Figma is placing significant emphasis on the Indian market, driven by the country's rapid adoption of its collaborative design platform. India has emerged as Figma's second-largest active user base, trailing only the United States, with substantial demand coming from companies throughout the region.
The company recently inaugurated its first office in Bengaluru, signaling a strategic move to deepen its engagement with the burgeoning Indian tech and design community. This physical presence underscores Figma's commitment to providing localized support and fostering stronger relationships with its expanding user base.
Abhishek Mathur, Vice President of Engineering at Figma, highlighted the unique characteristics of the Indian market, noting the impressive scale at which Indian companies operate and the accelerated pace of technology adoption. He emphasized that these factors make India a critical market for Figma's growth and development. Mathur also pointed out that over 35 million Figma files have been created in India, with many creators collaborating on these design files.
Figma's expansion in India goes beyond merely increasing its user base; the company aims to transform its perception as solely a design tool, aspiring to become a comprehensive product platform for design, engineering, and product operations teams. A key element of this strategy involves tapping into India's vast pool of software developers, estimated at 22 million, to encourage them to integrate Figma into their workflows.
The company's efforts appear to be gaining traction, with over 40% of the top 100 companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) already utilizing Figma products. Prominent Indian companies like Swiggy, Zomato, Infosys, and TCS are among those leveraging Figma for their design and collaboration needs.
India is also leading the way in the adoption of Figma's new AI-powered features. Since its launch in May, the Figma Make tool has been used to generate over 800,000 prototypes in India, surpassing all other markets. This indicates that Indian developers are actively utilizing Figma to build complete products, going beyond traditional mock-up creation.
Recognizing the importance of community engagement, Figma has cultivated a strong presence through its "Friends of Figma" network, comprising 25 chapters and over 25,000 members in India. These community-led groups facilitate meetups, knowledge sharing, and the elevation of design practices, contributing to the platform's organic growth.
Figma is actively hiring for sales, marketing, and design advocacy roles in India, demonstrating its commitment to building a local team to support its growing operations. The company will also consider adding product, design, or engineering roles over time, acknowledging India's abundant tech talent. While Figma currently does not offer native support for Indian languages, it enables designers to localize screens. The company has recently added Korean language support and plans to expand to include Japanese, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
A recent YouGov-Figma survey revealed that a significant majority of product, design, and engineering leaders, as well as C-suite executives, reported measurable business impact from design. Furthermore, 93% of designers in India indicated that their companies are already using AI in design, with 85% believing that AI simplifies code writing. The study also highlighted that 81% of developers consider design increasingly crucial to the success of AI-powered products. These findings reinforce the growing importance of design and the increasing adoption of AI-driven design tools in the Indian market.
