So much has changed in the way people earn their money. Before, the majority of individuals had to leave their homes, go to offices, and produce tangible results to generate income. But today, with the advancement of technology, making money is no longer limited to industrial fields and the four corners of traditional offices—you can make money from home easier than ever before.
There’s been lots of talk of crypto restrictions in India lately. Thankfully, there has been no ban [at the time of writing], so there’s plenty of opportunities to earn money online in India using crypto.
If you are looking for practical and straightforward approaches to make a living, and have access to a computer and the Internet, worry no more because we’ve got you covered! Read ahead and learn as we list down 21 ways to make money online in India.
1. Trade Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
If you are among the techy individuals who also happen to be a fan of the financial market, you have probably heard of Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. These digital assets are gaining traction in the finance and technology sphere, mostly because of their interesting and valuable applications.
One of the most popular uses of Bitcoin and virtual currencies is cryptocurrency trading, which is usually done on crypto exchanges and marketplaces online. This method, which is among the many ways on how to earn money online, requires speculating on cryptocurrencies’ price movements. It also has various strategies like HODLing, swing trading, e-commerce, and altcoin flipping, which you can explore and take advantage of!
Just make sure to be equipped with the right knowledge and tools like a digital wallet and a reliable trading platform before you start trading.
If you are new to the business, Paxful can help you learn the ins and outs of Bitcoin trading through informative and engaging tutorials. What makes it cooler is that you are also entitled to a free Bitcoin wallet once you create an account! With a verified Bitcoin account, you’re free to sell or buy Bitcoin in India and earn a modest profit.
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Fast
2. Test out affiliate marketing
From big companies that list down their products and services to freelancers showcasing their works—almost every business, today runs its website. If you also happen to have your very own, affiliate marketing is among the many ways on how to earn money online in India without investment.
Huge companies like Amazon offer affiliate marketing programs where you can generate income by having their ads run on your website. You can make up to 10 percent in advertising fees every time your site visitors click the ad link and buy products.
Difficulty: Easy
Speed: Medium
3. Become a virtual assistant
Are you interested in working on diverse tasks and helping keep a business on track? You may want to consider becoming a virtual assistant. This is a great position for people who love being on their toes as the role can be extremely diverse. You may be asked to complete administrative tasks one day and schedule social media posts the next—you can never be certain! But all of these things can be done in the comfort of your own home.
The few essential skills that you must possess to fit this role include organizational, interpersonal, communication, and computer skills.. Sounds challenging yet thrilling, right?
Difficulty: Easy
Speed: Medium
4. Try freelancing
Do you have what it takes to finish projects and tasks with quality and speed, but are not into working in a corporate environment? There are a lot of different types of tasks and topics that you can work on as a freelancer!
Since this option only requires fluency and expertise in specific fields and areas, freelancing is dubbed as one of the simplest ways on how to earn money online in India for students. Visit platforms like Upwork, Freelancer.com, and PeoplePerHour to start your freelancing journey.
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Medium
5. Blogging
If you can translate ideas into carefully curated sentences, blogging may be a good option for you to earn additional income.
If you are blogging on your own site, a popular way to earn money is to use affiliate marketing. You can do this by recommending specific brands, goods, or services through a link anchored in your posts. Every click redirects to the affiliate website and generates income. Aside from this, you can also write advertorials and sponsored content, sell your blog’s newsletter space, or put products and services ads on your page.
However, earning an income through a blog is not always instantaneous. If you’re planning to run your own, consider researching best practices to gain website traction and how to achieve a good ranking in search engines.
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Medium
6. Take advantage of translating jobs
Are you bilingual (or multi-lingual) and looking for a way to make quick and easy money? If so, there are freelance websites looking for people with these skills.
Hop to a site like WorknHire and Upwork who are looking to hire multilingual people to translate text. There is a wide range of rates you can receive and it’s a quick and easy way to get extra income.
