech corporations. While the nation has not but seen a serious homegrown AI breakthrough, U.S. tech giants more and more view it as the subsequent large frontier — a spot to collect various knowledge, refine fashions, and check AI use circumstances that might later scale throughout different rising markets. The newest partnership between Google and Reliance is a transparent reflection of that technique.
The Jio offer will initially attain users aged 18 to 25 earlier than increasing to all Jio subscribers nationwide, the businesses stated. It contains access to Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro mannequin through the Gemini app, increased limits for producing AI pictures and movies with Nano Banana and Veo 3.1, expanded use of Notebook LM for examine and analysis, and a pair of TB of cloud storage throughout Google Photos, Gmail, Drive, and WhatsApp backups.
“This partnership will also explore bringing more delightful local experiences powered by AI to Jio users,” the Indian telecom large stated.
The 18-month offer is valued at ₹35,100 (about $396), the businesses stated. Google’s AI Pro plan usually prices ₹1,950 (round $22) monthly in India and features a free one-month trial.
Beyond the buyer offer, Reliance additionally partnered with Google Cloud to broaden access to its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) in India. Reliance’s AI subsidiary, Reliance Intelligence, will turn out to be a strategic go-to-market accomplice for Google Cloud to develop Gemini Enterprise throughout Indian organizations, and can develop its personal pre-built AI brokers for the platform.
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“Today’s announcement will put Google’s cutting-edge AI tools in the hands of consumers, businesses, and India’s vibrant developer community,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, stated in a ready assertion.
At its forty eighth annual basic assembly in late August, Reliance introduced partnerships with its buyers Google and Meta to strengthen its AI infrastructure in India by way of a newly created subsidiary, Reliance Intelligence. Reliance and Meta additionally dedicated to establishing a three way partnership with a mixed funding of ₹8.55 billion (roughly $100 million), with a 70/30 possession cut up.
Earlier this week, Google rival OpenAI introduced plans to offer free access to its sub-$5 ChatGPT Go plan to all users in India beginning November 4. The entry-level tier, launched regionally in August, has since expanded to 17 nations throughout Asia.
AI heavyweights like OpenAI and Anthropic are additionally establishing store in India, hoping to be taught extra about native users and develop their attain in the world’s greatest rising market.
Earlier this 12 months, Google provided Indian college students a free one-year subscription to its AI Pro plan. That promotion ran till September 15.
India has already helped drive adoption of U.S.-led AI platforms and ranks among the many high shopper markets for instruments resembling Google’s Nano Banana, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude. Extending free access to paid AI variations may additional speed up adoption and cement India’s place as a key progress shopper marketplace for generative AI choices. However, it stays to be seen how India will translate into significant income for these AI firms as soon as the present wave of free bundling gives runs its course.
“Through our collaboration with strategic and long-term partners like Google, we aim to make India not just AI-enabled but AI-empowered – where every citizen and enterprise can harness intelligent tools to create, innovate and grow,” Ambani stated.