9 in 10 Indian SMBs Now Bet on AI - With Tier-2 Cities Taking the Lead: Linkedin Study

India’s small and medium businesses (SMBs) are entering their most confident decade yet. New LinkedIn research finds that 9 in 10 SMBs (95.6%) are already investing in or planning AI adoption, indicating how technology has moved from experiment to infrastructure. At the same time 92% of SMB decision-makers expect business growth in the next 12 months - signalling a sector that’s not just hopeful but rebuilding around smarter systems, skilled talent, and trusted digital platforms.

For Indian SMBs, evolution is survival, not optional

Behind their confidence lies urgency. AI is no longer a buzzword, but the new baseline for growth. The research shows that 57% of SMBs view AI and automation as essential to stay competitive, 54% cite operational efficiency as key to protecting margins, and 51% say digital transformation is critical to survival.

Across India, different regions are evolving in distinct ways. SMBs in Delhi (61%) and Pune (60%) lead AI adoption to manage costs, those in Bengaluru (63%) are focusing on operational efficiency, and those in Chennai (62%) are concentrating on building a skilled talent pipeline. Meanwhile, SMBs in some of the fastest growing cities in India such as Chandigarh (100%), Jaipur (94%), and Ahmedabad (94%) are setting new benchmarks for business confidence and technology adoption, often pulling ahead of larger metros in AI readiness and momentum.

Kumaresh Pattabiraman, Country Manager, LinkedIn India said,

Indian SMBs are moving from ‘startup hustle’ to ‘strategic muscle’. Entrepreneurs are reimagining how business is built, using AI to drive efficiency, skills-first hiring to build capability, and trusted digital ecosystems to expand their market footprint. At LinkedIn, our focus is simple - give every entrepreneur, in metro or non-metro cities, the right network, the right clients, and the right talent, all in one place, so they can grow with clarity and confidence in the AI economy.

AI becomes the new operating system for growth

AI has become the engine behind how SMB’s hire, market and grow. Nearly all surveyed businesses say they use it to automate workflows (92%), strengthen analytics and business intelligence (93%), and streamline hiring, marketing, and sales (over 90%).

Hiring models are being rebuilt around capability, not credentials. SMBs now value digital literacy and AI fluency (63%), problem-solving (57%), and data analysis (50%) over traditional qualifications. To find this talent, 65% already use AI hiring tools, citing better assessments and higher engagement.

Marketing and sales, too, are becoming intelligence-driven. 76% of SMBs use AI marketing tools, with three-quarters investing up to half their budgets in them. 74% now rely on AI in sales for sharper targeting and automated follow-ups, allowing them to operate with the sophistication of larger enterprises.

Rahul Karthikeyan, Chief Marketing Officer, Scaler said,

Scaler’s recent campaigns have seen strong performance through precise audience targeting and data-driven optimisation. Sponsored Content, especially vertical formats, delivered a 20% higher lead-to-payment conversion than static formats on other channels. In August alone, LinkedIn generated about 70–80 new payments with a return on spend (RoS) of 2.2. We plan to further scale this high-impact channel while maintaining cost-per-sale efficiency

Trust is the new competitive advantage

Even as they adopt AI at speed, SMBs are discerning about where they place their trust. 95% say platform credibility matters more than cost or convenience. Their top considerations are data security (83%), seamless integration (79%), and clarity on ROI (75%). Together, these shifts signal the rise of a smarter, more resilient SMB ecosystem - one that is not just adapting to the AI era but actively shaping it.

Methodology

LinkedIn commissioned YouGov to conduct an online survey of 1,027 SMB and MSME owners, entrepreneurs, directors, and senior managers across India. The study covered 10 key cities including Delhi NCR, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, distributed across North & Central, West, South, and East regions.

Respondents represented businesses across the Micro (up to ₹10 crore), Small (₹10–100 crore) and Medium (₹100–₹500 crore) turnover segments. Participants were aged 25 to 65 years, capturing perspectives across both emerging and seasoned decision-makers.

About LinkedIn

LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful and transforms how companies hire, learn, market, and sell. Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce through the ongoing development of the world’s first Economic Graph. LinkedIn has over 1.2 billion members and has offices around the globe. www.linkedin.com / mobile.linkedin.com

Drip Capital secures $50M credit facility from TD Bank to scale SMB trade finance across North America

• Drip Capital’s total debt funding raised to date exceeds US$500 million, supported by global partners including Barclays, World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), and East West Bank
• Drip Capital has financed over USD$8 billion in trade transactions for more than 11,000 firms across 100+ countries since inception

Drip Capital, a digital trade finance and B2B e-commerce company, has secured a US$50 million committed credit facility with an additional $25 million accordion feature from Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank), one of the top ten banks in North America.

Pushkar Mukewar, Founder & CEO, Drip Capital

The partnership marks Drip Capital’s first engagement with TD Bank. The facility will support the company’s Buyer Finance programme across North America while reinforcing its leadership in cross-border SMB financing globally. With this round, Drip Capital’s total debt funding raised to date exceeds US$500 million, supported by global financial partners including Barclays, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), and East West Bank. 

India’s small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) power nearly 40% of the nation’s exports, yet many still face cash flow gaps and limited access to formal credit. Drip Capital bridges this gap by giving exporters instant access to working capital through its non-recourse receivables factoring solution, where they’re paid upfront for their overseas shipments by Drip Capital, which, instead of the exporter, takes on the risk of payments from the overseas buyers. This approach allows SMBs to grow their business confidently without tying up collateral or worrying about buyer defaults.

