- By Konark Tyagi
- Thu, 05 Mar 2026 04:54 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The world of AI is expanding fast, and as we move forward, more and more companies have started integrating AI in their day-to-day offerings. With that said, India has emerged as one of the biggest stages where AI is playing a massive role. At the AI Impact Summit 2026, leaders from across the tech and AI landscape pointed towards India's leading role in the adoption of AI and stressed the fact that the country plays an active role in shaping its trajectory.
Tech giants are now taking the opportunity to either expand or consolidate their hold in the country. Adobe has had a foothold in the country for quite a while, and everyone is aware of Photoshop. In an era where creativity is becoming more and more accessible with the help of generative AI, the company has taken several steps to aid this creativity in order to consolidate its standing in the Indian market.
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Adobe’s Strategy and Differentiation in India
In a conversation with Parimal Deshpande, Global Head of Product Marketing for Adobe Express, Konark Tyagi, Editor of Jagran HiTech, explores in detail how Adobe plans to move and strategise in India through localisation and mobile-first tools, leveraging Generative AI, supporting the growing creator ecosystem, and expanding reach. The conversation began with a question about how Adobe is responding to the launch of lower-priced creator tools by companies like Apple in India and how Adobe differentiates itself and its offerings for creators, to which Parimal Deshpande expressed, "Adobe's legacy and heritage, right? And what it's known for is the OG of creation, right? And we are the company behind Photoshop. It's a highly respected brand, you know, for all things digital imaging and photography.
Expanding further on what makes Adobe stand out, he said, "We have added 2 more things to our portfolio; one is Firefly, which is our AI product. And it is text-to-image, text-to-video, text-to-speech, and text-to-audio, but the differentiating factor here is that it is safe for commercial use. That's a big, big differentiator. And the second is to make sure that any customer knows which AI to go with. There are lots of options. And we feel that having commercially safe AI is important because that's peace of mind."
Making Adobe Express Accessible to Every Creator
The conversation further centred around how Adobe plans to keep its suite accessible for every creator in this age of AI so that people from all walks of life, from students and teachers to even small business owners, can have the ability to create and how Adobe Express becomes the best available option for anyone looking forward to creating their own content. Parimal said, "We bring the best of Adobe, including Adobe templates, Adobe technology, and Adobe presets from Lightroom or Photoshop but make it easy and package it into Express. The second thing is that it’s a freemium app. You can start with the free version. There’s also a paid version, and you can continue using the free version forever if you want to. So it’s a very accessible app from a price point."
Adding further, he said, "Adobe Express works on all surfaces. It works on Android, iOS, iPad, and desktop web, and it also works with ChatGPT. We believe in meeting customers where they are and making it very accessible and simple to bring the best of Adobe. That is our secret sauce: to empower everyone on the planet to create."
Catering to Tier 2 and Tier 3 Cities
Moving ahead with the conversation, Konark Tyagi asked about Adobe’s approach for new creators in tier 2 and tier 3 cities and how Adobe Express is designed to cater to first-time creators across India’s emerging markets. To which Parimal Deshpande replied, "Adobe aims to localise and culturalise both content and product. The product UI currently works in four languages, with more planned based on customer feedback. Content will be available in additional regional languages, with templates and designs reflecting local festivals and cultural heritage. Adobe treats tier 1 and tier 2 cities equally, believing every Indian is creative and has the desire to turn ideas into designs. Express aims to be the enabling tool of choice on this journey."
Mobile-First Creation and Airtel Partnership
Moving on, Konark Tyagi asked how Adobe Express fits into the shift toward smartphones as primary content-creation tools and how AI integration supports mobile video and high-end image editing. On which Parimal Deshpande emphasised that smartphones are becoming increasingly powerful, enabling a first-class experience on any device, Android or iOS. He highlighted Adobe’s Airtel partnership, reaching 360 million subscribers across all device types and regions in India, and noted that the product will continue to be refined to ensure optimal performance.
Empowering Users with AI and Generative Tools
Konark Tyagi noted that AI has been the buzz over the past two years, affecting everything from smartphones to appliances, and asked how Adobe, as a legacy player, is enabling end users with AI, including integrations with LLM models like ChatGPT. To this, Parimal Deshpande added, "The underlying approach is to meet customers where they are to empower them to create. This means giving them a choice for how, where, and with whom they want to create. We want to empower anyone to create whatever they want. There are many use cases. It could be greeting cards in the morning, messages for Holi Festival on March 4th, student or teacher curriculum, resumes, small business marketing, QR codes, promotional content and flyers on WhatsApp, or video creation for growing a following."
Lastly, Konark Tyagi asked, 'With the advent of AI, many third-party plugins have emerged, some ethical and some accessing data they should not.' How does Adobe plan to manage these, especially given the importance of AI plugins for creators using apps like Premiere?
To this, Parimal replied and expressed, "Express has a thriving third-party plugin ecosystem. We have hundreds of plugins, which we call add-ons. For example, TikTok is one of the add-ons where you can use TikTok's commercially available music library to create using Express. Another example is Metricool, a plugin that tells you how your asset is performing and provides insights. There is also an app that shows how people with different abilities or vision capabilities will see your content and where you should optimise it before posting. We have many plugins and follow certain partnership principles. Ultimately, we have a promise to our customers, and we weigh every partnership based on how the AI plugin is created and whether it fits into our principles."
Adobe is strengthening its presence in India by making creativity accessible through Adobe Express. With generative AI tools like Firefly, mobile-first support, regional content, and ethical third-party plugins, the company empowers creators across all cities and skill levels, from students and small businesses to professional content creators.