Between October 2025 and early 2026, India became the place where paid AI subscriptions were given away. Reliance Jio bundled Google's AI Pro plan with its 5G recharges, OpenAI made its India-first ChatGPT Go plan free for a year, and Airtel bundled Perplexity Pro for its customers. Each of these was worth thousands of rupees a year on paper, and millions of people claimed them.
A year later, all three have closed to new claims — Jio's was the last, on 29 October 2026 — and the free ChatGPT Go years are starting to convert into paid subscriptions. This post covers what each offer includes, who can still claim it, and the catches worth knowing — especially if you're using any of them for work.
Jio × Google AI Pro: closed to new claims on 29 October 2026
Jio's official offer page gives 18 months of Google AI Pro from activation, valued at ₹35,100, to Jio users aged 18 and above on an unlimited 5G plan of ₹349 or more, prepaid or postpaid. It started with 18–25-year-olds and was later extended to all adult Jio users, and since 11 February 2026 Jio's terms also include 1.5 GB/day plans of ₹299 or more for a limited period. You claim it from a banner in the MyJio app by signing in with a Google account, and it can be claimed once per mobile number.
Jio's terms set the offer period as 30 October 2025 to 29 October 2026, and we found no extension; by 1 November 2026 Jio's offer page had been taken down. If you claimed in time, your 18 months run from your own activation date, and the subscription doesn't auto-renew at the end. Our post on the Jio Gemini Pro offer last date covers what to do now.
It includes Google's top Gemini model with higher limits, Veo video generation, NotebookLM with expanded research limits, Gemini inside Gmail, Docs and Sheets, and — per Jio's current terms — 5 TB of storage shared across Photos, Drive and Gmail. Early coverage quoted 2 TB, so check your own Google One page to see what applies to you.
The catch is in one line of the terms: you must keep a qualifying plan active for the entire 18 months. Drop to a cheaper plan or let your recharge lapse and Jio can suspend access until you recharge — while the 18-month clock keeps running. Port your number out of Jio and it's cancelled.
ChatGPT Go: free year closed in January — renewals start in November
OpenAI launched ChatGPT Go in India in August 2025 at ₹399 a month, sitting between the free tier and ChatGPT Plus with higher message, image and file-upload limits and longer memory. In late October 2025 it announced that, from 4 November 2025, anyone in India who signed up during a promotional period would get Go free for 12 months, and existing Go subscribers would be moved onto the free year automatically.
OpenAI's terms required you to be in India and to add a payment method — a card or UPI — even though nothing is charged for the first 12 months. The offer is now closed to new claims: OpenAI's ChatGPT release notes say the promotion ended on 21 January 2026. If you claimed before then, your free year still runs its course.
The important date is the renewal. At the end of your 12 months, the payment method on file is charged the then-current monthly Go price automatically. Anyone who claimed in the first days of November 2025 reaches that point in early November 2026. If you don't want to pay, set a reminder and cancel from Manage Plan before your renewal date; if you do, check the current price first, as it isn't locked to what it was when you signed up.
Airtel × Perplexity Pro: closed to new users
Airtel's offer gave its mobile, broadband and DTH customers 12 months of Perplexity Pro, valued at around ₹17,000, claimed from the Airtel Thanks app. Consumer-tech coverage in 2026 reports that it closed to new sign-ups in January 2026. If you activated it before then, your 12 months run from your own activation date, so the earliest claims are already expiring. Check Perplexity's account settings for your end date and whether a card is attached for renewal.
If none of these fit: the cheap paid plans
There's no standing offer that gives ChatGPT Plus free in India. In January 2026, Indian tech sites reported some accounts — mostly ones that had never paid for ChatGPT — being shown a one-month free Plus trial on the upgrade page; it was account-specific, needed a payment method, and we couldn't confirm it is still running. Otherwise Plus costs ₹1,999 a month.
The giveaways pushed both companies to launch low-cost Indian plans too. ChatGPT Go costs ₹399 a month once any free period ends. Google launched Google AI Plus in India on 10 December 2025 at ₹199 a month for the first six months and ₹399 after that, with higher Gemini limits, video generation, deeper NotebookLM research, 200 GB of storage and sharing with up to five family members. For many individuals, one of these is enough without a full Pro plan.
The catch for businesses
All three offers are consumer plans tied to a personal account and, for Jio and Airtel, to a personal mobile number. That's fine for personal use, but think twice before running a business on them.
Data terms differ from business plans. Consumer AI plans generally let the provider use your conversations to improve its models unless you switch that off in settings, and they don't come with the data processing agreement a business plan offers. If you paste customer data into one, you're still the party responsible under India's DPDP Act — see our post on the 13 November 2026 DPDP deadline.
There's no GST credit. A free plan has no tax to claim, but when it converts to paid, a consumer subscription billed to an individual won't produce a GST invoice in your business's name. Our post on GST for foreign AI subscriptions explains the reverse-charge route for business plans.
Access ends when the person leaves. If an employee's personal Jio number or Google account holds the work, it goes with them.
A good pattern: use the free plans to find out which assistant suits your work, then pay for that tool's business tier — the plan that comes with a data processing agreement and admin controls — for anything involving client data.
What to do this month
If you searched for a Jio ChatGPT offer, there isn't one — see our explainer on what Jio actually gives and the cheapest ways to get ChatGPT. Jio's Google AI Pro offer closed to new claims on 29 October; if you're on it, make sure the plan you recharge with keeps you eligible. If you claimed ChatGPT Go in November 2025, put a reminder a week before your renewal date and decide whether you'll pay. If you had Airtel's Perplexity Pro, check when yours ends. And if you're choosing between them for daily work, our tool pages for ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Perplexity set out pricing, INR billing and GST invoicing for each. Offer terms here are as published by Jio, OpenAI and Google, and as reported, up to 1 November 2026; they change without much notice.