India now Claude's 2nd-largest market: How are people using it?
What's the story
Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude, has revealed that India is the second-largest user of its technology. The finding comes from Anthropic's latest Economic Index, which analyzed nearly one million global conversations on Claude.ai. The report shows that India accounts for 5.8% of all global Claude usage, trailing only the United States in adoption rates.
Workhorse
AI as a professional tool
The report highlights that Indians are not using AI for casual tasks like writing poems or planning vacations.
Instead, they are leveraging the technology to write code, solve complex problems, and save hours of work.
This indicates a trend where AI is being used as a professional tool rather than a consumer product.
User base
Limited consumer adoption in India
Despite being the second-largest market for Claude, the average Indian's usage of AI remains low.
The technology is mainly used by software professionals in select tech hubs.
This shows that India's AI story is different from the global narrative, with a focus on professional rather than a widespread consumer adoption.
Per capita ranking
AI usage per capita
When adjusted for population, India falls to 101st out of 116 countries in terms of AI usage. This means that while the country contributes significantly to global Claude conversations (5.8%), it isn't necessarily a leader in individual or per capita use of this technology.
Regional impact
State-wise distribution of usage
AI usage is not uniform across the country.
More than half of all Claude usage comes from four states: Maharashtra (15.5%), Tamil Nadu (13.2%), Karnataka (12.7%), as well as Delhi (10.5%).
These regions are also India's biggest IT and services hubs, further emphasizing their role in the country's AI landscape.
Task breakdown
Leading use cases of AI in India
According to Anthropic, 45.2% of all AI-related occupational tasks in India are software-related.
This is the highest share globally and shows that Indians are mainly using Claude for programming and software engineering.
Education is the second most common use case, with students increasingly relying on AI for learning and coursework.