Are you a student wanting to make money online without hampering your study routine? Then, we have come up with 20 Online Business Ideas for Students in India. This online business will take less time or energy, but in a short time, a smart strategy will help you earn good money. You can start this online business with a little bit of skills and without any monetary investments. Read this article to know more.
What is Online Business?
Online business is an effective way of earning money just by staying at home with a good internet connection. It does not need you to go anywhere physically, but you can do your work just by sitting in one place. It does not need physical labour, but a smart mind is needed to work smart. With the advancement of time, India has grown immensely in the field of Online work. Anybody can start an online business these days with skill and smart strategy. For students, it can be one of the best methods to earn money while going to college.
Benefits of Online Business for Students in India
Students are always told to study, but what if we say they can earn some good money in their free time just by working online? Yes, It’s true! Online business is very beneficial as it does not require much physical effort but a little smart online work on the internet. Let’s see how it can be beneficial for the student-
Saves time- We all know students have little time to go to work to earn money. Yet they need money for financial freedom. So, an online business can save time and pay for working just from home.
Saves money- Students know how hard it is to save money many times. They sometimes run out of money and can’t ask for money from anyone. An online business can be your saviour. Just by working online for a few hours every day, you can earn a good amount of money and save it for travel or a party.
Financial Freedom- Financial freedom is the ultimate goal of online business. It’s very difficult for students to get that financial freedom. Online business is a gift for students as they can achieve financial freedom just by working a few hours online.
Read More: 25 Best Food Affiliate Programs to join In 2024
How to Choose a Online Business Idea for Students?
Choosing a Online business idea for students to go forward with is necessary because only some can do something. So, choosing wisely what business you can do as a student and keeping your schedule in mind is important. Let’s see the factors to look upon before deciding on a business Idea-
Identify your Passions and Interests- As we read earlier, nobody can do anything they see or hear. It’s important to choose the business that fits your passion and interest. If you love the business idea, you work more efficiently to get the result. So, always list interests that catch your passion and then decide to start with it. It can include anything from sports, music, fashion, technology, gaming, etc.
Research the Market: When you decide what your interest is, research it. Look at its current status in the market. By doing so, you will learn about your potential in that field. Research the problem and see how you can provide the solution.
Evaluate your business concept: Contact prospective clients, send surveys, and launch your product or service in a small market to gather feedback. Your business idea can then be evaluated for viability.
Seek Guidance: When deciding what to do, always look for some senior entrepreneur to consult and get guidance. They can be your business coach to help you out.
Make a Plan: Whenever you start to do something online, Start with a proper plan. Make goals and strategies.
20 Best Online Business Ideas for Students in India
Now that you have read about the benefits of doing online business for students, Let’s look at the 20 best online business ideas for students that you can choose from to do-
S.no | 20 best online business ideas for Students | Potential earning per month |
1 | Affiliate Marketing | Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 17,000 |
2 | Make use of social media | Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 25,000 |
3 | Event Management | Rs.20,000 to Rs. 25,000 |
4 | Freelancing | Rs. 29,000 to Rs. 30,000 |
5 | Resell Textbook | Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 16,000 |
6 | Online Tutoring | Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 30,000 |
7 | Blogging | Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 24,00 |
8 | Become an E-commerce Seller | Rs.33,500 to Rs. 35,000 |
9 | Participate in Surveys | Rs. 5000 to Rs. 10,000 |
10 | Gaming Testing | Rs. 21,000 to Rs. 24,000 |
11 | Online Travel Agency | Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 70,000 |
12 | Content Writing | Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 25,000 |
13 | Drop shipping | Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 40,000 |
14 | Selling Crafts | Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 25,000 |
15 | Content Creation | Rs.15,000 to Rs. 75,000 |
16 | Translation | Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000 |
17 | Photography | Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 30,000 |
18 | Proofreading | Rs. 21,000 to Rs. 38,0000 |
19 | Digital Marketer | Rs. 21,000 to Rs. 24,000 |
20 | Provide IT Services | Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 55,000 |
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a very popular online business idea for anyone. If you are a student, then you can try affiliate marketing. It can make you earn money just by promoting products or services online. You have to share the product’s links with the customer, and whenever the customer buys the product through your link, you get a commission. Affiliate marketing is all about building a network; you can do that with practice. You can promote famous brands like Myntra, Flipkart, Nike, Adidas, Ajio, etc. In India, Earn Karo is one of the best platforms to start Affiliate marketing, and it has a network with more than 150+ brands.
Requires Skills | Problem-solving, Technical, creative communication, and productivity. |
Average Income | Rs 15,000- Rs. 17,000/- |
Read More: Affiliate Marketing: A Complete Guide for Beginners
Make Use of social media
Social media is a huge platform that everybody uses. It includes Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Nowadays, everybody posts on social media, whether children, students, professors, or workers. You must have a social media account, and from there, you can earn money. As many people like you and your content, your followers will increase, and based on that, you will earn money. Delivering content to your followers in this zero-investment business requires intelligence and confidence. With a growing profile, you will collaborate with many brands, and they will pay you for it.
