Google and Jio gives free Gemini Pro access for millions of Indian users

Google has partnered with Reliance Industries to provide its AI Pro subscription at no charge to eligible Jio users for 18 months. This move aims to spread the use of advanced artificial intelligence tools across India, the world’s most populous country and a primary growth target for global technology firms.

The alliance, announced on Thursday, 30 October 2025, sees Google bundling its premium AI service, normally priced at Rs 1,950 (around USD 22) monthly, with Reliance Jio’s 5G plans. The total value of the 18-month offer amounts to Rs 35,100 (about USD 396) per user.

The Consumer AI Package

The free subscription, which eligible users can activate through the MyJio app, includes a suite of powerful services:

• Gemini 2.5 Pro Access: Users receive higher access to Google’s most powerful multimodal AI model through the Gemini app.

• Creative Tools: The plan offers higher limits for generating images and videos using models like Nano Banana and Veo 3.1.

• Productivity and Storage: Subscribers gain expanded access to Notebook LM for research and study, along with 2 terabytes (TB) of cloud storage across Google Photos, Gmail, Drive, and WhatsApp backups.

The rollout begins with a focus on youth: users aged 18 to 25 on an unlimited 5G plan will get early access. The companies plan to swiftly expand the offer to every Jio subscriber nationwide in the coming months.

A Growing AI War in India

The partnership highlights the intensifying competition among global AI heavyweights for the Indian market. Google’s announcement comes just three months after its rival, Perplexity, teamed up with Bharti Airtel to give free access to Perplexity Pro to Airtel’s 360 million subscribers for one year. Furthermore, OpenAI plans to begin offering its entry-level ChatGPT Go plan, previously a paid service, free for one year to Indian users starting November 4.

U.S. technology giants view India as a key frontier. The country acts as a proving ground to collect diverse data, refine AI models, and test applications that they can later scale to other emerging markets. The race to provide free access seeks to quickly accelerate adoption and establish market share before these offers expire.

Expanding Enterprise and Infrastructure

The collaboration extends beyond consumers. Reliance, through its AI subsidiary Reliance Intelligence, also formed a partnership with Google Cloud. This strategic collaboration focuses on two primary areas for Indian businesses:

1. AI Hardware Access: Reliance and Google Cloud will work together to broaden access to Tensor Processing Units (TPUs)—Google’s advanced AI hardware accelerators. This helps Indian organizations train and deploy large, complex AI models domestically.

2. Enterprise Platform: Reliance Intelligence becomes a go-to-market partner for Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise, a unified AI platform for businesses. Reliance Intelligence plans to develop its own pre-built AI agents for this platform, offering customized solutions to Indian organizations.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, stated, “Reliance is a long-term partner in Google's goal of furthering India's digital future. Now, we bring this collaboration into the AI era. Today's news will place Google's cutting-edge AI tools in the hands of consumers, businesses, and India's developer community.”

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, said, “Reliance Intelligence aims to make intelligence services accessible to 1.45 billion Indians. Through our work with partners like Google, we seek to make India not just AI-enabled but AI-empowered.”