Anthropic Data Reveals India's AI Workforce Gains 15x Productivity Boost
Rebeca Moen Feb 16, 2026 08:06
New Anthropic Economic Index shows Indian Claude.ai users complete 3.8-hour tasks in 15 minutes, outpacing global averages. Software tasks dominate at 45.2%.
India's tech workforce is squeezing 3.8 hours of work into 15-minute AI sessions, according to fresh data from Anthropic's Economic Index covering nearly one million Claude.ai conversations from November 2025.
The $380 billion AI safety company—fresh off a $30 billion Series G round announced February 12, 2026—found that Indian users achieve a 15x productivity speedup compared to the 12x global average. That's not just incremental improvement; it's a fundamentally different relationship with AI tools.
Second in volume, but concentrated adoption
India accounts for 5.8% of global Claude.ai usage, trailing only the United States. But here's the catch: per capita, India ranks 101st out of 116 countries measured. The gap tells a story of adoption concentrated in tech hubs rather than broad national penetration.
Four states—Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Delhi—generate over half of India's total Claude usage. These are home to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi NCR. The pattern maps almost perfectly onto India's IT services geography.
Software-related tasks dominate at 45.2% of all mapped activities, the highest share globally. Vietnam trails at 42.1%, Egypt at 39.2%.
Indian users delegate more authority to AI
The data reveals behavioral differences that go beyond simple usage patterns. Indian professionals score 3.60 on AI autonomy delegation versus 3.38 globally (on a 1-5 scale). They're not just asking Claude to check their work—they're letting it make decisions.
Work-related usage hits 51.3% in India compared to 46.0% worldwide. Personal use drops to 27.8% versus the global 34.7%. This isn't casual adoption; it's professional integration.
Perhaps most telling: 15.4% of Indian tasks couldn't be completed by humans alone, compared to 12.1% globally. Users are pushing into territory where AI isn't just faster—it's necessary.
What this means for AI infrastructure investment
The concentration problem creates both risk and opportunity. Current adoption essentially extends India's existing IT services strengths. Expanding beyond software developers into manufacturing, agriculture, and services sectors would require addressing income barriers, digital infrastructure gaps, and AI literacy outside tech corridors.
Anthropic's researchers found a strong correlation between prompt sophistication and response quality. Indian users rank in the top 10% globally for AI education level of responses—they're getting sophisticated output because they're providing sophisticated input. Training programs targeting effective AI use could unlock similar gains for workers outside the current user base.
The data suggests India is extracting more value per interaction than most countries. Whether that advantage scales beyond the IT sector depends on infrastructure investments that haven't happened yet.
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