India And Freelancing

India has the second highest number of freelance professionals (about 15M), standing next only to the US (approx 53M). These Indian freelancers take up a whopping number(nearly 50%) of total freelance jobs offered worldwide, this clearly manifests the dominance of Indian Freelancers over their western counterparts.India is undoubtedlythe largest producer of skilled professionals in the world and ready to fuel the burst in demand side of this exponentially increasing freelance industry.

Contract Hiring in India...

When we say that the US has 53M freelance professionals, it’s important to note thathalf of them work on contracts as consultants with one or more companies at a time. India’s contract workforce is in nascent stages.However, India is catching up with the west as startups actively seek out senior professionals from various industries to work on contract – something they could not affordon full-time payroll . Additionally, professionals in India have also realized the benefits of working on contracts and they are crossing that fine line of resistance and insecurity that kept them away in the past.

Bulging Startup Ecosystem in India...

India has the fastest growing startup ecosystem and the third highest number of technology driven startups worldwide, trailing behind only the US and the UK. The Indiangovernment recently launched several initiativesunderStartup Indiato boost,growth and simplify the requirements fordoing business. This proactive stepshowcasesthe rate at which the startup ecosystem has been proliferating in India in recent years.Investors as well asventure capital firms around the world, have also been actively seeking out Indianstartups. With so many incentives from the government alongside otherfavorable conditions for the entire Indian startup ecosystem,India has truly turned to an ideal startup community and the year 2019 is looking really "bulging" with promises!!!

India has the second highest number of internet users across the globe. Additionally, the access to internet among Indians has spiked over700% in the past10 years. This increase is the major influencebehind the rapid growth of the freelancing industry in India.The Indian government is collaboratingwith multinational organizations like Google and ISRO to provide good internet connectivity in rural and remote parts of India, further increasing access and fueling the growth of the freelance economy.

Skilled women and retired professionals offera large untapped pool of potential freelance professionals. There is a large mass of skilled women in India who can’t go out and work because of family obligations and social factors that number further decreases after marriage and giving birth to a child works as the final nail in the coffin of their professional career. Use of smartphones; however, is working to increase the involvement of women in the professional sphere. Women make better freelancersin comparison to their male counterparts.

Retired professionals and female freelancerswill play a vital role as they put their experience and knowledge to use andsolving two of vital concerns: independence and the desire to stay up to date on latest market trends and technology.

Final Perception...

Startups from India and abroad have the potential to quadruple the freelance job opportunities year over yearas startups are proactively using freelancers and consultants in every possible way. It’s not that just Indian startups are using Indian freelancers on contracts or as consultants, more than 50% of the startups in the US are availing services of Indian freelancers directly or indirectly. Startups in the US prefer to hire Indian freelancers primarily to cut costs while still maintaining the quality of work. It’s a win-win situation for both the parties as the Indian freelancer generally gets paid more than what he could be earning while working full-time in a company in India, whereas the Startup in the US ends up paying far less than what it could have paid to a full-time employee in the US.

The growing startup ecosystem in India, growing demand and affinity of people for contract hiring, abundance of skilled professionals in India, followed by growing Internet penetration and skyrocketing number of Internet and Mobile Internet users along with India’s reserved pool of women workforce; there are clear indicators signaling that the year 2019 has potential to twirl and refresh the freelancing scenario in India.