Anthropic localizes Claude pricing in India

Anthropic has started localizing Claude’s pricing in India, its second-largest market after the U.S., though it has not yet enabled payments via India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the country’s instant payments network. Local pricing has begun appearing for some users on Claude’s website and mobile apps, but users must still pay by card or through Apple and Google’s app store billing systems — unlike OpenAI, which rolled out Indian rupee pricing for ChatGPT with UPI support in August. According to Anthropic, India accounts for 5.8% of global Claude usage, making it the service’s second-largest market after the U.S.

The new rupee-denominated tiers include local taxes, making them slightly pricier than their U.S. dollar equivalents:

• Claude Pro: ₹2,000 (about $21) a month when billed annually, versus $17 a month in the U.S.
• Claude Max: ₹11,999 (around $125) a month, versus $100 in the U.S.
• Team plans: ₹2,399 (around $25) per seat a month, versus $20 in the U.S.

The pricing rollout aligns with Anthropic’s broader push into India. The company opened an office in Bengaluru in February, after announcing the move in October, and appointed Irina Ghose to lead its India business in January. Anthropic has also partnered with Indian IT services giants Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services in recent months as it looks to scale enterprise AI deployments.

That expansion hit a setback in June, when Anthropic abruptly suspended access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for non-U.S. entities, pushing some Indian developers to look for alternatives.

Why it matters

India accounts for 5.8% of global Claude usage, making localized pricing a critical step for Anthropic to convert widespread usage into paid subscriptions in a price-sensitive market.