Anthropic starts localizing Claude pricing in India
Anthropic has begun offering Claude subscriptions in Indian rupees in its largest market outside the U.S., though without UPI payment support.
Anthropic, the maker of the AI model Claude, has started localizing its pricing in India, its largest market outside the United States. This move reflects a broader trend among global AI companies tailoring their offerings to attract users in the world's most populous country.
Some users in India are now seeing rupee-denominated prices on Claude's website and mobile apps. However, Anthropic does not yet support payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India's popular instant payment system. Users must still pay by card or through Apple and Google's app store billing. This contrasts with OpenAI, which introduced Indian rupee pricing for ChatGPT in August with UPI support.
Claude Pro in India is listed at ₹2,000 (about $21) per month when billed annually, compared to $17 per month in the U.S. Claude Max starts at ₹11,999 (around $125) per month in India, versus $100 in the U.S. Team plans start at ₹2,399 (about $25) per seat per month, compared to $20 in the U.S. These prices include local taxes. Prices on mobile apps vary slightly.
India accounts for 5.8% of global Claude usage, making it the second-largest market after the U.S., according to Anthropic. The company has been increasing its focus on India: it opened an office in Bengaluru in February, appointed former Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose to lead its India business in January, and recently partnered with IT services giants Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services to scale enterprise AI deployments.
This expansion faced a setback in June when Anthropic abruptly suspended access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for non-U.S. entities. This prompted some Indian developers and startup founders to consider alternatives. Access to Fable 5 has since been restored, while Mythos 5 remains restricted.
India has become an increasingly important market for AI companies due to its large base of developers and tech workers. However, converting broad usage into paid subscriptions remains challenging in the price-sensitive market. Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment on the rupee pricing rollout.
