Open AI’s Pragya Misra on India hiring and expansion: "Lots of announcements coming up"

Pragya Misra, Public Policy & Partnerships Lead, OpenAI.

The world’s leading Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) company, OpenAI, plans to deepen its presence in India, with several announcements expected in the coming weeks on team expansion and new initiatives.

“You will see a lot of announcements coming up in the next few weeks where you will see a lot of commitment to India, and we will be expanding our team and doing a lot more here,” Pragya Misra, Public Policy & Partnerships Lead, OpenAI, said at the CNN News18’s SheShakti2025 summit on August 21.

Misra has so far been the Sam Altman-led company’s sole employee in India, but she indicated that this is about to change.

The timing is important. Misra spoke to Moneycontrol’s Chandra R Srikanth just a day before the San Francisco-based AI pioneer officially announced its first India office.

With over 15 million developers, India already hosts the world’s largest developer base, and Misra believes the most populous country will play a central role in AI innovation.

Also read: OpenAI is hiring for its New Delhi office: Check out vacancies and how to apply

Building for India, with India

According to Misra, the expansion is part of OpenAI’s effort to build features designed in India, for India, and then scale them globally. She pointed to ChatGPT Go and Study Mode as examples of India-inspired features that began here but were rolled out worldwide.

The move also responds to feedback from Indian founders and users around affordability and access.

“One of the main things they emphasised was that the pricing of our subscription models was really high. What can we do to democratise intelligence?” she said.

On August 19, OpenAI rolled out a new subscription plan called ChatGPT Go exclusively for users in India. Priced at Rs 399 per month, this plan is among the company’s most affordable offerings and is designed to provide wider access to popular ChatGPT features at a lower entry cost.

Farmers as Early Adopters

Meanwhile, Misra, in a wide-ranging conversation, added that rural India is emerging as a surprising driver of AI adoption. She said that farmers are now using OpenAI models to decide which crops to plant, how to manage pests, which fertilizers to use, and even which mandi to sell their produce in.

A mandi is a government-regulated marketplace in India where farmers sell their agricultural produce, such as grains, fruits, and vegetables, to wholesalers, traders, or cooperatives.

“The result is a 35 percent growth in farmer income,” she said, adding that the multimodal and multilingual nature of OpenAI’s tools has lowered barriers for women in rural communities, with many female farmers and frontline workers like Anganwadi and ASHA workers increasingly adopting the technology.

Anganwadi workers are frontline community health and childcare workers in India, while ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) workers are community health volunteers who promote healthcare awareness, facilitate access to medical services, and support maternal and child health in rural areas.

Also read: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warns startups of AI investment bubble