Since its inception in 2016, Drip Capital has financed over US$8 billion in trade transactions for more than 11,000 firms across 100+ countries, including thousands of Indian exporters in sectors such as agro commodities, textiles, chemicals, and engineering goods. In FY24–25 alone, the company disbursed over US$2 billion, with India continuing to be one of its largest and fastest-growing markets.

“This partnership with TD Bank reinforces global confidence in Drip Capital’s business model and the strength of Indian fintech on the world stage,” said Pushkar Mukewar, Founder and CEO, Drip Capital. “Our mission is simple: to make global trade more accessible for small businesses. Whether in India, or outside, SMBs need reliable financing and trusted trade partners to compete. This facility allows us to extend that support at scale.”

“Every company can benefit from having a collateral-free, flexible credit line to procure goods and services and manage working capital better. Despite our rapid growth, we’ve only scratched the surface. Drip Capital is quietly financing the supply chains behind millions of purchases across the globe,” Mukewar added.

Adobe Unveils New Adobe Express for Ads for Small Businesses to Stand Out

Today, Adobe unveiled Adobe Express for ads, a new solution that makes it faster and easier for smaller businesses to create high-performing ads for top social channels in Adobe Express. The solution supports creative workflows for some of the world's largest ad platforms, including Google, LinkedIn, Meta, and TikTok, with Amazon soon to follow. With new “social safe zones” in Adobe Express, designing stunning, creative content that matches ad platform guidelines can be stress-free. And new Metricool and Bitly add-ons for Adobe Express help you track how your content is performing.

Great ads made easy — with Adobe Express.

The process of landing a great ad can be long and arduous. You’ve got to get a lot right — from amazing creative that makes your message stand out to navigating the different rules, sizes, and criteria of each platform and deciphering the signals that tell you why ads are effective — or not.

Adobe Express for ads connects the dots in one convenient app, making it simple to get the right messages to your audiences quickly and effectively.

New “social safe zone” technology.

New social safe zones in Adobe Express provide built-in guides tailored to top platforms, so key visuals and messages are placed for maximum engagement and performance. Starting June 12, safe zones for Stories and Reel ads (Meta) and LinkedIn video ads will be available in Adobe Express — with more formats to come.

Easily design high-quality creative.

According to Nielsen, 50% of advertising ROI is driven by the quality of the creative. Adobe Express brings the best of Adobe’s industry-leading creative tools, like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, and a massive library of assets and templates curated by real design pros, into an app that makes it easy for everyone to produce eye-catching creative. Here’s what you can do:

• Create great ads that stand out. Start with thousands of free, professionally designed templates built to perform across top ad platforms so your ads are polished and on-brand.
• Design with ease. Focused workflows and drag-and-drop tools make it simple to customize text, images, and layouts. AI-powered features can help you quickly generate content ideas, remove backgrounds, generate images or video, and more — even if you’re not a pro.
• Make once, repurpose everywhere. Instantly resize and reformat ads to fit the platforms where your customers connect, browse, and shop.
• Create with confidence, launch with peace of mind. Adobe Firefly-powered tools are commercially safe for your business. Fonts, images, and assets in Adobe Express are also cleared for business use. With Custom Brand Kits, you can easily lock brand elements for a consistent look and feel every time.
• Leverage recently announced AI-powered video capabilities. With Adobe Express, every small business can create high-impact video ads. Clip Maker uses AI to instantly cut video footage into short clips, and Firefly-powered Generate Video uses text and image prompts to generate custom, commercially safe b-roll and background footage.

Seamlessly publish to top ad platforms.

Adobe Express for ads features a new user experience that lets you easily connect to leading advertising platforms and access custom workflows, best practices, and templates specific to each environment. You get better ad performance — for free and from one efficient app.

New integrations include:

• Optimized Google Performance Max templates. Take the guesswork out of building compelling creative assets for campaigns. Simply grab a template, insert your videos, images, or offering and export to your Google Ads account in minutes.
• Video and image ads on LinkedIn. Publish quickly and with ease to help drive engagement with B2B audiences on the world’s largest professional network. Video templates are optimized for high-impact storytelling and advertising assets can be exported to your LinkedIn ads account for campaign creation and tracking.
• TikTok Symphony Assistant add-on. Easily create trending business content and add pre-cleared music tracks from the Commercial Music Library. Starting June 16, you can also export videos directly to your TikTok Ads Manager account.
• Amazon ads: Adobe Express is also working with Amazon to provide you with professionally designed templates and pre-compliance checks, helping ensure you can successfully publish to Amazon ads every time.

Effortlessly measure content performance.

New add-ons from Metricool and Bitly, make it easier for you to understand how social content is performing and adjust to maximize its impact, all within Adobe Express.

• The Metricool add-on for Adobe Express provides intel on top-performing posts, top-performing hashtags, and engagement rates across platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, X/Twitter, Google Business, and more, to help inform creative and social strategies. View side-by-side analysis of competitor profiles to spot content trends and performance gaps so you can fine-tune your strategies with data.
• With the new Bitly add-on for Adobe Express, it’s simple to add QR Codes and short links to assets so you can monitor performance and view real-time analytics that provide intel to inform updates and strategy.

These features and more are waiting to be explored in Adobe Express for Ads, or download the ad platform add-ons here.

To add new social measurement capabilities to your toolkit, visit the Adobe Express add-on marketplace.