How Google’s Acquisition of Perplexity.in Sparked an AI Shockwave in India?

The Moment That No One Saw Coming in India’s AI Landscape

Something unexpected just happened in the world of AI -something small enough to miss in a headline, yet powerful enough to shift an entire market. Google quietly acquired Perplexity.in, the India domain that most consumers would naturally type when searching for Perplexity inside the country. The moment the purchase went through, every Indian visitor landing on Perplexity.in found themselves immediately redirected to Google’s Gemini page.

One click, one redirect, one subtle move -yet it created an unmistakable ripple across the AI ecosystem.

In the global AI race where speed, precision and distribution matter more than ever, this single domain acquisition felt like a psychological turning point. Perplexity, despite its incredible momentum globally, seemed to have overlooked a foundational detail: they secured Perplexity.ai, but not Perplexity.in. And in a market as enormous as India, that tiny gap opened the door for Google to execute one of the smartest micro-strategic plays we’ve seen this year.

It wasn’t a billion-dollar acquisition. It wasn’t an aggressive campaign. It was simply a gap spotted and closed. But for India -a country projected to onboard more than 200 million new AI users by 2026 -domain intent matters deeply. Users will instinctively type .in domains. Students, researchers, marketers, everyday consumers, startup teams, content creators… they all default to the local extension. In one move, Google positioned Gemini as the “accidental first touchpoint” for thousands, maybe millions, of Indian AI explorers.

It raises a bigger question: in the age of AI, where the biggest battles are fought with models, infrastructure and compute, can a missed domain really change the trajectory of user adoption in the world’s fastest-growing digital market?

The short answer: yes -absolutely.

One Domain, Millions of Users: Why This Redirect Isn’t Just an Accident

Let’s zoom out and understand why this single domain redirect is a masterclass in strategic timing. India is not just another geography for AI companies. It is the largest open-internet market in the world, a young, English-fluent, tech-first population that adopts new tools faster than almost any country on the planet. When a platform hits virality globally, India becomes the turbo-charger.

 Perplexity has been experiencing overwhelming global buzz -from researchers, marketers, coders and students -all drawn in by its sharp, citation-driven answering model. In India, curiosity around AI is exploding even faster.

Millions of users discover new tools by instinctively trying “brandname.in”. This is not just habit; it is behaviour shaped by two decades of browsing patterns. Which is why Perplexity.in redirecting to Gemini is not merely a digital coincidence -it is a redirection of intent. The moment someone types Perplexity.in thinking they are exploring the newest global AI darling, they land on Google’s Gemini instead. And most users, especially casual ones, will not question it. In the split second where attention makes a decision, Google wins. Imagine this happening at scale -students searching for doubts, marketers searching for content answers, developers searching for code fixes, founders searching for research. If even 10% of this audience shifts to Gemini due to the redirect, it becomes a massive traffic and adoption win for Google purely through behavioural hijacking.

This is not illegal. It is not unethical. It is simply strategic intelligence -capturing the gap before your competitor does. And in India, where AI adoption curves are accelerating weekly, the impact could be far bigger than most people realise.

Was This a Sharp Strategic Play by Google or a Costly Oversight by Perplexity?

This situation forces us to ask a deeper question:

Who made the real mistake here -or did both players move exactly as expected? From Google’s perspective, this is a textbook example of competitive positioning executed with surgical precision. Google Gemini is in a head-to-head global battle with OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic and every emerging model. The company understands India better than almost anyone. They know how deeply domain-type behaviour is embedded here. They know retention begins the moment a user lands on the right page. And most importantly, they know Perplexity is rapidly becoming a threat in the search-style Q&A space. For Google, acquiring Perplexity.in is an easy decision -cheap, fast, high impact and psychologically brilliant. But for Perplexity, this isn’t just a missed domain -it’s a missed defensive moat. Securing geo-domains is not optional for any company expecting global scale. Hundreds of brands have learned this the hard way -from Oyo to Slack to Stripe to Notion -where early domain oversight caused massive redirection, competition leaks and confusion. Perplexity’s mistake is understandable because they grew at lightning speed over the last six months. But in high-stakes markets like India, one oversight can cost millions of top-funnel impressions. And impressions convert into users. Users convert into habits. Habits convert into market share. The truth? Both sides played their parts. Google played aggressively and intelligently. Perplexity overlooked something obvious -but easy to miss during hypergrowth.

In the end, this moment will be remembered not as a controversy, but as a reminder that in the AI era, even the smallest digital detail can change the direction of an entire market.

What This Means for India’s AI Future -Startups, Marketers, Advertisers & Consumers

This single domain move has wider implications than most people realise.

For startups, it’s a wake-up call: the smallest gap can become your competitor’s biggest weapon. Protect your domains. Protect your digital paths. Protect every entry point to your product.

For marketers, this teaches a powerful lesson about user intent and micro-behaviour. A domain is not just an address; it is the first moment of trust. Redirect that moment, and you redirect behaviour.

For advertisers, this is a signal to watch the AI market more closely. If Google can redirect a competitor’s discovery traffic at scale, the balance of user acquisition in India will shift dramatically.

Gemini could see a sudden jump in traffic, engagement and perception just because it appears to be the “official” result when Indian users look for Perplexity.

For users, this is a reminder to stay aware of how our digital journeys can be influenced without us realising it. But the biggest impact will be on India’s AI ecosystem as a whole. Competition will heat up. Defensive moats will strengthen. Strategic plays will become sharper. And the Indian user -the most valuable user base in the world -will be at the centre of every decision.

In the end, whether Google’s move was a stroke of brilliance or Perplexity’s oversight, doesn’t matter as much as what this moment represents: in the AI era, control of the entry point is control of the narrative. And in India’s multi-billion-user future, the narrative is everything.

Moments like this reshape strategy fast. If you want guidance on protecting your digital presence or strengthening your competitive edge, connect through our Contact page and review our Marketing Services for the right solutions.