Anthropic has appointed Irina Ghose, a former managing director of Microsoft India, to lead its expansion into the country as it prepares to open a new office in Bengaluru. The move highlights India’s growing importance in the global AI race, with the nation emerging as a key market for AI companies seeking scale and innovation. Ghose brings over 24 years of experience in big tech, having held leadership roles at Microsoft before stepping down in December 2025. Her appointment provides Anthropic with a seasoned executive who has strong relationships across Indian enterprises, government bodies, and technology leaders—critical assets as the company builds a local presence. India is already one of Anthropic’s most significant markets. The country ranks as the second-largest user base for its AI assistant Claude, with usage heavily concentrated in technical and professional domains such as software development. This growing adoption has prompted Anthropic to deepen its engagement, including a high-level visit by CEO Dario Amodei in October, during which he met with corporate leaders and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Despite strong user growth, converting that reach into revenue remains a challenge. Anthropic’s Claude app saw a 48% increase in downloads in India in September, reaching about 767,000 installs, while consumer spending surged 572% to $195,000—still far below the $2.5 million spent in the U.S. during the same month. To drive adoption, Anthropic is likely to experiment with pricing and partnerships, following trends set by rivals. OpenAI, for example, launched a sub-$5 plan for ChatGPT in India and later offered free access for a year. Meanwhile, India’s telecom giants have become key distribution partners. Reliance Industries partnered with Google to offer Gemini AI Pro free to Jio users, while Bharti Airtel teamed up with Perplexity to bundle premium access. These moves underscore how telecom providers are shaping the path to consumer AI in India. Ghose emphasized her focus on helping Indian enterprises, developers, and startups adopt Claude for mission-critical applications. She highlighted the potential of AI tailored to Indian languages as a transformative force in education, healthcare, and public services—signaling Anthropic’s intent to expand beyond early tech adopters. The appointment comes ahead of India’s AI Impact Summit 2026, where the government plans to bring together global AI leaders and startups to discuss the future of AI deployment. The event reflects New Delhi’s broader strategy to position India as a global AI hub. Anthropic is also actively hiring in India, with open roles for enterprise and startup account executives, as well as a partner sales manager—indicating a strategic push to strengthen its go-to-market approach. With intense competition from OpenAI, Perplexity, and others, Anthropic’s success in India will depend on its ability to build trust, forge partnerships, and deliver value across both private and public sectors.