Puch AI bets on India’s most expensive mobile number to challenge ChatGPT and Grok
Bhatia claims that Puch AI could become India’s first true gateway to artificial intelligence for billions of people.
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An Indian start-up is positioning itself as a challenger to ChatGPT and Elon Musk’s Grok AI — and it is doing so with the help of what is said to be the country’s most expensive mobile number.
Puch AI, co-founded by Siddharth Bhatia, is banking on the number 9090909090, which works on WhatsApp, to capture attention, draw in users and, crucially, attract investors. The firm argues that while India has largely depended on AI models developed overseas — often producing responses shaped by non-local data and context — it is time for a sovereign AI system tailored to India’s languages and cultural nuances.
Bhatia claims that Puch AI could become India’s first true gateway to artificial intelligence for billions of people. He draws parallels with other technologies, the way affordable data access opened up the internet, UPI transformed digital payments, and quick-commerce reshaped retail.
In a recent post on X, Bhatia outlined his vision of using WhatsApp as the entry point for the masses to experience AI. The platform’s ubiquity across India, he argues, makes it the natural medium for connecting with billions of users. Beyond messaging, Puch AI also integrates voice-based services and even phone call interactions. For now, the company says these services will be free — though questions remain about how the business will eventually fund such offerings.
According to Bhatia, Puch AI already counts nearly one million users in India. Remarkably, he says 60 per cent of them are first-time AI users, engaging with the system in their local languages. This figure, he suggests, demonstrates both the latent appetite for accessible AI tools and the enormous potential still untapped.
WhatsApp’s infrastructure has been at the centre of digital interactions in India for years, and leveraging it to bring AI into everyday life could prove an astute strategy. Meta itself has launched an AI chatbot on WhatsApp that allows access to models such as ChatGPT. But Puch AI is differentiating itself by focusing heavily on voice-led features, from conversation to creative outputs such as generating Studio Ghibli-style stickers.
The company insists that it is not only attempting to compete with Silicon Valley giants but also intends to work alongside them. By distributing and expanding its India-centric AI through global platforms, Bhatia believes Puch AI can deliver a uniquely local, contextualised alternative while still tapping into international ecosystems.
If successful, the venture could mark a significant step towards establishing a home-grown AI presence in a market dominated by foreign players, while giving millions of Indians their first real taste of artificial intelligence in their own language.
