Anthropic plans to open India office, eyes tie-up with billionaire Ambani

Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei is in India this week, with plans to set up an office in Bengaluru and explore a partnership with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industry, TechCrunch has learned. The move signals the AI ​​startup’s drive to deepen its presence in its second-largest market after the US

Amodei is expected to visit Mumbai to meet Ambani and other senior executives at Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company and parent of the country’s Top Telecom operator Reliance Jio, people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch. Anthropic has long been in discussions with Reliance about a potential partnership to expand access to its Claude AI assistant in India, the people said.

India-The world’s second largest online market after China, with More than a billion internet subscribers – has emerged as a major growth area for anthropic. Several Indian AI startups are already using his Claude models in their products for both domestic and US customers. India also accounts for the second-highest share of traffic to Claude’s website after the US, according to digital intelligence firm Similar web.

In August, Reliance Industries partnered with major tech companies, including existing investors Google and Meta, to build AI infrastructure and business solutions through its new unit, Reliance Intelligence. The Mumbai-headquartered HQ had also explored a potential partnership with Openai, which rolled out its sub-$5 Chatgpt plan in India earlier this year and has announced plans to open a New Delhi office in New Delhi later in 2025.

That Reliance-Openai Partnership was expected to be announced during Openai CEO Sam Altman’s planned visit to India last month, but Altman ultimately postponed the trip.

Reliance Industries did not respond to a request for comment. TechCrunch has also reached out to Openai for comment.

Besides Mumbai, Amodei is visiting New Delhi to meet top lawmakers and senior federal government officials, sources said. He is also expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, two people familiar with his travel plans told TechCrunch.

Later in the week, Amodei will be in Bengaluru to announce the opening of Anthropic on Thursday, sources told TechCrunch. Anthropic EMEA head Guillaume Princen and startups chief Daniel Delaney also join him. Prominent venture funds, including Accel and Lightspeed, are also hosting special sessions with Anthropic executives this week to share insights on how developers and startups can leverage Claude for their offerings.

Anthropic’s Claude app, available on iOS and Android, registered a 48% year-over-year increase in downloads in India in September, reaching about 767,000 installs this year, according to AppFigures. Consumer spending on the app in India rose 572% year-on-year, generating $195,000 in September alone, the data showed.

However, India’s figures remain modest compared to those in the United States, where downloads rose 91% year-on-year and consumer spending rose 604%. US users spent $2.5 million on the Claude app in September, per appfigures. Globally, the app saw a 74% growth in downloads to 1.01 million and a 546% increase in consumer spending to $5.62 million in the same month.

Unlike OpenAI, which aims to build a sales and marketing setup and oversee policy updates from New Delhi, Anthropic plans to target developers and startups with its office in Bengaluru.

Anthropic sees the biggest use out of India, a founder who works closely with the AI ​​company told TechCrunch, requesting anonymity.

In addition to anthropic and Openai, Pertlexity is also looking into the Indian market. The company has partnered with Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel to offer its Perflexity Pro plan to more than 360 million Airtel customers for 12 months. The AI ​​Search Startup has also refined its product for local users, including by launching live earnings call transcripts for Indian stocks to attract more engagement from India.

Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment.