41% Of Indian Freelancers Have Witnessed Significant Growth In Last 12-month: Study

As freelancing has become a new trend, a 41 per cent of Indian freelancers witnessed fast growth in past 12 months, with 80 per cent of them working with international as well as domestic clients, according to a new PayPal report.

A significant amount of work for Indian freelancers comes from Australia, US and UK.

The study, conducted with 500 Indian freelancers in their local languages, highlights that most Indian freelancers are under the age of 40 and are predominantly mostly men. Web & mobile development, web designing, internet research and data entry are the key focus areas for Indian freelancers while some of them are also engaged in accounting, graphic design and consultancy.

Narsi Subramanian, Director Growth, PayPal India, said: ‘India is today the largest freelancer market in the world and poised for growth. Receiving payments in a timely, safe and secure manner is one of the key concerns for this community. At PayPal, we work closely with freelancers enabling them to leverage the opportunity in India and across the globe.

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. To overcome this challenge, freelancers provide discounts for early and charge for late payments.