Anthropic Appoints Ex-Microsoft India Head Irina Ghose as New India MD

Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has made a significant leadership move in India. The company appointed former Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose as its first senior leader in the country. This appointment signals Anthropic's strong push to expand its presence in what it considers its second-largest market.

Ghose's Career Transition

Irina Ghose will serve as managing director for Anthropic India. This move ends her impressive 24-year tenure at Microsoft India. During her time at Microsoft, Ghose rose through various positions to become chief operating officer. The company promoted her to managing director in June 2023.

At Microsoft, Ghose led the education and cloud sales businesses in India. Her extensive experience in the technology sector makes her a valuable addition to Anthropic's leadership team. She joins the AI startup at a crucial time when global AI firms are competing fiercely to establish early footholds in the Indian market.

Anthropic's India Expansion Plans

Ghose represents Anthropic's first leadership hire in India. The appointment comes three months after founder and CEO Dario Amodei announced plans to open the company's first India office. That office will be located in Bengaluru and is scheduled to open on October 7.

Amodei visited India shortly after announcing the Bengaluru office plans. During his visit, he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss Anthropic's expansion strategy. The company currently lists three mid-level job openings in India. All these positions focus on AI sales roles, indicating Anthropic's commercial priorities in the market.

Upcoming Industry Events

Dario Amodei is expected to be a keynote speaker at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will host this event on February 18-19. In its official statement announcing Ghose's appointment, Anthropic emphasized India's importance as its second-largest market.

This assessment mirrors similar statements made by rival OpenAI about India's strategic value. The competition between AI giants for Indian market share continues to intensify as the country's technology ecosystem grows.

Anthropic's Background and Funding

Anthropic was founded in January 2021 and gained prominence during the generative AI boom. This surge followed OpenAI's public launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. Over the past five years, Anthropic has raised an impressive $27.4 billion in funding.

Recent reports indicate the company has signed a term sheet to raise an additional $10 billion. This new funding round would value Anthropic at approximately $350 billion. The startup counts several major technology and financial firms among its backers.

Key investors include:

Amazon
Google
Microsoft
Nvidia
JPMorgan Chase
Goldman Sachs
Qatar Investment Authority

Claude AI Model and Market Position

Dario Amodei left OpenAI in December 2020 due to differences with cofounder Sam Altman. Their disagreements centered on the direction and governance of AI development. Amodei has positioned Anthropic's flagship model, Claude, as a safety-first alternative in the foundational AI space.

While Anthropic hasn't disclosed official adoption figures for Claude, it currently trails competitors in user numbers. Public database Thunderbit reported that Claude had about 30 million monthly active users globally as of December 31, 2025.

For comparison:

ChatGPT reported 800 million active users as of October 1 last year
Gemini reported 650 million active users during the same period

India's Strategic Importance

During his India visit last year, Dario Amodei explained why the country matters to Anthropic. "India is compelling because of the scale of its technical talent," he stated. Amodei noted deep alignment between India's challenges and Anthropic's mission as a company.

This alignment includes deploying AI across diverse languages and contexts. It also involves building frameworks for responsible AI governance. Amodei emphasized that India's AI ecosystem will play a central role in how AI develops globally and democratically.

"We're looking forward to working with organizations in India to pave a path for how beneficial AI can be scaled in a way that serves everyone," Amodei concluded. This statement reflects Anthropic's commitment to responsible AI development while expanding its global footprint.