Starting a business in India doesn’t always require a huge investment. With just ₹1 lakh or less, aspiring entrepreneurs can launch profitable ventures with low overhead costs. From digital services to small-scale manufacturing, numerous opportunities exist that cater to various skills and interests.
Starting a business in India is becoming more accessible, especially for small entrepreneurs. According to the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), over 63 million MSMEs operate in India, contributing nearly 30% of the GDP and employing around 110 million people.
This article explores practical and budget-friendly business ideas that can help you turn a small investment into a steady income.
Businesses You Can Start With INR 1,00,000 or Less
Best Businesses to Start with Less Investment
Businesses You Can Start With INR 1,00,000 or Less
Cab Fleet
You can buy a used car or a couple of bikes under INR 1 lakh, and register them with Ola, Uber, Rapido, and other on-demand cab services. You then need to hire some people to drive the cab for you. Even after the necessary deductions like paying the driver’s salary along with the maintenance expenditures, you’ll still end up with a good profit.
Rishita Jain
Home Automation Speech
Speech recognition devices like Amazon, Alexa, and Google Home have become common in today’s households. With some knowledge of electronics and coding, you can help people pair their home appliances with speech-recognition devices. This would allow them to control the appliances by giving commands to the speech device. One needs to purchase electronic equipment and hire a few talented guys to take care of the programming and configuration aspects.
T-Shirt Printing
There’s a constant need for custom-designed uniforms with logos and pictures. As a result, T-shirt printing is a lucrative business one can pursue. You can help customers by printing their required designs and logos on T-shirts. For that, you’ll have to invest in a good T-shirt printing machine. There are many affordable machines in the market, some starting from as low as INR 50,000.
If it sounds expensive, one may rent the machine from someone every month or longer and once the business turns profitable, the venture owner could buy his or her own machine. With the constant emergence and growth of social media influencers, this business is in high demand at the moment. And there’s no dearth of offline opportunities as well. Many T-Shirt startups are already excelling in this industry.
Subhajit Mitra
Investment Business
If you know about trading and investing, you can provide the service of handling people’s money and generating profits for them through the share market. But to take off with this idea, one needs to demonstrate a knack for making successful predictions and trades in the market because people believe only when they see.
Moreover, it requires immense trust to hand over one’s hard-earned money to someone else. So start by investing money for relatives and friends, turn them into success stories, and then aim for the big fish! You can start your own investment company in the future with this business idea.
Ashwini
Stationary Store Startup
You can open a stationery store and cater to new startups and offices since they require a lot of stationery-related items like pens, paper, markers, etc. Offer them the best quality stationery products at reasonable prices. You can also partner with schools and coaching centers to establish your presence. Subsequently, students will come only to you for stationery needs.
Connectivity with your main store means a shortage of supplies can be taken care of immediately. You will need to build an effective transport network for connectivity between the main warehouse/store and your franchises to meet urgent delivery requests. A home delivery facility will attract more customers. This business idea can be easily launched with INR 1 lakh and be scaled as a formidable startup if implemented with the best practices.
Pet Groomer
Pet grooming is no longer just popular in Western countries—it is growing fast in India too. As more people keep pets at home, pet grooming is becoming a great business idea for new entrepreneurs.
To start, you can talk to housing societies and meet their President to offer pet grooming services inside their premises. Many modern townships now have pet wellness zones, which you can use for your services. You can also make a deal with society so that all pets living there are groomed by you. Charging a small fee of INR 500 per pet per month can help you earn good profits.
Canteens
Canteens are no less than a necessity in public places such as parks. Even hospitals and office spaces are known for the crowd they bring. You can lease a space in such locations and start a canteen there. Start with limited options like tea, coffee, and biscuits. If there’s a growth in your customer base, you can then increase the options offered. Once the entire business is in motion with windfall profits, you can then think of expanding the canteen chain.
Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a new business idea that is growing fast and helping small businesses make big profits. It lets you run an online store without keeping stock or a warehouse.
You just need to connect with manufacturers or suppliers who sell the products you like. When a customer places an order, you send the details to the supplier, who then ships the product directly to the customer. You simply act as a middleman between the supplier and the buyer.
You can start this business with as little as INR 10,000 since you don’t need to buy any products. Just use free social media platforms to market your store. By offering good service and fast delivery, you can slowly grow your business.
Custom Gifts
According to Asianage, the gifting industry in India was $75.16 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 92.32 billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 3.55%. The millennials have contributed significantly to the rise in gifting culture. Starting a personalized gifting business can prove to be a profitable business.
All you need is creativity and innovation which are reflected in awe-inspiring photo frames, custom coffee mugs, etc. Test your initiative on your acquaintances and see what they think of custom gifting as a customer. You can also distribute samples embellished with your information for promotion and publicity. Closing a deal with corporate offices, especially during the festive season, is also a good idea for marketing.
