Probing symmetric teleparallel gravity in the early universe

<jats:p> General theory of relativity can be equivalently formulated on a flat spacetime associating a torsion-free affine connection of non-vanishing non-metricity scalar Q. In this paper, we present an extension of this, viz., the [Formula: see text] theory of gravity, and explore the early evolution of the universe in the background of anisotropic Bianchi-I model. The [Formula: see text] theory in the current setting through its geometric modification is quite successful in explaining the late time accelerated expansion. Here, we note that it accommodates latest released constraints on the inflationary parameters by Planck’s collaboration group with excellent precession, but fails to produce a viable decelerated expansion in the radiation dominated era. </jats:p>