Cursor launches India-only Start plan ahead of expected SpaceX deal close

TechCrunch reported that AI coding startup Cursor introduced Cursor Start, a country-specific India subscription priced at 649 rupees a month, about $7, well below its standard $20-a-month Pro plan. The company said India is already its third-largest market globally and home to its highest concentration of power users, with its India user base more than tripling over the past year. Simon Green, Cursor's head of Asia-Pacific and Japan, told TechCrunch the firm chose India first to right-size the commercial model and drive scale, citing the country's engineering talent. Cursor Start includes Composer 2.5 and Grok 4.5 with higher usage limits than the free tier, plus cloud agents, an iOS app, plugins, Model Context Protocol support, hooks, and skills. Unlike Pro, it does not include frontier models from providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic, or features including Bugbot, Auto Mode, Automations, and the Cursor SDK. The plan is billed in Indian rupees and supports cards and Unified Payments Interface payments. Green said Cursor will use multiple checks so the India-only plan stays limited to individual users in the country, including measures against VPN access. He said the company recently hired its first salesperson in India, expects another leader in Delhi, and is adding government affairs and technical support roles as it expands in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. TechCrunch noted the India push comes a little over a month after SpaceX agreed to acquire Cursor in a $60 billion all-stock deal expected to close in Q3. Green said Cursor will operate independently until closing and that India plans were already under way before the deal.