25 Side Gig to Earn Extra Income in India

With the current inflation around the world, it’s not enough to have one income stream. That’s where a side gig comes in!

It is important to explore side gigs to supplement your income.

Side gigs are flexible, part-time jobs or freelance opportunities that can be done alongside a primary job or full-time commitment. Whether you’re a fresher, a job seeker, or a professional looking to multiply your income streams, there are a variety of side hustles to explore.

But what exactly is a side gig, and why should you consider getting one?

Let us explore this together!

What is a Side Gig?

A side gig is a job or service that you do in addition to your regular employment to make extra money. It gives you the flexibility to work part-time, choose your hours, and often lets you make money from your hobbies or talents.

Whether it’s online work or something local, side gigs are a great way to earn extra cash without giving up your main job. The rise of digital platforms and the gig economy has made it easier than ever to find part-time work or project-based jobs.

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Why should you get a side gig?

Here are a few reasons a side gig is important;

1. Financial flexibility: The extra money gotten from your side gigs helps you save, invest, and plan for emergency expenses.
2. Skill Development: Many side gigs can enhance your existing skills or help you learn new ones.
3. Flexibility: You can choose when and how much to work.
4. Diverse Opportunities: From creative work to manual labor, there’s a wide range of side gigs to suit every skill set.

Side Gigs to Earn Extra Income.

Now, let’s dive into 25 side gigs that you can start right away to earn extra income.

1.  Freelance Writer.

• Duties: The job involves writing and formulating texts, communicating with clients, addressing assignment expectations, researching topics, maintaining originality, proofreading, submitting completed work, and meeting deadlines.
• Pay: ₹1,000 – ₹5,000 per article, but it depends on experience and the complexity of the topic.

2. Content Creation.

• Duties: The job involves creating videos, blogs, or social media content around a niche like tech, food, or fashion. If you’re passionate about making videos or creating content, you can start a YouTube channel or Instagram page. You can earn through sponsorships, ads, and affiliate marketing.
• Pay:  ₹15,000 to ₹50,000 per month depending on engagement.

3. Online Tutoring.

• Duties: This role allows you to contribute to student learning, growth, and advancement by demonstrating academic competence, maintaining a growth mindset, fostering problem-solving, and collaborating effectively with parents and organizations. If you have expertise in a subject, online tutoring can be a great way to earn money while helping students. Platforms like Vedantu and Byju are popular in India.
• Pay: ₹300 – ₹1,500 per hour depending on the subject and grade level.

4. Affiliate Marketing.

• Duties: This role involves you promoting someone else’s product for a commission. You promote products via a blog or social media and earn a commission from each sale.
• Pay: ₹1,000 to ₹50,000 per month depending on traffic and number of sales.

5. Social Media Management.

• Duties: This role involves analyzing customer expectations, developing campaigns, defining performance indicators, updating content, engaging with followers, using tools, monitoring campaigns, tracking SEO, establishing influencer relationships, developing content, and communicating effectively. It requires an adequate knowledge of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and many more.
• Pay: ₹10,000 – ₹40,000 per month depending on the client.

6. Virtaul Assistant.

• Duties: The role involves managing communication, providing customer service, organizing meetings, managing contact lists, creating customer spreadsheets, conducting market research, preparing presentations, and assisting employees with administrative queries.
• Pay:  ₹10,000 to ₹30,000 per month.

7. Graphics Designer.

• Duties: For those with a creative flair, graphic design is an excellent side gig. You can design logos, brochures, or social media graphics for companies and individuals. The role involves analyzing design briefs, scheduling projects, conceptualizing visuals, preparing rough drafts, developing illustrations and logos, working with copywriters, testing, and ensuring visual appeal.
• Pay: ₹500 – ₹5,000 per design depending on the project.

8. Ride-Sharing Driver.

• Duties: Platforms like Uber and Ola allow you to earn by driving people around in your car. It’s a flexible gig where you can work at your convenience. The job involves providing safe, reliable transportation services, ensuring passenger comfort, adhering to traffic laws, and maintaining cleanliness, communication, and professionalism.
• Pay:  ₹20,000 – ₹50,000+ per month, depending on hours worked.

