Anthropic, a prominent artificial intelligence (AI) research and development company, has officially appointed Irina Ghose, a seasoned technology veteran and former Managing Director of Microsoft India, as its Managing Director for India operations. This strategic leadership hire marks a significant milestone in Anthropic's aggressive expansion into the Indian market. Ghose brings over three decades of experience in scaling technology businesses and driving enterprise transformation, making her an ideal choice to spearhead Anthropic's growth in the region. Her previous role at Microsoft India involved leading enterprise AI adoption across key Indian industries, including BFSI, manufacturing, healthcare, and government. India has emerged as Anthropic's second-largest market globally for the usage of its flagship large language model, Claude.ai, trailing only the United States. This strong user base underscores the country's critical importance to the company's global strategy. In line with this commitment, Anthropic is preparing to officially open its first India office in Bengaluru in February 2026. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and other senior executives are expected to visit India for the office inauguration and to participate in the India AI Impact Summit. Ghose emphasized India's unique opportunity to shape the development and deployment of AI at scale, noting that Indian organizations are rapidly moving from AI experimentation to applied AI solutions where trust, safety, and long-term impact are paramount. Anthropic's growing team in India aims to deepen engagement with policymakers and academic institutions, strengthen relationships with enterprises, and foster partnerships with developers and organizations to address local challenges using AI. The company is also reportedly investing in enhancing Claude's capabilities in various Indian languages. This expansion reflects Anthropic's ambition to compete robustly in the burgeoning Indian AI market, which is also seeing significant activity from rivals like OpenAI.