You’ll need to be fluent in at least two languages to get work on freelance websites—so make sure you polish up your language skills! You can even gain money while working from home.
Difficulty: Easy
Speed: Fast
7. Join the e-commerce revolution
If you have a lot of things cluttering the inside of your home, you can try a hand at selling them to earn extra cash. There are some great websites that allow you to create accounts, advertise your products, and earn money off your sales. Of course, the platform will be taking a small percentage, but it’s a small price to pay for helping you get rid of the clutter.
If you’re interested in giving it a shot, try websites like Amazon, eBay, Snapdeal, and FlipKart.
Difficulty: Easy
Speed: Medium
8. Open an online store
If you’re not into the idea of using a third-party website to advertise your products, why not create your own website and sell your own products?
Create your business website and sell your products with services from Shopify or WooCommerce. Not only will these services help you create your website, they’ll also help you set up your payment methods.
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Medium
9. Publish eBooks
Are you an aspiring writer? If so, you’re in luck! Websites will pay you to provide text for them to publish! Although the writing process may not be easy, the publishing part is. If you already have written material, all you have to do is find your publisher. Mostly, these websites will accept material in PDF format as it is readable by computers, smartphones, and tablets. Also, if you have a website, you can include clickable links inside those PDFs that lead to your site.
To ensure that people buy your material, make sure that it’s at least 30-40 pages, includes a table of contents (to show potential readers what’s inside your book), and has an aesthetic cover.
If you’re interested in submitting write-ups, you can try websites like PayHip or Feiyr.
Difficulty: Hard
Speed: Slow
10. Become an online tutor
Online tutoring is starting to become a more regular job—and it’s becoming one of the best ways to make money online in India. Younger generations are learning how to educate themselves online. If that’s the case, why not consider becoming an online tutor? Not only can you help students, but you can earn an additional income.
Of course, you’ll need to have proper credentials in whatever field you’ll be teaching in. If you’re experienced enough to teach, then try websites like Vedantu, BharatTutors, and LearnPick.
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Medium
11. Buy and sell domains (website flipping)
The process of buying and selling websites is called website flipping. This is when people make websites, attract a lot of traffic, and sell them at a reasonable price. If you don’t want to start from scratch, you can also buy websites that aren’t doing so well, attract traffic, and then sell it.
With website flipping, make sure that you buy websites according to your budget. Also, make sure you have a good understanding of the business beforehand. By thoroughly researching and learning the trade, you minimize the risk of losing money.
Ask yourself questions like:
- Why is this person selling this website?”
- How is the site performing from an analytics standpoint?
By doing so, you’ll get a better understanding—meaning you’ll know how to maximize your profits better.
When it comes to website flipping, the more traffic a site has, the more you’ll sell it for, no matter how long you owned the site. If you want to try your hand at website flipping, you can start with websites like Flippa and BizBuySell.
Difficulty: Hard
Speed: Slow
12. Sell your notes online
Some people take pride in taking notes during class. However, sometimes after the class is finished, those notes go right to the trash. Why not give your notes to someone who may need them? The best part is, you can actually earn money by selling your notes.
Websites such as StudySoup, OneClass, OmegaNotes, Nexus Notes, NotesGen, and Stuvia will match you with people who want to buy your notes. In most cases, you’ll need to provide the name of your school and the class you took. Some of these sites will even take photos of handwritten notes.
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Slow
13. Try medical transcription jobs
If you have experience helping physicians and surgeons decipher, format, and proofread medical records, then working on medical transcriptions is the job for you. The best part is, you can do it online!
In most cases, these jobs will require you to be fluent in English, as well as have a good knowledge base of medical terms. You may also have to be a quick typer.
If you’re looking to look for a job in medical transcription, you can also use websites like iMedX.
Difficulty: Hard
Speed: Medium
14. Sell your old belongings
Every once in a while, we may look at our room and realize it needs a good cleaning. Maybe you found an old phone or an old camera. Instead of throwing your belongings away, consider selling them.
