23% of Indian freelancers earn upto Rs 60 lakh per annum

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Writing this after discussing with some known freelancers.
Its mostly a myth that freelancers enjoy their life the way they want and are always king of their own. This identity has ceased now.

They have to run from pillar to post to convince the party, to make them agree to certain conditions and finally again keep running behind them for your dear money after project completion or submission.

Also their work aint guaranteed at all. Some time they have hell lot of work and rest of the time they are just sitting idle and looking out and eating on their savings.

Its very small amount of freelancers who actually leave a good life who got good contacts which makes sure they have regular work & their income is consistent if not always high.

Today income consistency is of upmost importance. Freelancers do feel the pressure of getting a salaried job as lot of times they go through a very tough phase. So they feel salaried life is good but then its also too late for then to grab a job in industry as they mostly are looked as freshers and no company considers freelancing experience even if you can provide all evidences and validations.
So they are caught in a very tough situations.

Flexible factors are they can work as long as they want to as no force of any boss or senior on their head. Can take end no of breaks. They can freelance in multiple technologies thus don't have to worry about market situations unless multiple expertise under one affected parent slab.

Few people managed to grab a good job after lot of struggle and luckily they started very well after done with 6-9yrs of freelancing.

To end, everybody likes others life and always compares it between but the fact is everyone is struggling inside, some can show it some have to hide it.
 
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nRiTeCh said:
Today income consistency is of upmost importance. Freelancers do feel the pressure of getting a salaried job as lot of times they go through a very tough phase. So they feel salaried life is good but then its also too late for then to grab a job in industry as they mostly are looked as freshers and no company considers freelancing experience even if you can provide all evidences and validations.
So they are caught in a very tough situations.
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Probably because most managers / Hr people are dumb and stupid bean counters. Freelancers have more time to upgrade their knowledge and also gain experience in new fields because - they don't have any moron telling them to do useless stuff. Going freelance makes people know everything from project cycle to costing etc. They should be valued more than normal employees who are stuck in the same rut and don't get opportunity to upgrade their knowledge or tell the manager frankly that what he charged the client is too low.

If I make a company in future, I will only take in freelancers because of the above. I value experience more than degrees.
 
Thats the actuality vs reality. Actually that should happen but in reality cos are so so insecure they ask you every shit on paper and if it aint then you are nobody for them.
Freelancer may know everything of project lifecycle right from scratch to final implementation etc but cos will always look for process driven idiots. So they just are interested into automated bots and least care what you did or learnt on your own and will always dominate and look at you as someone discriminatedin in interviews or after hiring.
 
nRiTeCh said:
Thats the actuality vs reality. Actually that should happen but in reality cos are so so insecure they ask you every shit on paper and if it aint then you are nobody for them.
Freelancer may know everything of project lifecycle right from scratch to final implementation etc but cos will always look for process driven idiots. So they just are interested into automated bots and least care what you did or learnt on your own and will always dominate and look at you as someone discriminatedin in interviews or after hiring.
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Process driven idiots are replaceable, thats why. I know freelancers that are being paid simply cause they are irreplaceable and the cost to replace them would be far higher.
 
Depends a lot on area of work too. Certain areas of work pay better than others. In general, skills based work like graphical design, software development etc. will earn more than say transcription jobs. Some of my colleagues freelance software development in their spare time after work and earn a tidy extra income. In fact, some of the artists at my work left their full time time to do contract jobs most of which is still for my company.
 
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Have been lurking on this thread for sometime. Finally thought of posting few things. Think I can add some inputs as I have been a freelancer for more then a decade now.

Few common factors -
* Be it job or freelancing, nothing comes easy. Nothing in this world thats worth having comes easy - My fav quote from Scrubs :)
Its hard to find work/projects - Yes. Its pretty hard to get one. There is soo much compitition. Again, have to work hard and focus
* Each one has its own pros and cons. You just have to decide what compromises you are ok with
* 'Empathy' - This is a very important thing. This is common for all.

Few things for people thinking about freelancing -
* Most important - Dont get in unless you are self motivated. There will be pretty hard times. You just need to keep yourself motivated and focused on what you want to do
* Be very flexible. One cannot say 'Its not my job' or 'I dont know'. Each new thing is an oppurtunity. Be ready to wear many caps. For the 'I dont know' part, always let your client know. Most of the people are more than happy to give you oppurtunities.
* Dont bring down your rate just because you dont have a gig. Be patient and keep sharpening your skills
* Always try to get a sense of how the client is. Like a good boss, its always important to have a good client. It will take some time. Run like hell from the kind of leads that want to get free or cheap work done.
* Make sure you have support from your family (dont care about the outer ring :). Just make sure the people who are most important to you are supportive. This will ease lot of emotional hardship)

A major con for me -
* Its pretty hard to find work-life balance (just as in jobs). Since there is no fixed times, one tends to overwork (if motivated :)). One needs to draw a line (And I move out of it frequently)

Another factor that has been mentioned multiple times here is getting 'consistent' pay. IMO, this is not a major thing (maybe Im past that? I dont know). With uncertain jobs, I feel this is just the scenario in the present day world. I dont get stressed much about this.
 
