India has emerged as one of the world’s most advanced markets for artificial intelligence, particularly excelling in areas such as coding, data analysis, and complex reasoning.

According to OpenAI’s latest capability gap findings, Indian users rank among the top five globally in terms of thinking capability usage per person, measured through reasoning tokens used by ChatGPT Plus subscribers.

This indicates that users in the country are regularly solving complex problems and interacting with AI at a highly advanced level.

The country is also witnessing rapid growth in its AI builder ecosystem. OpenAI highlighted that Codex users in India grew fourfold within just two weeks of the launch of its Codex app in February 2026. Strong rankings in both coding and data analysis usage further underscore India’s position as a global leader in advanced AI adoption.

However, this adoption is not evenly distributed across the nation. AI usage remains highly concentrated in a handful of urban hubs, with the top ten cities accounting for about 50 per cent of all AI users. Delhi NCR leads the way with the highest population penetration of ChatGPT in the country.

Collectively, these cities represent less than 10 per cent of India’s population, making AI adoption three times more concentrated than in comparable countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Germany.

The disparity becomes even more pronounced in advanced use cases. Data analysis usage is up to 30 times higher in leading cities compared to lagging ones, coding usage is four times higher, and AI developer usage through Codex shows a nine fold gap. This clustering of capability in cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, and Chennai highlights the uneven spread of India’s AI advantages.

Beyond these urban centres, meaningful use cases are emerging in education and health. In the eastern states, education-related engagement is particularly strong. Assam stands out, with 22 per cent of all messages relating to education and learning, which is around 20 per cent higher than the national average. Similar patterns are observed in Odisha, Manipur, Tripura, and Chhattisgarh.

In health and wellness, regions such as Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Kerala show higher levels of engagement. In Jammu & Kashmir specifically, nearly one in ten messages relate to health, which is about 32 per cent higher than the national average.

OpenAI emphasised that the next phase of India’s AI journey will depend on how widely this capability spreads through democratisation of the technology, focusing on language accessibility, affordability, and infrastructure.

Oliver Jay, OpenAI’s Managing Director for International, noted that the central question now is how quickly the benefits of AI can extend beyond early adopters and leading cities to the wider population. He added that closing this gap will require expanding access, building skills, and enabling more meaningful use across the country, an effort that will be shaped in large part by India’s young and fast-adopting population.

PTI