Google AI Plus free for a year for Indian students: what you get and what to check

Google has made Google AI Plus free for a year for eligible college students in India, a plan that normally costs ₹399 a month, or roughly ₹4,800 across twelve months. Indian outlets reported the offer on 20 August 2026, and the Google AI Plus student offer on Startbook is listed through 31 December 2026.

The plan doubles the Gemini usage limits you get without a subscription and adds 400 GB of storage shared across Drive, Photos and Gmail, which is useful if lecture recordings and scanned notes are eating your free 15 GB. Gemini also shows up inside Gmail for drafting and summarising mail, and NotebookLM gets more room for Audio Overviews, Video Overviews and quizzes. Google has added a student hub in the Gemini app too, where you can build study notebooks, generate flashcards and run practice quizzes. Reports also mention a Deep Research mode that compiles a report you can then talk through in Gemini Live.

Claiming it is a matter of signing in, opening the Plans section of Google One, choosing the student offer on AI Plus and passing Google's student verification. You need to be currently enrolled in an accredited degree or certificate programme. The write-ups describe slightly different routes, one starting from a Gemini for Students page, so start from Google's own page and follow what it shows you.

The fine print deserves more attention than the feature list. One report says you link a credit or debit card to finish sign-up, with a ₹2 authorisation charge that is refunded straight away and no billing during the twelve months. Another expects the plan to renew at ₹399 a month once the year ends unless you cancel auto-renewal beforehand. Put a reminder in your calendar a few weeks before the date so you decide on purpose rather than get billed by default.

Students in the US are reported to get the higher Pro plan, with four times the usage limits and 5 TB of storage, so the Indian offer sits a step below that. It still makes sense for anyone already leaning on Gemini for notes, long documents and research. If you rarely open an AI tool, or you know you would forget to cancel, you can safely skip it.