Anthropic, the AI research company behind the Claude chatbot, is expanding its global presence with plans to open its first office in Bengaluru, India, in early 2026. CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei is visiting India this week to solidify the groundwork for this expansion and explore potential partnerships. This move signifies Anthropic's growing interest in the Indian market, which has become increasingly central to the global AI landscape.
Amodei's itinerary includes meetings with government officials and enterprise partners, potentially including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is also expected to visit Mumbai to meet with Mukesh Ambani and other senior executives at Reliance Industries to discuss ways to broaden the reach of Claude AI assistant across India through Reliance's digital ecosystem, including Jio.
India has emerged as Anthropic's second-largest market for consumer usage of Claude, trailing only the United States. The company's Economic Index Report indicates that a significant portion of Claude's use in India is for technical and programming-related tasks, such as mobile UI development and web app debugging. Several Indian AI startups are already integrating Claude's models into their products for both domestic and global markets. Companies like CRED are utilizing Claude for critical coding work.
Anthropic's Bengaluru office will be its second in the Asia Pacific region, following the upcoming opening of its Tokyo office. The Bengaluru location will focus on supporting India's growing AI ecosystem by partnering with enterprises, nonprofits, and startups. The company aims to deploy AI for social impact in areas like education, healthcare, and agriculture. The office will also support India's startup ecosystem and emerging technology companies. Venture capital firms like Accel and Lightspeed are reportedly hosting sessions with the Anthropic team to explore how Indian startups and developers can integrate Claude into their offerings.
Anthropic's expansion into India comes at a time when Indian enterprises and startups are actively seeking AI models they can trust. Paul Smith, Anthropic's chief commercial officer, emphasized the need for AI systems that deliver advanced performance while ensuring the safety and reliability required for large-scale business operations.
Anthropic's approach in India appears to differ from that of OpenAI, which has focused on a more consumer-facing strategy. While OpenAI plans to open an office in New Delhi and has launched a low-cost ChatGPT plan in India, Anthropic's Bengaluru office will primarily concentrate on assisting startups, developers, and enterprise clients in building applications using Claude models.
Reliance Industries has been making significant investments in artificial intelligence, launching a new division called Reliance Intelligence in August to develop AI infrastructure and enterprise solutions. The conglomerate had also considered a potential collaboration with OpenAI earlier in the year.
According to Anthropic, India's compelling attributes include its wealth of technical talent and the Indian government's commitment to ensuring that the benefits of AI extend to all segments of society. Amodei stated that there is a strong alignment between the challenges India is addressing and Anthropic's mission, including deploying AI across diverse languages and contexts and building frameworks for responsible governance.
