Anthropic appoints ex-Microsoft India chief to spearhead Bengaluru growth

Anthropic has named Irina Ghose, former Managing Director of Microsoft India, to head its India operations as the U.S. AI startup plans to open a Bengaluru office. This step highlights India's emergence as a strategic market for AI firms expanding beyond the United States to capture major growth opportunities.

Ghose brings extensive big-tech leadership to the position. After a 24-year career at Microsoft, she departed in December 2025. Her hiring provides Anthropic with an experienced leader who has established enterprise and government connections, just as the company prepares to build a physical presence in one of the world's most rapidly expanding AI markets.

India has grown into one of Anthropic's most crucial strategic markets, already ranking as the second-largest user base for Claude, with usage heavily concentrated in technical and professional applications like software development. Rival OpenAI is also increasing its focus on India, planning an office in New Delhi—evidence that the country is quickly becoming a key arena in the global competition to commercialize generative AI.

Although India offers massive scale—with over a billion internet subscribers and more than 700 million smartphone users—monetizing that audience has been challenging. This has led AI companies to test aggressive pricing and promotional strategies. Last year, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Go, a plan priced under $5 for Indian users, and later offered it free for one year in the country.

Anthropic is seeing similar trends: according to Appfigures, its Claude app saw a 48% year-over-year increase in Indian downloads in September, reaching roughly 767,000 installs, while consumer spending jumped 572% to $195,000 for the month. These figures remain modest compared to the U.S., where spending reached $2.5 million in September.

Anthropic has been strengthening its engagement in India at the executive level. CEO Dario Amodei visited in October, meeting business leaders and policymakers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to discuss the company’s expansion and growing use of its tools. Anthropic also explored a potential collaboration with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries to increase access to Claude, as TechCrunch previously reported. However, Reliance ultimately signed a deal with Google to provide its Gemini AI Pro plan at no cost to Jio subscribers. Meanwhile, competitor Bharti Airtel partnered with Perplexity to bundle its premium subscription, highlighting how India’s telecom giants have become essential distribution partners in scaling consumer AI services.

In a LinkedIn post announcing her appointment, Ghose said she will concentrate on collaborating with Indian enterprises, developers, and startups that are deploying Claude for mission-critical applications, citing rising demand for what she called "high-trust, enterprise-grade AI." She added that AI adapted for local languages could act as a "force multiplier" in fields such as education and healthcare—indicating Anthropic’s goal to expand adoption beyond early tech users to larger institutions and the public sector.

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The expansion efforts by Anthropic, OpenAI, and Perplexity come as India’s homegrown generative AI ecosystem remains in early development. Although the country has abundant software talent and a fast-growing AI user base, few startups are building large foundation models. Instead, investors have largely supported application-layer companies rather than funding the level of capital typically needed to train cutting-edge AI systems.

Ghose’s appointment also precedes India’s AI Impact Summit 2026 in February, where the government is set to gather AI startups, global CEOs, and industry leaders to discuss the next stage of AI deployment nationwide. The summit reflects New Delhi’s broader initiative to support local AI development and establish India as a significant participant in the global AI landscape as competition heats up in key markets.

Anthropic is also expanding its India team, with open positions for startup and enterprise account executives and a partner sales manager. This signals a stronger go-to-market strategy aimed at winning Indian businesses and startups as customers while the company grows its local footprint.

For Anthropic, hiring Ghose provides senior local leadership as the company works to convert India’s rapid user growth into a sustainable business. Success will depend on navigating a market where distribution partnerships, pricing pressures, and enterprise adoption will determine which AI providers succeed long-term.