Anthropic Bets Big on India’s AI Future — With a Former Microsoft Exec at the Helm
Anthropic’s India gamble: Can a former Microsoft exec turn a $200K-a-month market into an AI superpower?
Anthropic has appointed Irina Ghose, a former Microsoft India managing director, to lead its India business ahead of opening a Bengaluru office. Ghose emphasized the potential of local language AI in a LinkedIn post:
"AI tailored to local languages could be a force multiplier across sectors including education and healthcare"
India is the second-largest user base for Anthropic’s Claude, with 767,000 downloads in September 2025 and $195,000 in consumer spending (up 572% YoY), though this remains dwarfed by U.S. spending ($2.5M). Meanwhile, OpenAI and Perplexity are expanding in India, with OpenAI launching its $5/month ChatGPT Go plan (free for a year in India) and Bharti Airtel partnering with Perplexity for bundled access.
Reliance chose Google’s Gemini AI Pro over Anthropic for its Jio subscribers, highlighting telecom giants as critical distribution gatekeepers.
Anthropic’s India team is hiring for roles including enterprise account executives and partner sales managers as it targets "high-trust, enterprise-grade AI" adoption.
India’s homegrown GenAI ecosystem lacks large foundation model startups, with capital concentrated on application-layer companies. The AI Impact Summit 2026 (February 2026) will bring global players and Indian stakeholders to discuss AI deployment strategies.
