What Gemini is and who makes it
Gemini is Google's AI assistant, and the successor to what was briefly called Bard. It is made by Google DeepMind and sits at the centre of Google's plan to put AI into everything it already sells you: Search, Android, Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Photos and Chrome. That context matters more than any benchmark. Gemini's advantage is not that it is dramatically smarter than its rivals, it is that it is already where you work.
For Indian users that positioning is unusually strong. Android's market share in India is overwhelming, most small businesses run on Gmail, and Google has invested heavily in Indian language support in a way its American rivals have not. Gemini is also one of the few AI subscriptions genuinely sold in rupees through Google One, which removes the international-card friction that plagues every other option.
Key features in depth
Multimodal understanding. Gemini was designed from the start to handle text, images, audio and video together rather than having vision bolted on. Point your camera at a machine part, a plant disease or a handwritten form and ask what it is. Upload a video and ask what happens in it. This is the area where it is clearly ahead.
Deep integration with Google apps. Help me write inside Gmail and Docs, formula generation in Sheets, summarising a thread you have not read, searching your own Drive files in natural language. On a paid plan Gemini can reach into your Gmail and Drive to answer questions about your own content, which is a genuinely different capability from a chatbot that only knows what you paste.
Search grounding. Gemini can check its answers against Google Search and show you where they came from. For time-sensitive Indian queries, current repo rate, latest scheme deadlines, today's fuel prices, this makes it more reliable than assistants working from training data alone.
Android assistant. On most Indian Android phones Gemini can replace the old Google Assistant, handling voice queries, setting reminders and working across apps. It is free at this level.
Indian language support. Gemini supports a wide set of Indian languages, and Google's long investment in Indic natural language processing shows. Hindi is strong, and Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada and Malayalam are handled better than by any rival mainstream assistant.
Image and video generation. Image creation is built in, and Google's video generation models are available on higher tiers.
NotebookLM connection. Google's separate research tool, which reads a set of documents you supply and answers only from them, pairs naturally with Gemini for study and research work.
Pricing tiers explained, with rupee figures
The structure is Free, then Google AI Pro at about 20 US dollars a month, roughly Rs 1,700 indicative at Rs 85 to the dollar. The important India-specific point is that Google actually sells these plans in rupees through Google One rather than charging you in dollars, and the Indian sticker price has sat around Rs 1,950 a month for the Pro tier, inclusive of the storage benefits that come bundled. Google has also offered a lower-priced AI plan in India in the region of Rs 400 a month, and has run extended free-access promotions for Indian users, particularly students and Jio subscribers. Check what is showing in your Google One page before assuming a price.
- Free. Generous by the standards of this category. Search grounding, Android assistant, basic image generation and app integration all work without paying.
- Google AI Pro, around Rs 1,950 a month in India. Access to the strongest models, higher limits, deeper Gmail and Drive integration, video generation, and 2 TB of Google storage folded in. If you were already paying for Google One storage, the incremental cost of AI is small, which changes the maths considerably.
- Higher tiers. Google sells more expensive plans with the largest models and heaviest usage allowances, aimed at professional and enterprise users.
Payment is the easiest of any assistant for Indian users: UPI, RuPay, Indian credit and debit cards, and net banking all work through Google Play or Google One billing, with GST included in the displayed price. No international mandate failures.
How it compares to ChatGPT and Perplexity
| Point | Gemini | ChatGPT | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best at | Google apps, multimodal, Indic languages | Breadth and versatility | Cited research answers |
| Indicative India price | About Rs 1,950 a month | About Rs 1,700 a month plus GST | About Rs 1,700, free via Airtel |
| Pays by UPI | Yes | Sometimes | Via partner offers |
| Live web answers | Strong, Search-grounded | Good | Best in class, always cited |
| Regional Indian languages | Best of the three | Good Hindi | Weakest |
| Video generation | Yes on paid tiers | Limited | No |
| Bundled value | 2 TB storage included | None | Airtel bundle in India |
Gemini's case against ChatGPT is ecosystem and rupee billing. Its case against Perplexity is that it does more than search, though Perplexity remains cleaner for pure citation-first research.
Real workflows it fits
A Bengaluru startup running on Google Workspace uses it inside Docs for drafts, inside Sheets for formulas nobody wants to write, and to summarise long email threads before a founder replies. The integration means nobody has to change habits.
A Mumbai freelance photographer uses the multimodal side heavily, uploading shoot footage and asking for selects, or pointing the camera at equipment for quick answers.
A shop owner in Jaipur uses the Android app in Hindi by voice, asking it to draft WhatsApp messages to suppliers and explain a GST notice photographed on the counter.
UPSC and CAT aspirants use the free tier for search-grounded current affairs, which is safer than an ungrounded model for anything factual, and NotebookLM alongside it to question their own PDF notes.
A CA firm uses it inside Gmail and Drive to find the right client file by describing it, and to summarise long correspondence chains before a partner call.
Limitations to know
Quality is inconsistent. Gemini can be excellent on one query and oddly shallow on the next, and it refuses more often than rivals on harmless requests. Writing quality is behind Claude and, on longer prose, behind ChatGPT too.
The deep integration cuts both ways. Giving an assistant access to your Gmail and Drive is a meaningful privacy decision, and for a firm handling client financial data it deserves a proper policy conversation, not a casual toggle.
Regional language output, while the best available, still degrades on formal or technical registers. A Marathi legal notice is not something to hand over unchecked.
India-specific accuracy is better than rivals because of search grounding, but grounding is not verification. It will cite a page that says something different from what it claims the page says. Open the links.
Data residency: Google processes data across its global infrastructure. Enterprise Workspace customers get stronger contractual terms than consumers do.
Feature availability in India lags the US for some newer capabilities, and the plan names and prices change often enough that any figure you read, including these, may already be stale.
How to get started
- Open gemini.google.com or the Gemini app, and sign in with your existing Google account. Nothing to create.
- On Android, set Gemini as your default assistant in settings if you want voice access.
- Use the free tier for two weeks inside Gmail and Docs before considering paying.
- Check your Google One page for the current India price and any promotional free access for students or telecom customers.
- If you already pay for Google storage, compare the AI plan price against what you pay now. The incremental cost is often small.
- Turn app integration on deliberately, and review what you have granted access to.
- Click the source links on any factual answer before you rely on it.