Required Skills | Content creation, good communication skills, and creativity. |
Average Income | Rs 20,000- Rs 25,000 per month. |
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Event Management
Nowadays, people hire event planners to make them even more creative and memorable. Being a student, you can do event management as an online business and make people’s events and occasions memorable with your creative skills. You can manage business meetings, college festivals, engagements, marriage ceremonies, receptions, etc. As a student, you can start with low-cost parties and weddings. You must have some communication and leadership skills to facilitate necessary coordination between the team and clients.
Required skill | Communication, leadership, and event planning. |
Average Income | Rs 20,000- Rs. 25,000/- |
Freelancing
Freelancing is gaining huge popularity in the online world these days. It is one of the best part-time online jobs for students anywhere in the world. Based on your interests and skills, you can offer freelance service to people around you. You can do graphic design, editing, website design, SEO, content writing, etc. All this freelancing work will make you earn more money. You can be a freelancer and provide skilled services to people. You can start freelancing by registering your profile on a freelancing website. You can also send proposals to clients by pitching to them. Thus, freelancing is one of the best ways to showcase your skills and earn money.
Required skills | Social marketing, good communication skills, Motivation, and time management. |
Average Income | Rs. 29,000- Rs. 30,000 per month |
Resell Textbooks
As a student, you can earn money by reselling textbooks online. This is one of the unique ideas to earn money online. You can resell books to people by making websites. You can resell the books and make a profit from them. You can resell textbooks on websites like Amazon, Campus Books, Barnes and Noble, AbeBooks, Cash4books, etc.
Required Skills | Marketing skills |
Average Income | Rs 10,000- Rs 16,000 per month |
Read More: Amazon Affiliate Marketing: A Complete Step By Step Guide
Online Tutoring
Teaching online is one of the easiest ways for students to earn money. You can teach academics or any other skills you know, like language, dance, music, etc. You can make time to teach online every day or thrice a week and get paid for it. You can also upload your courses online so that whenever somebody finds them useful, they can buy them. You can also tutor online by uploading videos to YouTube or your own website. You can register on online tutoring websites like WONK, Preplay, Vedantu, and Trivium and earn money. You can also ask your students to review or rate you so that many other students get to know about you. As a student, you can teach online and earn money well.
Required Skills | Skilled or expert in any one subject or field. |
Average income | Rs.15,000- Rs. 30,000 per month |
Blogging
Nowadays, blogging is famous as an earning source. If you are a student and want to earn money online, then you can start writing blogs and post them online. As per the views of readers you get, you will earn money. Your blog posts need to be engaging and interesting. It might take time to get many readers, but with time, your website will grow and start making money. You just need to choose a niche of your interest and inform people about it. You can make your own blogging website with a domain name or start with WordPress. This is the ultimate idea to earn money with your writing skills.
Required Skills | Expert in research, Creative writing skills, research, copywriting, and communication. |
Average Income | Rs. 20,000- Rs. 24,000 per month |
Become an E-commerce Seller
You can start earning as a student by doing E-Commerce selling. You need to get products from wholesale retailers and sell them online at a reasonable cost. This can be done on e-commerce platforms, and you will earn money based on the number of sales you make. You can increase your customers by giving them discounts. To start with E-commerce selling, you will have to find your niche, choose an e-commerce platform, create a website and list products, and start marketing.
Required Skills | Communication, Analytical, and technical skills |
Average Skills | Rs 33,500 – Rs. 35,000 Per month |
Read Also: 12 Best Education Affiliate Programs in 2024 | 16 Best Fashion Affiliate Programs of 2024
Participate in Surveys
The websites post many online surveys to analyse their services. You can participate in surveys and earn money. You just have to register on the website and get a notification whenever you have a survey to participate. To do the survey, you can first review the company’s services. As a student, you can fill out such surveys and earn good money.
Required Skills | Research, Answering questions |
Average Income | Rs. 5000- Rs. 10,000 per month |
Game Testing
One of the innovative business ideas for students is to test games. Video games undergo multiple stages of development before their official release. You can play games, look for bugs, and report as a game tester to the game development company. To try out the app or game, you will receive payment. You can sign up for apps like Swagbucks, Mist Play, DROPS, Bingo Mania, and LuckTastic and test their game to earn a good amount of money.
Required skills | Problem-solving skills, Quality assurance processes, knowledge |
Average Income | Rs. 21,000- Rs. 24,000 |
Online Travel Agency
If you are someone who is fond of Travelling and Adventure, you can do business with an Online Travel agency. You can offer travel bookings to people and earn a good amount of money. You will have to create a website, post your travel services, trip fares, and travel products, and ask customers to give reviews. This will create a marketplace in the field of travel agencies. You can give unique services to make people’s traveling easy and comfortable so that more customers choose your website. You can also add hotels and guest houses to your website to make their travel trip comfortable. All these processes can be handled online, and you can make good money.
Skill required | Communication, Customer service, Management. |
Average Income | Rs. 30,000- Rs. 70,000 |
Content Writing
Another fantastic option for a side gig for students where you can make money is content writing. You can pursue it further if you are proficient in creating blogs, articles, or social media posts. It can offer you a respectable income. For the student with writing skills, it is an opportunity for creativity.
