AI programming tool Cursor is further expanding its presence in the Indian market ahead of the anticipated completion of its acquisition of SpaceX, launching its first localized subscription plan for local users. The company hopes to increase its penetration in one of the world's largest developer markets with a lower price.
Monthly fee reduced to 649 rupees
Cursor launched a new plan called Cursor Start on Monday, priced at 649 Indian rupees per month (about $7), significantly lower than its $20 per month Pro subscription. The plan is billed in Indian rupees and supports credit cards, debit cards, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
The company stated that this plan is primarily aimed at developers who require a higher AI programming allowance than the free version but do not intend to upgrade to the full Pro version for the time being. The new plan includes Composer 2.5, Grok 4.5, a higher usage limit, and features such as cloud agents, iOS apps, plugins, Model Context Protocol support, hooks, and skills.
However, Start does not include cutting-edge third-party models such as OpenAI and Anthropic, nor does it provide advanced features such as Bugbot, Auto Mode, Automations, and Cursor SDK.
India has become the third largest market
Cursor states that India is now its third-largest market globally and the region with the highest concentration of frequent users. Over the past year, the company's user base in India has more than tripled.
Simon Green, Cursor's head of Asia Pacific and Japan, told TechCrunch that India, with its large pool of software engineers and strong technological foundation, became Cursor's first market to implement localized pricing. The company believes that adjusting the pricing structure will help expand coverage and improve conversion rates.
GitHub previously disclosed that the number of developers on its platform in India has exceeded 27 million, second only to the United States, with more than 2 million new developers expected to join by 2026. This makes India a crucial market for global AI tool companies vying for users. In the past year, OpenAI and Anthropic have both launched localized solutions for India.
Expanding the team and advancing enterprise clients
In addition to adjusting pricing, Cursor is also expanding its local team in India. The company recently recruited its first sales representative locally and plans to add management positions in Delhi, while also building a government affairs team and adding three technical customer support staff to cover cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
Green stated that Cursor's enterprise business in India is still in its early stages, with current adoption primarily driven by individual developers, startups, and universities. As local sales progress, the company is focusing on growth opportunities with banking and large enterprise clients.
He also stated that the low-price packages in India are not a loss-making venture for growth, but rather a cost structure designed based on Cursor's proprietary model, thus ensuring sustainability. Because they rely less on cutting-edge third-party models, their operating costs are also lower.
The SpaceX acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter.
This expansion into India comes just over a month after SpaceX agreed to acquire Cursor in a $60 billion all-stock deal, expected to close in the third quarter. The report mentions that the two companies have been collaborating since April to develop next-generation AI for coding and knowledge work.
Green stated that Cursor will continue to operate independently until the transaction is completed, and its expansion plans in India had already begun before the acquisition announcement. Once the transaction is finalized, SpaceX's existing Starlink business base in India could help Cursor overcome commercial and operational hurdles more quickly.
- Cursor Start's monthly fee is 649 Indian Rupees.
- The standard Pro subscription costs $20 per month.
- The SpaceX acquisition deal is valued at $60 billion.
