Owning a business is always a sense of pride, no matter how small you begin. Especially with the movement of Make in India and so many other government initiatives to promote startups and entrepreneurship, small businesses are rising day by day. With the growth of the Digital Sector like eCommerce, Artificial Intelligence and other IT services, plenty of profitable small business ideas & opportunities lies ahead.
So, if you are a beginner driven by Entrepreneurship, we have a list of Low-Cost Business Ideas in India for you. Based upon your interest, expertise, current local demand and financial status, you can pick the right opportunity to start your Entrepreneurship Journey today.
We understand that as a beginner, many can’t invest an ample amount of money/investment initially to grow a business as it is a matter of risk. One wrong decision or market downfall could ruin all your time, efforts and investment. That is why we suggest you explore as many profitable small business ideas in India to pick the right one for you from the list we have mentioned here. In addition, this opportunity is not only for those living in India, there are tons of ways to start your own business virtually and hire local employees. To make it easier to hire and manage your employees, you can partner up with a third-party company like Remote to handle all the local employment requirements such as taxes, payroll, employee benefits, and many others.
List of Most Profitable Small Businesses in India in 2024
While in this Covid-19 Pandemic, many businesses saw a downfall, some great business opportunities also occurred, especially in the IT sector. So, based on our market research and trends, we have curated the list of most profitable low-cost business ideas in 2024 that you can consider.
Here is the list of the top 15 most profitable and scalable small business ideas that need little investment but can give you a higher return in the future. Based on your interest, skill set, niche and investment required, go for the one that suits you best.
1. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is one of the best and most profitable low-cost-business ideas in India that requires only strong skill-sets and hands-on experience with little or no investment.
There are ample opportunities available in Digital marketing. You can start your own agency or work as a freelancer to generate good income with low investment. All you need is a robust command of your digital marketing skills, a good internet connection and a device to operate your work.
You can learn digital marketing courses from any of the reputed digital marketing institutes around you. Once you have completed your course, you need to create your portfolio or work sample to show it to your clients to get more projects.
These days, many businesses are searching for creative digital marketers or digital marketing services like SEO, Paid Marketing, Social Media Marketing, etc., to grow their products/services. You can grab these opportunities by working on your skills.
If you will see the last ten years growth of the Advertising Marketing Industry, India has been ranked 3rd in the World with its total ad revenue surpassing the INR 700 billion mark. This indicates how profitable this business can be if you do it in the right way with a meagre investment (you will spend money only on course fees and equipment).
2. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is another popular small business idea these days that anyone can start with a little investment. It is a famous eCommerce model through which you can conveniently make money without stocking any product or investing much in your store. To start a dropshipping business, all you need is:
1) An eCommerce Store: Can build on Shopify, Oberlo, Doba, etc., with their monthly economic plans.
2) Dropshipping Products and Suppliers: You can find plenty of reliable third-party vendors and their trending products on sites like AliExpress, CJ Dropshipping, Wholesale Central, Salehoo, etc., to list them on your store.
Once you find your niche’s reliable vendors and trending products (according to your target audience), all you need to do is integrate your eCommerce store with any dropshipping supplier website. As you generate the sale, the dropshipping supplier will manage the rest of the process, from packaging to shipping.
You can set the price as much as you want after doing your market research. Since you are not stocking any inventory, the only investment will be on your store development and the promotional ads you will create to boost sales. And if you will adequately promote the products, you will be able to generate 3-5 times more money on your investment.
It is a highly profitable business model that many small business owners and eCommerce stores are opting for with proven results.
3. Content Writing
If you are confident in your writing skills and vocabulary, then content writing is a highly scalable small business idea that you can start with low or no investment. You can either take freelance content writing projects to fulfil by yourself or can hire a group of content writers to do that for you.
In this Covid-19 Pandemic, Online businesses saw a boom, and it will keep rising as predicted by the Industry experts. Millions of data are generated each day on social media platforms and search engines to be consumed. To fulfil these enormous content creation demands, every organization needs content writing services.
The only investment you need to make to start your content writing business is your time, skill, internet connection and device. The scope of earning well and stand out is enormous in the content writing industry.
You can sign up on websites like Fiverr, Upwork, etc., to share your writing portfolio and getting clients. Apart from it, you can also use social media platforms to get good projects to earn well.
4. Website Designing & App Development
If you have coding skills, utilize them to earn money without any investment. Website designing and app development come under the best small business ideas in India that you can begin from anywhere with a laptop/pc and your skills.
