To expand its AI footprint in emerging markets, Google has partnered with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries to bundle AI Pro subscriptions with Jio 5G plans at no additional cost.
On Thursday, Google announced a partnership with Reliance, India’s largest company by market capitalization, to offer eligible Jio users a free 18-month AI Pro subscription. The partnership comes just three months after Perplexity partnered with Reliance’s biggest rival, India’s second-largest telco Bharti Airtel, to offer free access to Perplexity Pro to Airtel’s 360 million subscribers.
India, the world’s most populous country and second-largest internet market with more than 1 billion users, has long been an attractive target for global technology companies. Although the country has yet to see major breakthroughs in homegrown AI, U.S. tech giants increasingly see AI as the next big frontier: a place to collect diverse data, refine models, and test AI use cases that could later be expanded to other emerging markets. Google and Reliance’s latest partnership clearly reflects that strategy.
According to the companies, the Jio benefit will first be offered to users between 18 and 25 years of age and will later be extended to all Jio subscribers across the country. This includes access to Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro models through the Gemini app, increased limits for AI image and video generation with Nano Banana and Veo 3.1, expanded use of Notebook LM for learning and research, and 2TB of cloud storage across Google Photos, Gmail, Drive, and WhatsApp backups.
“This partnership will also look at providing more enjoyable local experiences powered by AI to Jio users,” the Indian telecom giant said.
The companies said the 18-month offer is worth 35,100 rupees (about $396). Google’s AI Pro plan typically costs ₹1,950 (about $22) per month in India and includes a one-month free trial.
Beyond consumer products, Reliance has partnered with Google Cloud to expand access to tensor processing units (TPUs) in India. Reliance Intelligence, Reliance’s AI subsidiary, will become Google Cloud’s strategic go-to-market partner to scale Gemini Enterprise across organizations in India and will develop its own pre-built AI agents for the platform.
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“Today’s announcement puts 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, said in a prepared statement.
Reliance announced at its 48th annual general meeting in late August that it will partner with investors Google and Meta to strengthen India’s AI infrastructure through its newly formed subsidiary Reliance Intelligence. Reliance and Mehta also pledged to form a joint venture with a total investment of 8.55 billion rupees (approximately $100 million) and an ownership split of 70:30.
Earlier this week, Google rival OpenAI announced plans to offer free access to its sub-$5 ChatGPT Go plan to all users in India starting November 4. The entry-level tier launched locally in August and has since expanded to 17 countries in Asia.
AI powerhouses like OpenAI and Anthropic are also setting up shop in India, hoping to learn more about local users and expand their reach in the world’s largest emerging market.
Earlier this year, Google offered students in India a free one-year subscription to its AI Pro plan. This promotion ran until September 15th.
India has already helped accelerate the adoption of US-led AI platforms, ranking among the top consumer markets for tools such as Google’s Nano Banana, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude. Expanding free access to paid AI versions could further accelerate adoption and solidify India’s position as a leading growing consumer market for generative AI products. However, it remains to be seen how India will translate into meaningful revenue for these AI companies once the current wave of free bundle offers wears off.
“Through collaboration with strategic and long-term partners like Google, we aim to make India not just AI-enabled, but AI-powered, where every citizen and business is empowered with intelligent tools to create, innovate and grow,” Ambani said.
