The AI search engines people in India use are ChatGPT, Google's Gemini app, Google Search with AI Overviews and AI Mode, and the Perplexity AI search engine. Microsoft Copilot is covered too, though Microsoft publishes no India figure on the page checked. Google search gives you a list of links to open. An AI search engine reads the web for you, writes one answer, and names a few brands and sources inside it. So the question for a brand is no longer only "where do I rank?" but "does the answer name me?"
This guide is part of Zia Wasi's research on AI search. Zia Wasi is co-founder of Depra AI and a GEO researcher; GEO, or generative engine optimization, is the work of getting a brand named in AI answers. Every outside fact links to the company's own page. The study numbers come from Depra AI's Hinglish vs English study, with August and October 2026 kept apart.
Which AI search engines do people in India use?
ChatGPT has the largest published India number. OpenAI says India is home to more than 100 million weekly ChatGPT users (OpenAI for India, February 2026, checked 14 Oct 2026) and calls India ChatGPT's second largest market (OpenAI, November 2025, checked 14 Oct 2026). The table gives what each company publishes about India.
| Engine | What the company publishes about India | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | More than 100 million weekly users in India (February 2026); India is its second largest market (November 2025); ChatGPT Go launched in India first, in August 2025 | OpenAI for India, OpenAI, OpenAI |
| Gemini app | More than 1 billion monthly users worldwide (August 2026); India is home to its largest user base of 18 to 24 year olds (November 2025) | Google, Google India |
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | AI Mode in English, Hindi and seven more Indian languages; Google says India is its largest user base for voice and visual search | Google India |
| Perplexity | Free year of Perplexity Pro offered to all 360 million Airtel customers from July 2025; the offer closed on 16 January 2026 | Airtel, Perplexity |
What is the difference between a search engine and an AI search engine?
A search engine ranks pages and lets you choose. An AI search engine runs the searches itself, reads the results, and writes one answer with a few cited sources. Google says AI Overviews and AI Mode may issue "multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources" to build a response (Google Search Central, checked 14 Oct 2026).
That changes what a brand needs. On Google search, page two still exists. In an AI answer, a brand is either named or it is not, and the sources the answer cites decide which brands it names. Three practical differences follow:
- One answer, not ten links: the reader often stops at the brands the answer names.
- The engine picks the sources: a review site, a marketplace listing or a forum thread can decide the answer more than your own page.
- Answers change: the same question asked twice can name different brands, so one check is a snapshot. The Depra AI study measures how much.
Where does each AI search engine get its web results?
Each engine documents a different route to the web. Google's AI features use Google Search, Copilot uses Bing, Perplexity runs its own index, and OpenAI runs its own search crawler. Our search index map covers Claude, Grok and Meta AI too.
| Engine | Who runs it | Where its web results come from (documented) | Indian-language notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT with search | OpenAI | OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in ChatGPT search; sites that block it are not shown in ChatGPT search answers | OpenAI built IndQA, a test of 12 languages including Hinglish | OpenAI crawlers, IndQA |
| Gemini | The Gemini API can ground answers with Google Search, with citations | The Gemini web app lists 13 languages of India, from Assamese to Urdu, Hindi and Nepali included | Google AI for Developers, Gemini Help | |
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Google Search: a page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet | AI Mode: English, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu | Google Search Central, Google India | |
| Perplexity | Perplexity | Its own search index of billions of web pages | A preferred response language setting; its Search API can filter results to Hindi or Bengali | Perplexity, Perplexity Help, Perplexity Docs |
| Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft | The Bing search service, through queries Copilot writes from the prompt | Not stated on the page checked | Microsoft Learn |
What is the Perplexity AI search engine, and how big is it in India?
Perplexity is an AI search engine that answers a question in writing, with links to the sources it used. It runs its own index: Perplexity says it has "built a search index of billions of webpages" (Perplexity, checked 14 Oct 2026).
Perplexity's main India partnership was with Airtel. Airtel offered 12 months of Perplexity Pro, worth Rs. 17,000, to its mobile, Wi-Fi and DTH customers, claimed through the Airtel Thanks App, and called it Perplexity's first partnership with an Indian telecom company (Airtel, checked 14 Oct 2026). Perplexity says the offer ended on 16 January 2026 (Perplexity Help Center, checked 14 Oct 2026). Neither page says how many customers claimed it.
For brands, Perplexity is the engine where language matters most. In the Depra AI study it was the engine most changed by Hinglish, in both waves. Our guide on how to rank in Perplexity covers what it cites.
What did ChatGPT Go and the Gemini student offers change?
Both lowered the cost of a paid AI plan in India. OpenAI says it "introduced ChatGPT Go in India" in August 2025 as a low-cost plan, then rolled it out to 170 more countries and, from 16 January 2026, everywhere ChatGPT is available (OpenAI, checked 14 Oct 2026). ChatGPT also has a Free plan, and Go adds higher limits on top of it (OpenAI Help, checked 14 Oct 2026).
