By BigGo Finance
Publication Date: 2026-08-19 02:35:00
Perplexity’s audacious experiment in India, giving away a year of its premium AI subscription to hundreds of millions of telecom customers, is delivering its first results. The initial data paints a complex picture: downloads collapsed after the promotional window closed, yet revenue actually climbed, offering an early, imperfect glimpse into whether free AI can convert users into paying customers.
In July 2025, Perplexity partnered with Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest carrier, to hand out a free 12-month subscription to Perplexity Pro, a service normally priced at roughly $200 a year, to the telecom’s 360 million subscribers. The giveaway produced an immediate download surge. According to data from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Perplexity recorded 5.9 million downloads in India in July 2025 alone, a 625% jump from the prior month and more installs in a single month than the app had accumulated during the entire first half of the year.
The momentum persisted. During the seven months new users could claim the offer, which closed on January 16, 2026, Perplexity saw 56 million downloads in India, more than nine times the preceding seven-month period. Monthly active users more than doubled to 8.9 million in July 2025 and peaked at nearly 22 million in October.
Then the faucet turned off. Between February and July 2026, Perplexity was downloaded just 3.3 million times in India, a decline of more than 90% from the previous six months, Sensor Tower estimated.
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