Two of the world’s most exciting tech companies, UK fintech unicorn Revolut and AI safety company Anthropic both announced this week that they are setting their sights on India.
As both companies announce that they will be expanding into the world’s most populous country and fastest-growing economy, it looks like India is becoming a serious consideration for companies looking to grow fast.
But why?
Revolut Announces Launch Of Its Payment Platform In India
Just yesterday, UK fintech unicorn Revolut announced that it would launch its payment platform in India – one of the world’s largest digital payment markets. (Reuters)
Through Revolut, Indian users will be able to make both domestic and international payments. Alongside this, Indian users will also be able to access prepaid cards and a digital wallet.
Initially, Revolut will only roll out the service to 350,000 waitlisted customers before opening it up nationwide. As part of the roll out, Revolut announced that it aims to sign up 20 million customers by 2030, focusing on what it calls “aspirational youth”.
To make this possible, Revolut has invested over £40 million in adapting its technology to meet India’s data rules, meaning it can operate fully compliantly.
For Revolut, targeting India is an interesting strategic move and one that is set to considerably open up its customer base.
Anthropic Opens Office In Bengaluru
On the same day as Revolut’s announcement, Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude announced that it is making its own move to India.
Backed by Amazon and currently valued at a staggering $183 billion, the company has announced that it will open an office in Bengaluru in early 2026. This office opening in India is the second one in the Asia-Pacific region for the company, which already has a presence in Tokyo.
Speaking about the move, Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei commented “India is compelling because of the scale of its technical talent and the commitment from the Indian government to ensure the benefits of artificial intelligence reach all areas of society, not just concentrated pockets.
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“There is deep alignment between the challenges India is tackling and our mission as a company, from deploying AI across diverse languages and contexts, to building frameworks for responsible governance. India’s AI ecosystem will play a central role in how AI develops globally and democratically, and 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.”
Anthropic’s focus in India will be using AI for social impact in sectors like education, healthcare, and agriculture, as well as supporting key private sector industries.
According to an announcement from Anthropic, India already ranks second globally for Claude usage, behind the U.S., so the demand is clearly there.
As part of the move, Anthropic will be expanding Claude’s languages to include Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, and Urdu. This will make it much easier for rural communities to access and benefit from the technology.
Why India?
With both companies announcing their focus on India in the same day, some are asking: why now?
According to The World Bank, India is one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, expanding at 6.5% annually. It’s now the fifth largest economy and home to over 1.4 billion people, becoming the most populated country in the world in 2023.
According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), India’s digital economy is also thriving. 92% of Indian employees use AI regularly, compared to the global average of 72%.
What this means is that India doesn’t just have a large population – it has a large population that is interested in finding and testing the best tech tools.
And despite recent challenges around trade tariffs with the U.S, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has set out to make India an appealing environment for tech innovation. Clearly, it has worked.
Are We Going To See More Startups Shifting East?
Revolut and Anthropic are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to companies eyeing up economies in The East.
As Western countries can be highly saturated with tightening rules and regulations, many companies are now looking to expand into economies where the population is growing, tech-savvy and keen the innovate.
Either way, one thing is for sure – India isn’t just attracting the world’s biggest startups, it’s solidifying itself as a desirable economy on the global startup stage.
