PayPal to tap on the freelancing sector for growth in 2018

Describing freelancing as a significant growth segment for PayPal's India operations, Director Growth PayPal India, Narsi Subramanian on Tuesday said that India has the largest freelancer market in the world, and it is highly poised for growth.

"We are focused on cross-border trade and we will continue to because that is where a significant opportunity lies for us. But, as far as our growth plan is concerned, the freelancer segment is something that we will clearly focus on," said Narsi Subramanian while speaking at an event talking about reports on 'Insights into the freelancers ecosystem', sharing an overview on India's freelancer landscape.

The report, which highlights the strong growth prospects of the sector and challenges of the freelancers in India, was conducted with 500 Indian freelancers in their local languages, highlights that most Indian freelancers are under the age of 40 and are predominantly men.

Web and mobile development, web designing, internet research and data entry are the key focus areas for Indian freelancers while some of them are also engaged in accounting, graphic design and consultancy.

The report said that most Indian freelancers earn an average of around Rs 20 lakh (USD 30,000) annually and that 23 percent of the surveyed freelancers earn Rs. 60 lakh per year.

"We are not just a card payment solutions for them. We have partnered with Upwork, Freelancer.com, 99designs, Fiverr at a global level. In India, we have gone after a seller group of merchants. As we ramp up in the country, we will ramp up to these relevant segments as well," Narsi said while adding that PayPal is aiming to bring in a lot of value propositions for freelancers.

Of the surveyed freelancers, 41 percent have witnessed very fast growth in through the past 12 months, with 80 percent of them working with international as well as domestic clients. A significant amount of work for Indian freelancers comes from Australia, US and UK. 15 projects and 13 retainer clients annually gives this segment income stability and security.

"At PayPal, we work closely with freelancers enabling them to leverage the opportunity in India and across the globe. Our key offerings such as PayPal.me and Seller Protection for Intangibles have helped solve payment related hurdles and propelled growth for this segment. We are excited to see college graduates, 5-9'ers and homemakers leveraging the freelancing profession," Subramanian concluded.