Microsoft 365 Prices in India Rise With Introduction of New Copilot AI Features

Microsoft has added new Copilot AI tools to its office suite, but has also significantly raised the prices of its 365 Personal and Family subscription plans across the world. In India, the Microsoft 365 Personal plan for one person, with 1TB of OneDrive storage, will now cost ₹689 per month or ₹6,899 per year, up from ₹489 and ₹4,899 respectively. The Family plan, which supports up to six users with 1TB of OneDrive storage each, now costs ₹819 per month or ₹8,199 if billed annually, up from ₹619 and ₹6,199 respectively.

Users who do not want to automatically be billed at the new rates can downgrade to new Personal Classic and Family Classic plans at the older rates, for a limited time. The company warns that these plans might not be available in the future, and that unknown other “new innovations and features” that might be released over time will not be included in them.

Subscribers will now have access to Microsoft Copilot tools and Microsoft Designer. The Microsoft 365 app, formerly known as simply Microsoft Office, will now be called Microsoft 365 Copilot. It is designed to help users find documents they have been working on. It will include a Copilot Chat AI assistant. 

Copilot in the Microsoft Office apps is intended to help automate tasks, look up information, and add creative inputs to content. For example, it can come up with recipes based on specific dietary needs, analyse a budget spreadsheet to suggest improvements, generate slideshows with themed designs based on your photos, generate summaries of documents and email threads, and more.

Microsoft Designer is a new feature available within Office apps as well as through its own standalone app and website. Users can generate images based on text prompts, like with many other AI image creation tools, and easily insert them into documents. Users’ own photos can also be edited to remove unwanted objects or people. 

Only the primary account holder on a Family plan will have access to these Copilot features. They will receive a limited number of credits per month to use when generating images or making edits, and can purchase additional ones if needed. The company has not clarified exactly what this limit is, but says it should be more than enough for “most subscribers”. It is likely aimed at preventing use of consumer subscription plans for large-scale professional content development. Copilot credits can also be used across other apps such as Notepad  and Paint on a Copilot+ Windows 11 PC. Copilot features can also be disabled within the Office apps if needed, such as to comply with guidelines around AI-generated content in academic environments.

All Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Microsoft Office 365) plans give users access to the popular Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook and Access productivity applications as well as Microsoft Teams, Defender, Editor, ClipChamp, and Forms. The company says it has 84 million subscribers around the world. 

The one-time purchase price of Microsoft Office 2024 Home, which does not require a subscription, is unchanged at ₹9,199. This option only includes Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote and does not include any online storage space or access to major new features released over time. Buyers will also get only limited technical support. The license is valid only for one PC or Mac, whereas Microsoft 365 subscribers can use up to five devices including iOS and Android phones and tablets, plus online browser-based apps.  

The increases are in line with prices in the US, which have gone up by $3 (approximately ₹260) per month for each plan. Existing subscribers will not have to pay the increased prices till their next renewal date. In India, Microsoft also offers a 365 Basic plan at ₹149 per month or ₹1,499 per year, which is not prominently advertised. This plan covers one user and includes only 100GB of OneDrive storage and access to browser-based versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.