There are plenty of startups and companies out there who need a tech-savvy person to build and maintain their website or app & they often prefer agencies or freelancer for them.
Initially, you can do it on your own, and when you start getting a decent amount of website and app development projects, you can hire a team of professionals to work with you.
Since IT services startups or businesses can be started with a very little investment and always turn out profitable, more and more people are focusing on these business ideas.
Even if you start with 0 investment initially to handle the website and app development projects by yourself, you can easily make 25,000-40,000 per month based on your skills.
5. Customized Gifts
Gifting is always a profitable business idea that can be started with significantly less investment to generate huge profits. These days, handmade and customized gifts have massive demand on the internet. People don’t feel shy to pay more for customized or handmade gifts as these gifts are memorable & precious.
The best platform to sell handmade items or customized gifts on the internet is Etsy. You can create your online store on Etsy for free and later can opt for their monthly plan, starting from $15. On Etsy, you can cater for the International audience to sell your goods at high prices (in $) to generate good income monthly without investing much.
To grow your sales, you can promote your gifts on social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, etc., which are the primary source of traffic on Etsy.
6. Blogger
Blogging is different from content writing as you write your experiences and stories as a blogger. These days, you can be a fashion blogger, food blogger or travel blogger based on your interest and passion. You can write your experiences on your website to generate money without investing much, or you can write for others.
Blogging is a profitable business opportunity where you require only a laptop, a strong internet connection and blogging skills. These days bloggers can earn a tremendous amount of money through Google Adsense, Sponsored posts, banner ads, etc.
Beginners can begin with WordPress, Blogger or Medium to start their blogging journey. The more traffic your blogs will have, the more money you can make through it.
Some of the top bloggers of India like Shradha Sharma (Yourstory), Amit Agarwal (Digital Inspiration) and Harsh Agarwal (Shout Me Loud) are making $30,000-$60,000 per month through blogging.
7. Online Tutoring
As online classes have become the only viable learning mode in this Pandemic, the demand for online teachers has also increased. With school going digital, Online Tutoring is one of the best low-cost business ideas in India in 2024.
So, if you are good at teaching any subject, be it dance, mathematics, or any other, online teaching is a profitable business opportunity for you to start at home with a laptop/computer and an internet connection.
8. Print on Demand
Found an exciting T-shirt design on the internet but don’t know a site to get it printed? Imagine how many people like you are struggling with such a problem these days! That is where Print on Demand comes into the picture.
Like Dropshipping, In Print on Demand services, a person lists T-shirts, phone covers, pens and other printing material with customized designs on their store so people can place an order to get whatever print they want. A store owner then collaborates with suppliers who can provide print on demand services at an affordable price.
These POD suppliers manage everything from packaging to shipping, so you don’t have to worry about logistics or inventory. You just need to promote your store on search engines and social media platforms to generate sales.
By keeping a good profit margin on each sale and investing a meagre amount in store creation and ads, anyone can make good money with the Print-On-Demand business model.
There are some popular Print on Demand apps like Printship, Vendorboat, Printrove, etc., in India to collaborate for your customized printing requirements.
9. Home-based Catering
Can you cook delicious food for others? Then why not start your home-based catering business with a little investment (can start with INR 1,000 initially).
In this fast-paced era, many people (especially those who are working) don’t have time to cook proper meals and remain dependent on tiffin services or food delivery options.
You can start tiffin services for offices around your place initially to build a base. Later, you can also collaborate with event management companies to provide catering services for small or big events. The investment in a home-based catering business depends on how big you want a setup to be.
You can spread the word about your catering business by promoting it on Youtube, Social media platforms and through various food bloggers.
10. Fitness Trainer
This pandemic has taught us the importance of Fitness, and that is why everyone is happy to spend money to stay fit & healthy. Fitness is something that nobody wants to neglect these days.
As the unlock begins, people still prefer online workout sessions to take at home instead of going to gyms currently. So, why not take the benefit of this business opportunity?
If you are a fitness enthusiast or a trainer, Online fitness training is a profitable and scalable business opportunity for you. All you need is a device to record and upload your videos and a strong internet connection.
You can begin your own Youtube Channel for fitness advice or can start a fitness-related startup, or you can collaborate with the famous fitness apps online as a trainer to teach other people.
Apart from training people online, you can also be their fitness consultant to guide them about diet, supplements and other fitness activities.
11. Professional Photography
Professional Photography is the demanding business option for those who have an eye for a camera. Yes, it does require a little investment in terms of equipment like a Camera, Lens, etc., along with the photography course you will do at any institute. But in return, it is a highly profitable business to generate massive money per photo session.