Sites like OLX or Quikr allow you to create free ads and set your own prices for the items you want to sell. There are likely going to be other people selling similar items as you, so make sure you take high-quality, clear pictures of your things and showcase their best features to attract buyers.
Besides selling, if you’re looking for cheap, second-hand things to add to your home—these websites are the right place for you!
Difficulty: Easy
Speed: Fast
15. Sell your photos online
If you have a camera and an eye for photography, consider selling your photos online to make money. Many professional and amateur photographers use platforms, such as Photoshelter and Shutterstock to turn their photos into a money-making side gig.
Every time someone downloads your photos on these platforms, your account goes cha-ching! The higher quality of the photos, the more likely they’ll be bought. Remember, there are many other photographers doing the same thing, so make sure your photos stand out.
Shutterstock also offers a referral program where you earn extra profits for introducing new contributors and customers – it’s time to bring your friends along! Who says photography is for lone wolves?
Difficulty: Easy
Speed: Medium
16. Sell art online
If you can sell photos online, there’s no reason why you can’t sell paintings online as well. An example of where you can do this is Fizdi, a middleman between artists and buyers.
Anyone with 10 pieces of high-quality artwork is welcome to sell with Fizdi. Your paintings can be handmade, digital, or prints! When you’re ready to sell, upload 5 images of your artworks to the site, and Fizdi will decide whether or not to approve your listing. When a buyer is interested in your painting, you’ll send your artwork and Fizdi will handle everything for you, and they’ll pay you once the deal is done.
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Slow
17. Design website themes or templates
You can make money with stellar web designs. Some web designers claim to make up to tens of thousands a month just by selling their original designs! Keep in mind that you’ll need top-notch design skills before this side gig takes over your day job.
The easiest way to do this is to pick a certain product and be really good at it. It could be an HTML template, WordPress theme, or email newsletter template. Don’t be afraid to collaborate with other experts in the field – after all, it’s rare to see someone who’s talented in both coding and designing, right?
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Slow
18. Become a social media influencer
Our family and friends always tell us we’re special – now let’s turn that special niche you have into a viable way to earn money online. Do you travel a lot and want to share the highlights of your trip with the world? Do you have a discerning eye for different makeup products? Are you a yoga enthusiast and do you feel the need to share all the jaw-dropping poses you can do with your body?
Social media is right at your service. Besides having a great selection of images and videos to upload, you’ll need to build up an audience by using relevant hashtags and following people in your specialty. Feel free to collaborate with other influencers to increase publicity!
Some Indian influencers to get inspiration from include Mohena Kumari Singh (@mohenakumari), Diipa Büller-Khosla (@diipakhosla), and Dilsefoodie (@dilsefoodie).
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Slow
19. Teach a specialized skill
There are many ways to showcase your unique knowledge and monetize it. You can put your knowledge to use by creating a downloadable ebook or an online video course.
After picking a topic that you’re confident about (preferably one that is in demand), start breaking down the topic into smaller chunks, which can later become your chapters (for an ebook) or sections (for an e-course). Make sure to include examples and statistics in your materials, and showcase your information in an engaging way.
When you’re done, use Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform to publish, or Udemy for e-courses.
Difficulty: Medium
Speed: Slow
20. Dive into stocks and Forex trading
Stocks and Forex trading can be a lot of work, but they hold some money-making aspects. Before you test the market waters, however, please conduct extensive research and know your risks. Have a bottom line planned out so you know when to step back if things don’t go as smoothly as planned.
Netdania and Baby Pips are a great place to start trading for beginners!
Difficulty: Medium; Speed: Slow
Start earning money online today!
There you have it. We’ve outlined here 21 ways how you can earn money online in India – the only step left is for you to take action. Many of these innovative ways allow you to generate income from home, as a student, or even without capital. The best part? Many others have succeeded in doing what you’re trying to do – now it’s your turn.
What other ways have you tried to earn money? Let us know in the comments below!
