The second-most populous country on earth, with over 1.2 billion citizens, India is a nation famed for its food, religious and political figures (the most prominent being Mahatma Gandhi), and its intensely rich culture. Formerly a member of the British Empire, India is now an independent Republic with a thriving economy, the world’s 7th-largest at $2.183trillion, and an incredibly vibrant arts, music, and film scene.

With such a dense population (India is the world’s second largest country by population, and the 7th largest by landmass), the country’s capital, New Delhi, and largest city, Mumbai, are home to an extraordinary number of people and cultures. This multilingual and multiethnic society means that Indian freelancers and remote workers are able to provide an almost unlimited number of cultural and personal perspectives that can help to improve projects and ensure that marketing campaigns, websites, and advertisements achieve desired results.

As well as being home to the world’s second largest population, India is also one of the planet’s fastest growing economies, with its GDP growing at an average annual rate of 5.8% over the last 20 years. The country has a workforce of 486.6 million people, and the service sector makes up 55.6% of the country’s GDP. This means that the country has a substantial and mobile workforce able to cater to projects across a wide range of sectors, and at any scale.

Technological development means that India is the third largest smartphone market in the world, and the sector added 227 million users during the period 2010-11. The Indian IT industry employs 2.8 million workers, and the country also has booming pharmaceutical and automotive industries.

Despite this, the country does struggle with poverty and socio-economic challenges. However, with increasing internet adoption rates, poor Indians, and those in rural communities, are finding that their job prospects increase as they are able to seek remote and freelance work from international clients.

Top Skills

India has an English-speaking population of 125 million people, of which just under 10% are considered fluent. The country has a native-language fluency rate of 74%, and 25% of the population is enrolled in higher education. Three Indian universities have been listed in the Times Higher Education list of the world’s top 200 universities, and the country offers high-quality medical, engineering, and business education.

There are currently 15 million Indians working as freelancers, and the typical hourly rate for an Indian freelancer is $10. The country’s largest exports are IT services, an industry which employs almost 3 million professionals.

40% of all freelance roles offered worldwide are filled by Indians, and the country is the planet’s largest producer of skilled professionals. In-demand skills offered by Indian freelancers include cloud and distributed computing, content marketing, UI design, graphic design, online marketing, web development, and software engineering.

Income Range

The International Labour Organisation lists the average monthly wage in India at $295. There is a significant gap between rural and urban earnings, so there may be some disparity with this figure.

The average software engineer in India earns Rs 395,178 per year, which is equivalent to $5,938 per year.

Currency

The Indian currency is the Indian Rupee

The current exchange rate is 1USD = 66.54INR

Currency Exchange

Currency transfers can be made through online services like PayPal or Transferwise