You can specialize in Wedding Photography, Product Shoot for Portfolio shoots to earn huge payments through your clients. Pre-Wedding Photography is in trend these days for which people pay a hefty amount.
You can collaborate as an individual or an agency with the event planners to offer a complete package for every event, be it birthday celebrations, shoots, pre-wedding shoots, engagement parties, and so on.
Apart from it, you can also earn as a Stock Photographer by registering on websites like Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, etc., which pay you a royalty for every download.
12. Petcare Products and Training Services
This business is getting highly popular in India as more and more people are keeping pets these days. When people go on vacations, they look for Pet trainers who can take proper care of their pets.
Also, people these days want their pets to get trained. So you can start this small investment business by collaborating with some good pet trainers.
You can also start a Pet Food business as it has a high-profit margin. Many people are promoting pet food and other pet products on social media platforms to generate sales. You can start with a small investment and then grow according to the response you will get.
13. Chocolate – Making or Bakery Business
Everyone loves chocolates, especially when they are handmade. Do you know that the chocolate-making business is highly profitable and can only be started with small investment? It is a popular home-based business idea that you can begin and sell under your brand.
The raw material for chocolate-making comes at a very affordable price and is readily available in the market. So, you can begin with a small investment of 2-3K per month. You can then sell creative gift hampers on your online store or other marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. It is a highly scalable business idea for those looking to start something simple and convenient at home.
Apart from it, you can also begin with some bakery products if you have excellent baking skills. There is a massive demand for cakes, cupcakes and other bakery products in the Indian market as birthdays & occasions are always there to make your someone special feel more special.
Many small business owners are already promoting their handmade chocolates and bakery gift hampers on Instagram and other platforms to make huge revenue. So then why not you? Also, you can collaborate with Cafes and Gifting shops to market your gift hampers there for an initial boost.
14. Event Planner
Whether it is about planning a small birthday party or a big fat Indian wedding, people always look for professional services under their budget. That is the reason why event planning is a great small business idea these days in India.
If you have a creative mind and different aspects of making these events more special and memorable, then Event Planning is the right business opportunity for you.
You will require a small team of 5-6 hardworking & creative minded people along with some minimum investment (around 10-15k initially) to start your event planning services. You can begin with small parties and then, based on your experience and skills, can crack grand Indian weddings deals to earn lakhs of rupees per month.
15. Delivery Services
These days, especially in this Pandemic era, people prefer to order things online to get delivered to their homes without stepping out. Whether it is their medicines, groceries, or other essential or non-essential items, delivery services are in huge demand.
Not only people but also eCommerce stores and startups want to collaborate with last-mile or same-day delivery services these days to provide a better shopping experience to their customers.
So, if you think you can bridge this gap between brands and customers, a delivery service startup is a low-cost business idea for you. You can hire individuals who have their vehicle for delivery and collaborate with such brands to get their food or any other items delivered on time.
The setup will require little investment depending upon how many people you want to recruit initially, but it will surely give you huge returns in the long term. You can predominantly focus on delivery at locations where regular shipping services won’t work and charge extra for that.
Apart from it, you can also provide mid-night delivery of cakes, flowers, or other items or same-day delivery. Not many startups are available in the market to offer such services with reliability.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How to arrange funds to start any small business in India?
Business Fund or initial investment is required when you start any small business. You can either do it by investing your savings or apply for small business loans schemes initiated by Govt. and Private banks.
Alternatively, multiple community organizations and startup accelerators happily provide loans or funding to emerging startups. You can also take funds from Cooperative Credit Societies for your small businesses at a low-interest rate.
2. What are some best profitable small business industries in India in 2024?
Some of the best profitable small business industries in India in 2024 are:
- Organic Products
- Jute Bags
- Chocolate-Making Industry
- Bakery
- Candle-making industry
- Handicrafts
- Nursery Products
Final Words!
Many people are in a dilemma whether it is the right time to start their own venture in this Pandemic situation. So, let us tell you one thing. It is never too late to work on your dreams and passion! This Covid-19 situation has unboxed the plethora of new small-business opportunities for people, and we have mentioned some best business ideas in this article.
But before opting for any of the businesses mentioned above, we suggest you do proper planning and market research to get the best returns on your money. If you have any other queries in mind regarding Entrepreneurship or starting your business, you can ask us in the comments. We wish you all the best for your upcoming venture. Keep exploring, keep growing!