ChatGPT Go Free Access in India Faces UPI Activation Glitches OpenAI’s rollout of free access to ChatGPT Go in India sparked major excitement among users, but unexpectedly hit payment snags that left many unable to activate their subscriptions. The problem centered around the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) verification process, which several users said was failing despite successful payment confirmations. Surge in Demand, But Payment Errors Persist OpenAI introduced a 12-month, no-cost ChatGPT Go plan for Indian users starting November 4 as part of a limited-time promotional initiative. To activate the offer, subscribers were required to add a payment method, either a UPI ID or credit card, even though no charges were involved. A temporary Re 1 transaction was included in the setup process to validate the billing mechanism for later use when the free period concludes. However, users across social platforms, especially on X (formerly Twitter), reported recurring activation failures. Complaints included multiple UPI approval attempts without successful activation, applications hanging at the payment confirmation screen, and recurring “invalid VPA ” or incomplete mandate errors. Temporary Outage Due to High Traffic OpenAI confirmed the disruption, attributing it to an overwhelming surge in user traffic shortly after the offer went live. In a statement, the company said it was working with UPI partners to restore normal operations and gradually reopen access. According to OpenAI, “Demand was so high it briefly overwhelmed our UPI integration. We've been working with partners to restore it quickly, and we're rolling availability back out.” Subscription Mechanism and User Advisory The 12-month complimentary plan allows users to experience ChatGPT Go features without charge, but the system still validates payment credentials for future billing . The Re 1 debit is automatically refunded after each cycle. OpenAI also cautioned that cancelling the subscription within the free period would revoke the promotional access for that account. Despite the rollout hiccups, interest remains strong among Indian users eager to explore ChatGPT Go’s advanced features. OpenAI has assured that the activation process will stabilize soon as the service scales to meet the country’s significant demand.
