About 10 mn engaged in freelance work, mainly in web, mobile: PayPal survey

Freelancers in India, on an average, earn about ₹19 lakh per year, according to a new survey by global digital payments giant PayPal.

The survey, titled ‘Insights into the freelancers ecosystem’, said that web and mobile development, web designing, Internet research and data entry were the key focus areas for Indian freelancers, while some of them were also engaged in accounting, graphic design and consultancy. India is the largest freelancer market with 10 million people freelancing, according to PayPal.

About 23% of the surveyed freelancers earn in the range of ₹40-45 lakh annually, 23% earn in the range of ₹2.5-5 lakh a year, 13% earn between ₹10-15 lakh annually, 11% earn ₹2.5 lakh or less annually and 8% earn ₹7.5-10 lakh annually, as per the report. “Most people took to freelancing after having heard about it from friends, family, social media and freelancing platforms. Of the reasons that drove them to adopt freelancing, earning more income, flexibility in schedules and ability to choose who to work for, topped the list,” Narsi Subramanian, Director Growth, PayPal India, said.

He added that receiving payments in a timely, safe and secure manner was one of the key concerns for this community.

Payment issues

“Close to 61% of the surveyed freelancers have not been paid at least once through their career. Further, many freelancers receive payments only after 2-4 weeks of invoicing, thereby creating a gap in flow of capital,” the survey said. The survey, conducted with 500 Indian freelancers, found that they were below the age of 40 and predominantly men.

“Of the surveyed freelancers, 41% have witnessed very fast growth in through the past 12 months, with 80% of them working with international as well as domestic clients,” the report said.