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ETtech Interview: India biggest user base; Perplexity plans local fund: CEO Aravind Srinivas
San Francisco: India has emerged as Perplexity's largest market by user base, Aravind Srinivas, cofounder and chief executive of the artificial intelligence startup, told Samidha Sharma, adding that the country is central to its growth and product journey. The India user uptick has prompted Srinivas to look at investments beyond product expansion. “We intend to set up a Perplexity fund and do more there,” he said in an interview at the San Francisco headquarters of one of the hottest companies in the Valley, valued at $20 billion. The surge in India users comes on the back of a partnership with Airtel bundling Perplexity Pro.
Chennai-born Srinivas, who graduated from IIT-Madras, has been engaging with policymakers in India on its AI policy and said he supports the push toward building a sovereign foundational model. “I am not an official adviser, but I share input when asked, including with Prime Minister Modi and some chief ministers,” he said. Edited excerpts:
How has this year been for Perplexity, especially with your new products and the India push after the Airtel partnership?
India is our biggest market by user base right now and is growing very fast. The Airtel partnership continues on our carrier strategy that we have already run in other countries.
These include Germany, Japan, South Korea, Spain. We did not want to start with India because the stakes are high. Airtel was a great fit. They have made a turnaround against Reliance Jio and now have strong positioning. After the Airtel launch, we quickly hit number one on the India iOS App Store, which showed a high overlap with iPhone users. It was not one or two weeks of campaign that pushed up usage… The number of new users is significant and they're retaining well and using the product a lot.
ETtech
You call Perplexity ‘a search index for AI.' How is that different from traditional search?
Traditional indexes are built for humans clicking links. We are building an index for AIs to ingest grounded, real-time knowledge and answer with facts and accuracy. Large English-language usage helps us improve, and India is core here. People assume English usage only means the US, UK or Australia, but India's English usage is massive, so it is central to our product journey.
You have often said you want to inspire Indian founders to build global companies, not just manage them. Why?
I am from India, and I want to show we can build companies, not just manage them. The best way to inspire is to go do it. In cricket, Indians are not just local stars, the world acknowledges the best. When I was growing up, my mother would say, “Get a job at Google.” That was the big aspiration. Sundar Pichai becoming CEO was a proud moment for India, but it also reinforced the idea that Indians should run other people's companies. My hope is that the next generation sees it is possible to build the next Google, not just work there. I am not saying I alone will do it, but if more founders try to build at global scale, it will shift the mindset.
Immigration has become tougher for Indians and other immigrants, with the recent H-1B visa fee hike. How do you see this impacting the next wave of founders?
Silicon Valley has always been welcoming to outsiders. The key challenge for someone coming from abroad is trust, finding credible people who will vouch for you, invest in you and mentor you, even if they might compete with you later. Despite immigration hurdles, this is one of the few places in the world that is absolutely meritocratic. If users love your product and the data shows it, people support you.
Also Read: Perplexity finalises $20 billion valuation round: Report
You have mentioned mentorship by Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella. What is that relationship like, considering you also compete with Microsoft's Copilot?
Satya is a mentor figure. We speak roughly once a month, sometimes ad hoc. Yes, Microsoft has Copilot and we may compete, but he looks at the big picture. If Perplexity succeeds and we can do business together, that is fine. He is a phenomenal CEO and coach. I think Satya could have been a great founder too. He is more of a refounder at Microsoft, which is incredibly hard.
ETtech
Talk about your browser Comet. How do you differentiate it from Google's Gemini, which is being integrated into Chrome?
As far as I know, those integrations have not fully shipped at meaningful depth yet. We did not build a browser just to stick an assistant in a sidebar. Comet is natively agentic. You can ask it to open the tab you had two weeks ago, start a YouTube video at a timestamp, or create a Spotify playlist for guests and start playing it. It is designed as an agent from the ground up, not just a tool to summarise pages.