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Key Highlights Of Freelancer Report
  1. The average hourly rate charged by freelancers worldwide is approximately US$ 19 per hour ( Rs 1200) as of 2017. This is much higher than what the average freelancer earns in India per hour of work. This is mainly because of the differences in cost of living, freelancers living in developed countries need to charge more to make ends meet.
  2. The highest rate is charged by freelancers working in the legal profession. They charge on average about US$ 28 (Rs 2000) per hour for taking up legal projects. This type of work is mainly done by qualified professionals such as attorneys and accountants.
  3. The majority of freelancer workers present across the globe are aged less than 30 years.
  4. The majority of the online work is done for individuals / companies based in North America and Europe. The report highlights that close to 70% of the work comes from just these two continents. This is a result of offshoring where companies hire individuals to work for them remotely enabling cost savings.
  5. Average working hours of Freelancers every week varies between 30 to 50 man hours. The hardest working freelancers live in India and Bangladesh.
  6. Women constitute less than 25% of the gig-economy work force.
  7. The average hourly rate for earnings across industries are as follows

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Source: http://indiamicrofinance.com/freelancers-income-2018.html
 
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so cheap? i've seen other web developers ask for $50+ per hour on freelancing sites. Seems Indians either work for very cheap rates or only get such low rate jobs.
 
6pack said:
so cheap? i've seen other web developers ask for $50+ per hour on freelancing sites. Seems Indians either work for very cheap rates or only get such low rate jobs.
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Depends on their skills and previous work. You'll find plenty that work for a pittance, but their work is shit. At the same time, you might be willing to pay 4x but wont find anyone who's quality fits in your budget.
 
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In this day of unemployment, this is an excellent news. Freelancing is a magnificent platform for young generation to earn their livelihood. The government should also promote this field and attract the youth towards it. In this way, the issue of unemployment could be tackled.
 
Can someone share list of some sensible freelancing sites where one can start some work. Googling throws lots of sites.
Need some sites where guys are currently earning.
 
6pack said:
so cheap? i've seen other web developers ask for $50+ per hour on freelancing sites. Seems Indians either work for very cheap rates or only get such low rate jobs.
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Indian developers always engage in very heavy bidding wars to get a client. This is especially true for newbies. Most of them try to outbid competent freelancers, then proceed to do a shitty job that needs a lot more work to fix up. It just gives the rest of us from India a bad name.
 
That's is cool then isn't it? Only problem I do see with all this that it will not make it hidden from the government like it was done with Payoneer anyway, so hopefully we really can make it clear for whatever possible reasons out there.
 
netant said:
slab #1 - 60L
Slab#2 - 5L

:p

Part time Freelancer here. and this is a misleading article :)

providing an example of my friend who do freelance for movie industry/bombay, he charge 18-20K per day. He is full time freelancer, and when needed he has to work 30-hours straight ( few of the directors/script writer also work like this)

these media noobs will make the calculation like ohh 20K per day? so 20,000*365 = 73,00,000 per annum.

but in reality he get work worth not more then 3 months per annum. rest of the time is passed chasing client and getting projects, he will send quotation to 5o client and get 1-2 contracts only, as projects has to profitable fo both the parties.
People who do freelance can tell you majority of client want you to do a demo /sample work for them to get the work , specially if you working for them first time.

Freelances also spent lots of time in improving themselves and raising their skill levels to stay competitive. this will be again 3 months per year on average.

Also the best thing, he has a Life. travel a lot and leading a humanly life.
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Exemplary example of what the article (and a lot of folks in the thread) failed to identify. Freelancing is HARD! - and i'm not talking about the work aspect, it can really be a cakewalk a lot of the times; it's the finding the right job that's a big time hassle.

Additionally, you also stand risking you're hard earned money because the employer doesn't feel content with your work, or if the employer is a swindle, and doesn't pay you at all!
~Engineer.AI
 
I have a friend who was working as a contractor for a UK robotics firm in the UK. when his wife was working in the UK for some IT MNC. when her visa expired and they decided to move back to india, they retained my friend. He gets to work out of india and gets paid in GBP. Now that's the life!
 
Q3. How Much Can Freelancers Earn In India?
According to a recent survey by PayPal, freelancers in India, on an average, earn about Rs 19 lakh. The survey further breaks it down:

About 23 per cent freelancers earn in the range of Rs 40-45 lakh annually
23 per cent earn in the range of Rs 2.5-5 lakh a year
13 per cent earn between Rs 10-15 lakh annually
11 per cent earn Rs 2.5 lakh or less annually
8 per cent earn Rs 7.5-10 lakh annually


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