Google ran two student offers in India. In 2025 it offered a free year of Google AI Pro to students aged 18 and over who registered by 15 September 2025 (Google India, checked 14 Oct 2026). Today it offers eligible university students aged 18 and over a one-year Google AI Plus plan at no cost, redeemable until 31 December 2026, after which it charges ₹399 a month unless cancelled (Gemini for Students, checked 14 Oct 2026).
Does Google AI Mode work in Indian languages?
Yes. AI Mode works in English, Hindi and seven more Indian languages. Google rolled out AI Mode in Hindi on 8 September 2025, after English in India (Google India, checked 14 Oct 2026). On 8 October 2025 it began rolling out Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, and started rolling out Search Live, its voice and camera mode, in India in English and Hindi (Google India, checked 14 Oct 2026).
On 27 March 2026 Google said Search Live in AI Mode is also available in Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu "and more" (Google India, checked 14 Oct 2026). AI Overviews, the summary at the top of normal Google results, follow the same rule as AI Mode: a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet to appear as a supporting link (Google Search Central, checked 14 Oct 2026). Our guide on how to rank in Google AI Overviews covers that surface.
Which AI search engines change their answers in Hinglish?
Perplexity, most of all. Hinglish is Hindi and English typed in English letters, the way many Indian shoppers type. Depra AI asked 10 buying questions in English and Hinglish, 8 times each, on ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity from India: 480 answers on 14 August 2026 and 479 answers in a re-run on 13 October 2026 (the study). The "gap" is how much more the brand list changed between languages than between two runs of the same question.
- Gemini cites less in Hinglish, but less so now: it attached a source to 90.0% of English and 41.3% of Hinglish answers in August, and 73.4% and 56.3% in October.
- Perplexity started writing Hindi script: in October, 16 of its 80 Hinglish-prompted answers were more than 30% Devanagari by letter count, the study's threshold for a Hindi-script answer. In August none crossed 30%.
- What it means: a brand that tracks English questions only on Perplexity is measuring a different brand list from the one Hinglish users see. See Hinglish AI visibility.
| Engine | August 2026 (480 answers) | October 2026 (479 answers) | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | 23.4 points | 28.2 points | The gap grew |
| Gemini | 7.8 points | 2.0 points, no longer significant | The gap mostly closed |
| ChatGPT | 2.2 points | 0.8 points | The gap is gone |
Which sites do AI search engines cite for shopping questions in India?
Marketplaces led in October. In the October 2026 wave, amazon.in was cited in 132 of 479 answers, flipkart.com in 82, hindustantimes.com in 76, nykaa.com in 65 and myntra.com in 44. In the August 2026 wave the top sites were reddit.com (106 of 480 answers), youtube.com (100), nykaa.com (93), amazon.in (79), flipkart.com (79) and myntra.com (47).
So for many shopping questions, the page that decides whether an engine names your product is a marketplace listing or a publisher's list, not your own site. Our guide to marketplace visibility in AI answers explains what to do about it.
Which is the best AI search engine?
There is no single best AI search engine; it depends on the job. For a shopper or a researcher in India, the useful differences are where each engine reads from and how it handles your language:
- ChatGPT: the only India user count among the company pages checked here, a Free plan, and its own search crawler.
- Gemini and Google AI Mode: Google AI Mode draws on Google Search, the Gemini API can ground answers in Google Search, and the two have the longest Indian-language lists on the pages checked here.
- Perplexity AI search engine: its own index, and a cited source on every answer in the August 2026 wave of the Depra AI study, where it was also the engine most changed by Hinglish.
- Microsoft Copilot: grounded on Bing, which matters if your buyers work inside Microsoft tools.
How does Depra AI track brands across these engines?
Depra AI asks your buyers' questions on ChatGPT with web search, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity from inside India, in English and Hinglish, and shows which answers name you and your rivals. ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews are checked daily on every plan. Perplexity is checked weekly on Starter, Growth and Scale, and daily on Enterprise. Google AI Mode, Claude, Microsoft Copilot and other models are available on Enterprise as an add-on, set up by the Depra AI team.
Depra AI labels every cited site by type, so marketplace intelligence shows which marketplaces AI answers cite (Amazon.in, Flipkart, Nykaa, Myntra, Meesho) and where rivals are cited and you are not. It does not track marketplace search rankings, sales, Buy Box, ads or Amazon Rufus. The AI action plan uses a proprietary method developed by Zia Wasi; in the owner's words, Depra AI used it to reach ChatGPT's India answers for its own category without paid backlinks or paid marketing (case study).
Start with the free AI audit, then a 7-day trial on Starter, Growth or Scale with no card needed (pricing). If you want help, book a free 15-minute setup call; support replies within an hour during working hours in India.