Also Read: Browser battles: Chrome's AI upgrade takes aim at Perplexity's Comet
Google dominates search and owns Chrome. Do you really think Perplexity can challenge that?
Google has structural advantages such as Android, data centres and inhouse chips. But agents change the game. Search became a monopoly because the UI (user interface) and model fit were stable. Agents open the field and if we end up with a 50-30-20 type market instead of a 90-something monopoly, that is healthier. Our bet is that ownership of the agentic layer plus indexing and browsing infrastructure is where durable value sits.
Do you see foundation-model companies like OpenAI having an advantage in this shift?
Only to a point. It can look like telecom infrastructure — important but increasingly commoditised as multiple players reach similar quality. The defensibility shifts to owning the customer relationship and building value above the model, memory, personalisation, agents, commerce, enterprise workflows. That is why model companies are building apps, but they may not be the best at it. Our bet is that models become less differentiated over time, while indexing and browsing matter more for agents.
ETtech
So, indexing and browsing are your moats?
Yes. It is the one thing Google truly has that most model companies do not. Building an index and a robust browsing stack is a long, iterative grind. There are not many playbooks or open resources. You learn by building, shipping, collecting data and improving. We plan to offer APIs (application programming interfaces) similar to how people use Bing APIs to ground other LLMs (large language models). By year-end, I believe our index can be as good as Bing's, or better.
Where are you on monetisation, will you introduce ads, commerce?
We are making money via consumer subscriptions, API revenue and enterprise revenue. We are growing fast with lots of subscribers. I cannot share our average recurring revenue (ARR), but I feel good about our internal targets. That said, our focus is usage. If you have a billion people at the top of the funnel, converting a few million to pay is straightforward. If you prematurely optimise for a few million payers, you risk capping the ambition. What is in today's paid plan could be free in a year. If you stop innovating, you will only ever be a Notion, Figma, Slack or Canva--great companies, but not billion-user outcomes.
How big is the team today?
Around 300 people. We are Bay Area-centric, with folks in New York, Austin, Seattle, London and a few other spots.
Are you looking to build a team in India?
Definitely. We are considering not only a policy presence in Delhi but also engineering. We are debating whether it should be Bengaluru or Hyderabad. India has great backend and infrastructure talent. Partnerships are also important given India's consumer landscape in travel, shopping, education and healthcare.
Regulation has often been seen as a hurdle for Indian startups. What is your view on AI regulations in India?
I think India should lean more towards an American approach, encouraging adoption instead of restricting it. Users will figure out use cases anyway. Overregulating early only slows innovation. The better focus is on infrastructure, funding and making sure the ecosystem as a whole is aspirational.
ETtech
On India's AI policy, we know you are actively involved. What do you think is needed?
I am not an official adviser, but I share input when asked, including with the Prime Minister and some chief ministers. On capability building, I support government-owned GPU clusters. Own the land, chips, interconnects, keep utilisation high, and allocate capacity to universities and startups. Consider a sovereign fund that backs Indian AI companies building fundamental tech. Avoid focusing only on India-specific features, global excellence should be the bar.
You have met Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few times. What did you discuss?
Among other things, we discussed making AI accessible in local languages and dialects, using AI in schools, and digitising and cross-referencing ancient texts. The emphasis was on curiosity-driven use, not just “cheat codes” for work.
Have you localised Perplexity for Indian languages?
As much as we can, and we keep improving.
What will be your investment in India? You have committed personally to Aakrit Vaish's fund.
Yes, a small commitment. We also intend to set up a Perplexity fund and do more in India. India has unique infrastructure like UPI that enables agentic experiences you do not see in the West.
Beyond Airtel, any other India partnerships?
We are in conversations, but nothing to announce yet. Airtel is our exclusive telco partner.
Source: EconomicTimes
Related Posts: india,microsoft,Aravind Srinivas,Perplexity,AI,Artificial intelligence,upi,iit,figma
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