India’s second-largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel is giving every one of its 360 million customers a complimentary 12-month subscription to Perplexity Pro, the premium AI search and answer engine normally priced at INR 17,000 a year. This announcement followed Google’s own rollout of the complimentary 1-year Google AI pro subscription for university students in the country.
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Why Perplexity Pro is a better overall bundle
For those of you who are unaware, Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine that pulls real-time information from the web, delivers cited summaries, and lets users drill deeper with follow-up questions. The Pro tier unlocks advanced AI models such as GPT-4.1, Claude and Gemini, unlimited “Pro Searches,” image generation, file uploads for analysis, Perplexity Labs, and faster response times.
For students, researchers and professionals, those extras turn a good search tool into a productivity powerhouse, and trust me, it is worth it once you know the best ways to use it in your daily life.
Who Is Eligible?
- All Airtel mobile subscribers (prepaid & post-paid)
- Airtel Xstream Fiber (broadband) users
- Airtel Digital TV (DTH) customers
Basically, if you can sign in to the Airtel Thanks app with an active Airtel number or broadband/DTH ID, you qualify for this reward.
How to Claim Your Free Year
Step 1. Open the Airtel Thanks app on your Android or iOS device and log in with your Airtel credentials.
Step 2. Tap the hamburger menu (?) in the top corner and choose “Rewards & OTTs” (some phones label it simply “Rewards”).
Step 3. Scroll to find “Perplexity Pro – 12 months free.” Tap “Claim Now.”
Step 4. You’ll be redirected to a Perplexity landing page where a coupon is automatically applied.
Step 5. Enter the email address you want tied to Perplexity, verify with the OTP, and hit “Activate.”
Step 6. Log in on the Perplexity website or app with the same email; your account now shows “Pro (Airtel)” with an expiry 12 months from the activation date.
The best part about this reward is that you don’t need to provide any credit.debit card credential. Just login, access and activate the reward, and the best part is, when you login with the same login account on the PC, you can still use Perplexity Pro. This reward is not tied to just a mobile app or anything of the sort. Fully free for one year, no strings attached.
Tips to Get the Most Out of Perplexity Pro
- Choose the right model for the task. Under Settings ? Model, try GPT-4.1 for nuanced reasoning or Claude for long-form drafting.
- Use Copilot for guided research. Start with a broad question and let Copilot break it into sub-queries for deeper insight.
- Upload files. Drop PDFs, spreadsheets or images to receive instant summaries, data extraction or alt-text.
- Generate visuals. Perplexity Pro integrates DALL-E 3 and Flux One; simply type “/imagine” followed by a prompt.
- Track citations. Every Perplexity answer includes a hover-to-view source list, which automatically tells you the source for that particular section of the response.
So, if you are an Airtel user, you should definitely make full use of this perk. PErplexity Pro on its own can be an expensive commitment on a regular basis, and offering it for free for the entire year can help you explore the platform to its full potential and at the end of the term, if you feel this tool makes your work better, and easier, you can decide whether the investment is worth it or not.
