AI search in India

Rising sharply across urban professional and SMB segments. B2B SaaS and EdTech are highest-adoption; D2C and local services rising; healthcare and government slower. Most B2B buyer evaluation journeys in 2026 include at least one AI search touchpoint (ChatGPT 'best of' query, Perplexity research, AIO comparison).

Both. Gemini-in-Workspace adoption is high among Indian knowledge workers using Google Workspace heavily. ChatGPT consumer adoption is broader. For brand visibility, both matter — and they ground in different indexes (Gemini = Google, ChatGPT = Bing), so optimizing for one doesn't transfer to the other.

AI platforms have weaker coverage of Indic-language content than English. Indic queries are routed less reliably; Indic content earns fewer citations even when audience-relevant. Counterintuitively, English-language schema and pillar content lift Indic-audience brands the most because AI extraction prefers English. Will rebalance over time as platforms improve Indic coverage.

Median AI surface rate across 30+ Indian brand audits is under 5%. Almost no Indian competitor invests deliberately. The first SMB in any local category to optimize for AI search dominates the AI consideration set for years. Window: ~18-24 months before the obvious-now-invest curve catches up.

Adoption growth rate is faster in India by most measurements — penetration was lower in 2024, ramping faster through 2025-2026. Absolute query volume is still smaller than the US, but the growth curve favors India. Brands optimizing now position for the larger 2027-2028 share.