Spot Your Money On The Web

Journalism was a profession by choice, but his passion was mountains. And, the passion only intensified over time, making it increasingly difficult to balance the two. Chinmay Nath wouldn’t miss a single opportunity to escape to the Himalayas and explore deeper into the region with his DSLR. More than a decade in the job had equipped him with the various technical aspects of audio-visual production. His huge collection of photographs and stories of his travels and those of the people living in remote Himalayan hamlets gave him enough raw materials to take a plunge.

Nath floated his first YouTube channel in 2012 with small documentaries that he would create himself, using his photographs, writing the script himself, and giving the voice-overs. The rare contents earned him a discerning audience soon. Nine years on, his channel flaunts a subscriber base of 1.47 million. He left job in 2017 and indulged in his passions.

“YouTube started paying me a handsome money from 2015 with advertisers being interested in my contents. The money was sufficient for me to set up my studio and invest more time into writing – my independent journalism,” says Nath. The lockdowns last year drove more people to his channel. “People who like my works needed a window for fresh breath during those stifled times. My visuals and my stories could give them the intellectual fodder they needed so desperately.”

While online income served more as an added revenue for many in the pre-covid days, the pandemic made it the primary source of income for many. According to a study by Experian, 43 per cent of Indian consumers recorded a dip in their household earnings in the Covid crisis. The second wave made the situation worse with unemployment reaching 10.72 per cent.

Exploring the digital route has emerged as the most preferred and accessible option for people in search of income opportunities. It’s not just blogging or YouTube postings that require a different kind of skill like writing or photography or editing, the internet has something for everyone. If you have skill in some other field, you can dig into the search engine for hundreds of ideas on how to make money online.

Online trading, for example, has long been an attractive earning potential for those interested in the securities market. This gained higher momentum since the Covid containment measures sent people indoors. The rising popularity of cryptocurrencies has thrown open crypto trade as a new-age earning source.

Virtual tutoring has also gathered steam with schools and colleges being shut and the system of education transforming into a hybrid mode of physical and virtual teaching. Affiliate marketing has emerged as a lucrative career option where you can use your blog or website for brands to advertise their products or services.

With the Indian e-commerce space projected to hit $200 billion by 2027, according to Statista, there’s a great opportunity in online income. A host of new avenues are expected to be unleashed with the diversification and widening of the digital business space. The growing internet user base is throwing up career options in unusual territories like voice-overs, podcast editing, blog writing, virtual assistantship and AI-based writing.

“There’re countless options to earn money online and there will be more in the days to come but what matters most is dedication to do something unique that can create a class for yourself. One has to be focused and determined to pull it off,” says Nath. “It’s a tough fight out there.”

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Households with income drop 43%

Unemployment 10.72%

Indian E-commerce Growth $200 billion by 2027

Indian Freelance Growth $30 billion by 2025

India’s Share in Global Freelancers 25%

Internet User Base 6. 560 million

Internet User Base Growth 650 million by 2023