Anthropic Appoints Ex-Microsoft Executive Irina Ghose To Lead India Ops

AI major Anthropic has onboarded former Microsoft India MD Irina Ghose as the managing director to lead its India operations as part of its expansion push. 

The appointment comes at a time when Claude’s parent entity is gearing up to open its first office in India in Bengaluru, it said in a statement. 

Ghose will scale Anthropic’s technological business in the country and drive enterprise transformation. 

“Indian organisations are moving beyond experimentation toward applied AI, where trust, safety, and long-term impact matter as much as innovation. Anthropic’s mission resonates with my belief that technology should empower people, expand access, and create lasting value across India’s diverse languages and communities,” Ghose said on her appointment. 

She brings more than three decades of experience in building and scaling technology businesses. Prior to joining Anthropic, she ended her 24-year-long stint at Microsoft India. She joined the tech giant as a regional partner alliance manager in 2001 and got promoted multiple times, ending her tenure as the MD of Microsoft’s India arm. 

Talking about the future opportunity at Anthropic, Ghose said that India has emerged as the second-largest user base for Claude.ai, and AI tuned to local languages will be a force multiplier across society. 

Furthermore, Anthropic said that its team will work closely with policymakers and academic institutions to strengthen partnerships with local organisations. 

In October last year, it was also reported that Anthropic was mulling a partnership with Reliance Industries to deepen its presence in India. Later that week, the California-based company’s cofounder and CEO Dario Amodei met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi to discuss its expansion plans and AI deployment in the country. 

Notably, India accounts for 7.2% of global Claude usage, making it Anthropic’s second-largest market after the US, which holds 21.6% share. 

This comes at a time when AI adoption is on the rise in India and the country has emerged as a key market for AI players. Global AI giants like OpenAI and Perplexity are also focusing on the Indian market to capitalise on this opportunity. TCS and OpenAI are also in advanced discussions to set up AI infrastructure in India. 

The Sam Altman-led company is looking to partner educational institutions in India. Besides, it launched ChatGPT Go in India at a monthly price of INR 399 last year. Meanwhile, Perplexity teamed up with Airtel to expand its offerings, while Google is providing its Gemini Pro subscription free of cost to students in India.

Indian startups like Soket AI, SarvamAI, Gnani.ai, among others, are also developing indigenous AI models under the Centre’s IndiaAI Mission. 

At the heart of all these is the Indian AI market, which is expected to become a $126 Bn opportunity by 2030, with a potential GDP impact of $1.7 Tn by 2035, according to Google and Inc42’s Bharat AI Startups Report, 2026 released yesterday.