‘India's AI boom’: OpenAI reports 27-fold growth in Codex users
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘India's AI boom’: OpenAI reports 27-fold growth in Codex users")
OpenAI sees rapid Codex adoption in India across startups, students and businesses
India is emerging as one of the fastest-growing markets for OpenAI's AI-powered coding agent Codex, highlighting the country's expanding role in the global artificial intelligence ecosystem.
India is emerging as one of the fastest-growing markets for OpenAI's AI-powered coding agent Codex, highlighting the country's expanding role in the global artificial intelligence ecosystem.
According to OpenAI, weekly active Codex users in India have increased 27 times since the beginning of 2026, while daily interactions with the platform have grown more than 20-fold. The company shared the figures during Mumbai Tech Week, pointing to growing demand for AI tools among developers, startups, students and businesses. The latest data suggests that India is no longer just a major consumer of digital technology but is increasingly becoming an important market for advanced AI adoption.
India enters OpenAI's top markets for Codex
OpenAI said India now ranks among its top five countries globally for Codex adoption. The country is also among the top ten markets worldwide for user engagement on the platform. The figures underline the speed at which AI tools are being integrated into daily work across sectors. Thomas Jeng, OpenAI's Head of Startups for Asia-Pacific, said the growth is not limited to software engineers.
"What’s exciting about India is that adoption is not just happening among software engineers. We’re seeing founders, operators, researchers, students and business teams increasingly use Codex to turn ideas into working outcomes faster," he said. According to OpenAI, India's strong developer ecosystem and growing startup culture are helping drive the rapid increase in usage.
Codex is now being used for more than coding
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Although Codex was originally designed as an AI coding assistant, OpenAI says Indian users are increasingly using it for tasks beyond software development. The company revealed that more than 25 per cent of Codex requests from India are now related to non-coding activities.
These include:
Research and information gathering
Drafting documents and reports
Workflow automation
Communication management
Organising business processes
The shift reflects a broader trend across the AI industry, where users are increasingly treating AI tools as productivity assistants rather than specialised coding software. Industry experts say businesses are beginning to explore how AI can support a wide range of tasks across operations, marketing, research and administration.
India's developer ecosystem continues to stand out
OpenAI's latest findings build on data from its earlier OpenAI Signals report released in February. According to the company, coding-related usage of Codex in India was approximately three times higher than the global average. Coding queries from Indian users were also around three times the global median. These figures highlight India's position as one of the world's largest developer communities. The country produces hundreds of thousands of engineering graduates every year and has become a major hub for software development, technology services and startup innovation. OpenAI believes this foundation is helping accelerate the adoption of advanced AI tools such as Codex.
Startups and enterprises are driving adoption
Beyond individual users, businesses are also increasing their use of AI-powered software development tools. OpenAI said growing enterprise interest is contributing to Codex adoption across India. Companies are increasingly exploring AI systems to improve software development, automate repetitive work and increase productivity.
The company has previously announced collaborations involving Codex with major Indian firms including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Razorpay. These partnerships focus on software engineering support, workflow automation and enterprise productivity applications.
What does this mean for India's AI future?
The rapid growth of Codex usage reflects a larger shift taking place across India's technology landscape. While developers remain an important user group, AI tools are increasingly being adopted by founders, students, researchers, business operators and professionals across different industries.
Many organisations are now viewing AI as a productivity tool that can help accelerate work, reduce repetitive tasks and support decision-making. OpenAI believes India's combination of technical talent, startup activity and digital adoption makes it one of the most important markets for future AI growth.