Writing content lets you voice your opinions and ideas about problems or subjects. You can create your own website or write for other websites. It can expand and facilitate the exploration of additional niches. You can get paid per word by the websites or clients to write their pages or blogs. If you’re talented and put in the work, content writing could eventually become a source of income for you.
Required Skills | Creative writing, Writing speed |
Average Income | Rs. 15,000- Rs. 25,000 |
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a popular business nowadays and can be an ideal side gig for students. You can set up an online store and showcase products. Every time a customer places an order, you are required to purchase from a third-party supplier. After that, the supplier will take care of the shipping on your behalf.
With this side gig, you can become an entrepreneur without making any investments with other benefits. All you need to do is look for a dependable supplier with prompt shipping and first-rate customer support. You can enhance your business and develop a plan for acquiring new customers. You can start a drop shipping business with a platform like Shopify. As a student, you can earn a good amount of money every month.
Required Skills | Skills in analysis, communication abilities, time management, financial management, and customer service. |
Average Income | Rs. 20,000- Rs. 4,00,000 |
Selling Crafts
If you have a gift for making crafts, art, and painting, you can sell it and make money online. Platforms like IndiGift, Jaipur Crafts, Storenvy, Etsy, Amazon Handmade, and Craftsvilla allow artists to sell their handmade crafts and earn money. You can also create your online stores and create crafts while pricing them to sell. These websites also offer marketing tools to help you to sell your crafts. You can use social media to promote your crafts and get huge customers to know about your store. This can help you to earn money well.
Required Skills | Artistic, Marketing, Building customer relationship |
Average income | Rs. 10,000- Rs. 25,000 |
Content Creation
Content creators are earning more money than job employees. As a student, you can also earn money by creating creative content on social media. You can make videos, write blogs, create podcasts, write ebooks, and many more. These ideas can make you huge money. It needs to be creative and unique so that more people like it. You can monetize your social media account and get paid collaborations with many brands as well. Students can also sign up for platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer in order to post content and earn money.
Skills required | Content making |
Average Income | Rs.15,000- Rs. 75,000 |
Translator
If you are a student who knows more than one language then you have a good opportunity to work as a translator and earn money. You can join as a translator for many websites or organisations. Per project of translation, you can earn a good amount of money. You can join websites like Up work or Fiver to get started as a translator. You can also network with possible clients by participating in online translation forums and attending virtual translation events.
Required Skills | Language knowledge, good communication, Active listener |
Average Income | Rs. 20,000- Rs. 30,000 |
Photography
If you are a student with a passion for photography. Then You can definitely make money from your passion for capturing people or memories around. You can ask people for money in exchange for taking their pictures as a side gig. If you have good photography abilities and a good camera, you can make money off of them. This can involve anything from providing product photography to e-commerce businesses to shooting portraits and capturing special moments at events. You can sell your photographs on websites like Adobe Stock or Shutterstock.
You can turn this skill into a wonderful narrative that will help customers value their memories or improve their brand’s visual identity. It enables you to make good money while combining your passion with a potentially lucrative career.
Required Skills | Photography, Marketing |
Average Income | Rs. 10,000- Rs. 30,000 |
Proofreading
If you are a student and want to earn money sideways, you must check out a proofreading job. You can join freelance websites like Freelancer, Fiverr, Upwork, and Guru. You can register on these websites as a freelancer and bid on proofreading jobs. You can also do proofreading jobs on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn. As a student you can do proofreading for digital agencies, local businesses and other organisations.
Required Skills | Writing, Editing, Fact-checking, Attention to detail. |
Average Income | Rs. 21,000- Rs. 38,000 |
Digital Marketer
Students can earn well with digital marketing. You can offer services like SEO Optimization, content writing, website designing, email marketing etc. You can also earn money by working with digital marketing agencies as interns. Through blog or website as a digital marketer you can monetize it.
Additionally, students can offer digital marketing services to local businesses. They can also create their blog or website to monetize through online advertisements, affiliate marketing, and selling digital products. As a digital marketer, you can offer companies consulting services for digital marketing to assist them in increasing their digital footprint.
Required Skills | Content creation, SEO, SEM, Basic design work, and communication skills. |
Average Income | Rs. 21,000- Rs. 24,000 |
Provide IT Services
If you are a student with so much knowledge about It, you can work in IT Services. Technology now occupies a significant amount of every business activity. A growing number of businesses are searching for IT service providers due to the growing usage of technology in corporate operations. You can start offering businesses support and guidance on information technology-related issues. With all these services, you can earn a good amount of money as a student online.
Required Skills | Cloud computing, Understanding systems, programs, and networks. |
Average Income | Rs. 10,000- Rs. 55,000 |
Conclusion
In recent years, online business has become more significant in India. India’s e-commerce market is anticipated to grow by 21.5%. We have seen 20 Online Business Ideas for Students in India above. You can try one of these online jobs as a student to earn money. Online business helps you work from home when you have little free time. This allows getting financial freedom. So, choose the best job that interests you and start working today.
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