Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence company, has announced plans to open an office in Bengaluru, India, in early 2026. This move signifies a major strategic push to establish a significant presence in India, the world's second-largest internet market, and intensify competition with rivals like OpenAI, Google, and Meta.
The announcement coincides with Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei's visit to India this week, where he is expected to meet with public officials and corporate partners. Amodei's agenda highlights the seriousness of Anthropic's ambitions in India. A potential meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also anticipated, where discussions will likely focus on the company's long-term plans for the country and potential collaboration areas. This follows a preparatory visit last month by Anthropic's head of global affairs, Michael Sellitto, who met with officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
Anthropic's expansion into India is part of a broader global strategy. On September 26, 2025, the company announced plans to triple its international workforce and expand its applied AI team fivefold this year, driven by the soaring demand for its Claude AI models. To lead this expansion, Anthropic appointed Chris Ciauri, a former Google and Salesforce executive, as Managing Director of International.
India has emerged as Claude's second-largest market outside the United States, accounting for 7.2% of global usage. Coding tasks dominate usage in India, making up over half of all Claude activity, compared to a global average of one-third. Anthropic introduced Claude to Indian users in October 2023, followed by mobile app launches in 2024.
The Bengaluru office aims to collaborate with India's large developer community and deploy AI for social benefit. Anthropic is also looking for partners to develop and manage sovereign AI capabilities within the Indian regulatory framework. The company plans to roll out improved Hindi performance for government and enterprise interfaces and train its models on nearly a dozen additional Indic languages to drive adoption among public sector and enterprise users. These languages include Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, and Urdu. This aligns with national digital inclusion goals, as enhanced Indic language support targets 90% of India's non-English speakers.
Anthropic's India gambit is backed by substantial financial and strategic resources. The company, recently valued at $183 billion after a $13 billion funding round, is actively seeking a country lead for India, signaling a long-term commitment to building a substantial local team. This workforce growth is critical for Anthropic to maintain its competitive edge against rivals.
Anthropic's aggressive push into India comes as its chief rival, OpenAI, also plans to open an office in New Delhi. With tech giants like Google and Meta also investing heavily in the region, India has firmly become a key battleground in the global race to attract and retain top AI talent.
In addition to establishing an office, Anthropic is reportedly exploring a partnership with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries to expand access to its Claude AI chatbot in the country. Amodei may visit Mumbai to meet with Ambani and other senior executives at Reliance Industries.
Anthropic's increasing popularity in India is evident, with the Claude app on iOS and Android registering a 48% year-over-year increase in downloads in September, reaching 767,000 installs this year. Consumer spending on the app has also increased significantly.
