Salesforce’s Focus on India as a Growth Market

Salesforce has identified India as a key growth market, particularly as the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates. India is one of the most vibrant and dynamic communities within the Salesforce ecosystem, according to Arundhati Bhattacharya, President and CEO at Salesforce (South Asia).

The cloud-based software firm recently organised the second edition of TDX Bengaluru, highlighting the increasing influence of India’s Trailblazer community—a network comprising developers, administrators, architects, IT leaders, and customer innovators. This community has grown to over 3.9 million members across the country. The Salesforce ecosystem now boasts more than 900 partners and 128 active community groups nationwide.

Rapid Expansion of the Indian Startup Ecosystem

At the event, Sanket Atal, Managing Director of Operations & Technology at Salesforce India, shared insights regarding the rapid expansion of the country’s startup ecosystem. He mentioned, “The community has now grown to more than 360, and it continues to expand. Most of these startups are adopters of Salesforce products and are actively building on our platform, including agent layers like AgentForce. Many are in the prototyping phase, eager to launch their ideas. Some have already launched products on our AppExchange.” He further highlighted that more than a third of these startups are AI-based.

Atal emphasised that India is now the world’s second-largest startup ecosystem, asserting that Indian startups are on equal footing with their global counterparts.

Empowerment of Developers through Hands-On Experience

With technology advancing rapidly, Christophe Coenraets, Senior Vice President of Trailblazer Relations at Salesforce, underscored the importance of equipping more developers with practical experience. “Last year, we travelled across the country with a program called AI Now Tour, which transitioned into AgentForce Now Tour—essentially full-day hands-on workshops aimed at empowering Indian developers with cutting-edge technology. The community is remarkable as it self-organises; many events are led by community members. Our role is to facilitate and support these individuals,” he noted.

Currently, autonomous agents are responsible for 30 per cent of the code at Salesforce, with expectations that this figure will rise to 50 per cent by year-end.

Introducing AgentForce and Online Learning Opportunities

Last year, Salesforce launched its autonomous AI application, AgentForce, designed to provide specialised support to both employees and customers. This application operates across various communication channels and engages in natural language interactions continuously. It establishes security guardrails and escalates conversations to human employees when necessary. Additionally, the company manages an online learning platform, Trailhead, focused on upskilling users.