9. Pet Sitting.

• Duties: If you’re an animal lover, pet sitting can be a fun way to make money. You can take care of pets while their owners are away. This role includes dog walking, exercise, stimulation, feeding, cleaning, overnight care, medical appointments, and socializing with other animals.
• Pay: ₹500 – ₹2,000 per day depending on the pet and duration.

10. Delivery Partner.

• Duties: With the rise of food delivery services, being a delivery partner for companies like Swiggy or Zomato can be a profitable side gig. This role involves managing multiple orders, locations, and customers simultaneously, delivering fresh food, navigating local streets, communicating clearly, and maintaining a detailed delivery log.
• Pay: ₹15,000 – ₹35,000 per month.

11. Blogger.

• Duties: The role involves generating, researching, and pitching ideas for posts, writing, editing, publishing, promoting, educating, optimizing, inviting contributors, monitoring responses, and staying current on industry trends. If you love writing and have a passion for a specific topic, starting a blog can eventually bring in income through ads, google ads, sponsorships, or affiliate marketing.
• Pay: ₹0 – ₹50,000+ per month (depending on traffic and monetization).

12. Event Planning.

• Duties: The role involves managing event planning, design, production, client satisfaction, market research, contract negotiations, feedback, and facility organization, ensuring quality and efficient event delivery. For those who are organized and enjoy putting together events, becoming an event planner can be a fulfilling side gig. You’ll organize everything from birthday parties to corporate events.
• Pay: ₹10,000 – ₹50,000 per event.

13. Photography.

• Duties: You must have Flexible work hours, photography knowledge, editing skills, and communication skills for this role. If you have a knack for photography, you can offer services for weddings, parties, or corporate events. The role involves capturing high-quality photos, editing and delivering final images and managing client expectations
• Pay: ₹5,000 – ₹20,000 per event depending on your experience and portfolio.

14. UGC Creation.

• Duties: A UGC creator is someone who produces content (photos, videos, reviews) that brands use to promote their products or services. They are different from influencers. They don’t need a massive following. Instead, they focus on crafting authentic, high-quality content that resonates with a brand’s target audience.
• Pay: 

15. Proofreading.

• Duties: If you have a keen eye for detail, proofreading can be a great way to earn extra money. All you have to do is to ensure that documents are error-free. Other roles include reviewing documents for grammar, spelling, and style, meeting proofreading deadlines, ensuring accuracy, adhering to company policies, confirming originality, and making corrections.
• Pay: ₹200 – ₹1,000 per hour depending on the project.

16. Voice-over Artist.

• Duties: The role involves providing voiceovers for media projects, interpreting scripts, working with directors, recording, editing, and refining voice recordings, maintaining vocal health, meeting deadlines, staying updated, participating in rehearsals, and maintaining consistent voice quality across projects. If you have a pleasant voice and good diction, you can work as a voiceover artist for advertisements, audiobooks, or corporate videos.
• Pay: ₹500- ₹5000 per project.

17. Data Entry.

• Duties: This role involves data collection, digitization, storage, record-keeping, data entry standards, inconsistency identification, and error reporting. Data entry is one of the simplest side gigs. Many companies hire freelancers to enter information into databases or spreadsheets.
• Pay: ₹100- ₹300 per hour

18. Home Baker.

• Duties: If you enjoy baking, turning your passion into a business can be profitable. Sell cakes, cookies, or specialty breads to local customers or online. Other roles include cleaning the kitchen, preparing the dough, baking bread, baking cakes, decorating, shaping pastries, recommending recipes, and tracking supplies for efficient operations.
• Pay: ₹500 – ₹5,000 per order depending on the complexity.

19. Transcriptionist.

• Duties: As a transcriptionist, you’ll listen to audio recordings and convert them into written text. This job requires good listening and typing skills. Other roles include understanding client specifications, completing transcriptions promptly, reviewing drafts for errors, adhering to confidentiality guidelines, attending meetings, staying updated on software, communicating with clients, and correcting errors.
• Pay: ₹200- ₹600 per hour

20.  Stock Photography.

• Duties: Stock photography involves capturing everyday images, curating digital collections, and distributing content to vendors. It also involves payment per image, creativity, and market awareness, and requires models of varying ages. If you enjoy photography, selling stock images to sites like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock can generate a passive income stream.
• Pay: ₹1,000 – ₹10,000 per month depending on downloads.

