Indians are increasingly drifting away from traditional aspirations and opting for more unorthodox ways of earning a living. It could be anything from starting a venture of their own and providing services on the basis of their own expertise to supporting someone else's ambitious visions. Reiterating that fact, PayPal India Director, Narsi Subramanian mentioned that India is the largest freelancer market in the world and called freelancing a significant growth segment for PayPal's India operations. "We are focused on cross-border trade and we will continue to because that is where a significant opportunity lies for us. But, as far as our growth plan is concerned, the freelancer segment is something that we will clearly focus on," Subramanian said. He was at an event and talked about a report on 'Insights into the freelancers ecosystem'.

The report also highlights the constraints that come along with making a living as a freelancer. The report based on a survey that was conducted on 500 freelancers mentioned that most Indian freelancers are under the age of 40. It also highlighted that Indian freelancers are predominantly male.

The report said that 23 per cent of Indian freelancers earn upto Rs 60 lakh per year, as mentioned in agency reports. Another 23 per cent earn between Rs 2.5 lakh and 5 lakh, while 55 respondents say that they earn less than Rs 2.5 lakh, a report in Times of India mentioned.

The mean income earned by Indian freelancers is Rs 20 lakh per annum, with a lot of the jobs coming from online operations. Web and mobile development, internet research, data entry, web designing are the key focus areas for Indian freelancers. Accounting, graphic designing and consultancy are also some of the avenues that Indian freelancers are engaged in.

Of the freelancers who were part of the survey, 41 per cent said that they have witnessed very fast growth in the last 12 months. Eighty per cent of these freelancers provide their services to both domestic and international clients. A lot of these works come from US, UK and Australia with 15 projects and 13 retainer clients each year on an average.

PayPal is trying to tap this market and Subramanian says, "At PayPal, we work closely with freelancers enabling them to leverage the opportunity in India and across the globe. Our key offerings such as PayPal.me and Seller Protection for Intangibles have helped solve payment related hurdles and propelled growth for this segment. We are excited to see college graduates, 5-9'ers and homemakers leveraging the freelancing profession."

(With agency inputs)