Sources familiar with the matter say Amodei will travel to Mumbai to meet Ambani and senior executives at Reliance, the parent company of India’s most valuable firm and leading telecom operator, Reliance Jio. According to insiders, Anthropic has been in talks with Reliance for some time over a potential collaboration to expand access to its Claude AI assistant in the Indian market.
With over one billion internet users, India — the world’s second-largest online economy after China — is emerging as a crucial growth frontier for Anthropic. Several Indian AI startups are already embedding Claude’s models into their products for both domestic and U.S.-based clients. Data from digital intelligence firm SimilarWeb also shows that India accounts for the second-highest share of traffic to Claude’s website, trailing only the United States.
In August, Reliance Industries announced new AI partnerships with major tech giants, including existing investors Google and Meta, as part of its newly launched Reliance Intelligence unit aimed at building enterprise solutions and AI infrastructure. The company also explored potential collaboration with OpenAI, which introduced a sub-$5 ChatGPT plan in India earlier this year and plans to open a New Delhi office by the end of 2025.
A formal announcement of the Reliance–OpenAI tie-up had been expected during CEO Sam Altman’s planned visit to India last month, but the trip was ultimately postponed. Reliance has not commented publicly on the ongoing discussions.
Alongside his Mumbai meetings, Amodei is also set to visit New Delhi to hold talks with senior lawmakers and federal officials — including, according to two people familiar with his itinerary, a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
By the end of the week, Amodei is expected to officially announce Anthropic’s new Bengaluru office on Thursday. He will be joined by Guillaume Princen, Anthropic’s head of EMEA, and Daniel Delaney, head of startups. Leading venture funds such as Accel and Lightspeed are also organizing dedicated sessions with Anthropic executives to explore how developers and startups can integrate Claude into their offerings.
Anthropic’s Claude app, available on iOS and Android, recorded a 48% year-over-year increase in downloads in India in September, reaching roughly 767,000 installs. User spending on the app soared by 572% year-over-year to $195,000 in the same month.
Despite this surge, India’s figures remain modest compared to the U.S., where downloads jumped 91% and user spending surged 604% to $2.5 million in September. Globally, the Claude app saw a 74% increase in downloads, reaching 1.01 million, while user spending shot up 546% to $5.62 million.
Unlike OpenAI — which plans to establish a sales and policy-focused hub in New Delhi — Anthropic’s India office will primarily target developers and startups from its base in Bengaluru.
“India now represents Anthropic’s single largest source of usage,” said the founder of a company working closely with the AI firm, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Anthropic isn’t the only AI company setting its sights on India. Perplexity, another fast-growing AI search startup, has partnered with telecom giant Bharti Airtel to offer its “Perplexity Pro” subscription to more than 360 million Airtel users for 12 months. The company is also customizing its products for the local market, including launching live earnings call transcripts for Indian stocks to boost engagement among domestic users.
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