21. Online Surveys.

• Duties: You can complete online surveys as it is the easiest side gig to do. All you need is your phone and internet connection. Various companies pay for opinions on products and services. Just give your answer and get paid.
• Pay: ₹20 – ₹200 per survey.

22. Dropshipping.

• Duties: In dropshipping, you need to set up an online store and sell products without keeping them in stock. When a customer places an order, you contact the third party to purchase and have it shipped directly to the customer.
• Pay: ₹0 – ₹1,00,000+ per month depending on sales.

23. Rent Your Car.

• Duties: If you own a vehicle but don’t use it much, renting it out on platforms like Zoomcar can be an easy way to make passive income. This role includes maintaining your car and ensuring all documents are available.
• Pay:  ₹15,000 – ₹30,000 per month depending on how often the car is rented.

24. Personal Trainer.

• Duties: If you’re into fitness, becoming a personal trainer can be a fulfilling side gig plus it’s very flexible. You can train clients at home, outdoors, or in gyms. The role involves assessing clients’ fitness levels, creating personalized exercise programs, monitoring progress, promoting gym packages, performing CPR, advising on gym safety, and promoting healthy lifestyle habits.
• Pay:  ₹500 – ₹2,000 per hour.

25. Housekeeping/Cleaning Services.

• Duties: Many people need help with housekeeping or cleaning services. You can offer part-time cleaning services to households or small businesses. The job involves cleaning, maintaining standards, ensuring equipment is clean, checking consumable stock, and adhering to health and safety rules.
• Pay:  ₹500 – ₹2,000 per day depending on the size of the job.

Tips for Finding and Succeeding in Side Gigs.

Here are some tips to help you find and succeed in side gigs:

1. Utilize Online Platforms: Take advantage of websites such as Freelancer, Upwork, and Fiverr to discover gigs that align with your skills and expertise.
2. Network Effectively: Spread the word among your friends, family, and professional contacts that you are seeking side work. Often, opportunities arise through recommendations and word of mouth.
3. Skill Enhancement: Consider enrolling in online courses to further develop your skill set, making yourself a more competitive candidate for side gigs.
4. Realistic Expectations: Be mindful of your capacity and ensure that you can manage the responsibilities of your side gig without experiencing burnout.
5. Stay Organized: Keep track of deadlines, payments, and client communications to maintain smooth and efficient operations.
6. Effective Time Management: Organize your schedule to ensure that your side gig does not interfere with your primary job. Balancing both effectively is crucial for success.

Looking for a side gig can help you improve your finances, explore new interests, and turn a hobby into a successful business. Whether you’re a student, a working professional, or someone who needs extra money, now is a great time to start a side gig.

There are many opportunities available, such as freelancing, tutoring, and creating content. Side jobs offer flexible hours and the chance to gain experience and develop skills that can help your long-term career.

Whether you want to earn extra money on the weekends or start a side business, the right side job can offer financial rewards and personal fulfillment.

Why wait? Take the first step, explore the options listed above, and start earning extra income today!

FAQs.

1. What are the most profitable side gigs in India?

Some of the most profitable side gigs include freelancing, online tutoring, social media management, and blogging.

2. How do I find legitimate side gigs?

Use reputable platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer. Also, network with professionals in your field to find authentic opportunities.

3. Can I do side gigs while working full-time?

Yes, many side gigs offer flexible hours, making it easy to balance them with full-time jobs.

4. How much can I earn from side gigs?

Earnings depend on the gig, your experience, and how much time you invest. Some people earn a few thousand rupees a month, while others make lakhs.

5. Do I need special skills to start a side gig?

Not always. While some gigs require specific skills (like graphic design), others, like data entry or delivery driving, are more accessible.

6. How do taxes work with side gigs in India?

Income from side gigs is taxable in India. You should consult with a tax advisor to ensure you’re following all legal requirements.