ATHUL C K
Professional Cameras on Rent
Social Media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have ushered in a new era, one where everyone’s crazy about selfies and videos. By the time you’d be done reading the previous sentence, hundreds of thousands of pictures must have been uploaded online. People are desperate for good-quality images and videos. They need excellent cameras for that. You can buy a high-end camera that ranges between Rs. 50,000 to 80,000 and rent it to people on an hourly basis.
If you can invest in a good quality drone with an integrated camera and provide instructions on its usage, nothing like it. You can easily command more than Rs. 1000 per hour as people are willing to pay astronomical amounts for those precious drone clicks! If you are interested, you can also start doing professional photography.
Xerox and Printing
Although everything’s online now, requirements like photocopying and scanning will never fade. You can buy a Xerox machine and start a business near a coaching center, college, or office. It is a highly scalable business idea if done right. It is the most profitable business under 1 lakh.
Akshat Hawelia
Juice Shop
With the millennials (and everyone in general) moving towards a healthier lifestyle, juice shops are the place to go after that intensive workout. Be it fruit juice or protein shakes, juice shops are a favorite for many. Starting a juice shop business near a jogging park, fitness center, or a commercially bustling area offers a good chance to make money. If you cannot find any such place, you can always start with a movable setup like using your car and parking it near a jogger’s area every morning. All you need to start this business is a good juicer, fruits, and the necessary permission for your venture.
All of the inventories can be bought for less than 50,000 rupees. You can use the other INR 50,000 from your INR 1,00,000 investment to market your shop. You may have to seek police consent and those of the concerned authorities. Target residential societies, if possible. As more and more people throng to your shop, you’ll get an idea and insight into their preferences and thereby come up with even better offerings. It is one of the most promising business ideas you can start with INR 1,00,000.
Food Corner
Some eat to live while others live to eat. All in all, a Food Corner has all the ingredients of a profitable business. Aim for affordable meals so that people from all walks of life have something to consume at your joint. Since we’re talking about businesses under INR 1,00,000, start with a stall type of setup. Talk to the Southern meals and MOMO vendors you find on the roads to understand how they work. This is one of the best businesses you can start with INR 1,00,000 or even less as food will never go out of trend.
Shubham Kumar
Game Parlour
The gaming industry is witnessing a boom. The current value of the gaming industry in India is $850 million and it is growing at a rate of 14.3% every year. If you think people in your locality are into mobile or PC gaming, you can buy a few high-end mobile phones and PCs and set up a game parlor. Many people want to play high-performance mobile games but don’t have compatible phones. There’s tremendous opportunity in mobile lending. Apart from the money you make from the games, you can sell snacks in the parlor for some extra cash.
Used Car Dealership
Many people prefer to buy used cars in good condition. They buy a used car, drive it for a year or two, sell it, and buy another used car. You can start a used car dealership and find customers easily. All you need is a used car, have it repaired, and find a buyer. If you can add some value to the car through modification, people will be ready to buy it for a higher price. Start your business by scouting for a used car that can be purchased and enhanced in a 1 lakh budget. Many people like to buy used cars and enhance them in a short period.
Souvik Dey
Driving School
Driving schools continues to remain in the market. It is still a good business that mints money as the number of driving licenses issued every year grows exponentially. For a driving school, you need a good marketing plan as you cannot target specific people. You will have to use traditional channels of advertising like newspapers and pamphlets. Social media marketing can also assist in acquiring customers.
Rishita Jain
Beauty Salon
For someone interested in doing hairstyles, makeup, or grooming people, starting a salon can be a nice business. A shop in a good locality is needed, besides many also start it at home. Much heavy investment is not needed, and also one can earn a good amount of profit in this business
Nitin Konde
The above-mentioned are some of the best business ideas that can be started by investing around INR 1,00,000. But if you feel that 1 lakh is not what you can invest right now, there are still other businesses you to start that require very little investment. Let’s have a look at some such business ideas.
Best Businesses to Start with Less Investment
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is an easy-to-start yet profitable business that you can start, without any major investment. What you have to do is simply promote other business’s products and services online and earn a commission. You don’t even need to have your website to start affiliate marketing. Just choose the products you would like to promote and register yourself as an affiliate of the company whose products you would like to promote.
Once authorized to become an affiliate, you receive affiliate links for various products the company is selling. You can now paste these links on your website or promote them through your social media accounts, YouTube channels, online groups or communities, or through email, and start earning commission whenever someone clicks on your link to visit the company’s website and makes any purchase.
Blogging
If you love writing, blogging is an interesting and profitable business that you can start with minimal investment. All you need to spend is on a domain and a good hosting plan. So just with an investment of INR 5000-6000, you are all set for a blogging business. Blogging lets you make money in many ways. You can sign up with Google AdSense to show ads on your website, do affiliate marketing, write sponsored posts, sell e-books, and much more through blogging.
Sweta
Writing Services
Another good service for those who have amazing writing skills is starting a business providing writing services. Writing service providers create various content for clients ranging from resume writing, article writing, short story writing, copywriting, technical writing, editing, and much more. You can start by offering limited services, and once scaled up, you can hire people and broaden the spectrum of your services.
Charudath K Nair
Homework Help Services and Tutoring
There are many students who would pay to get some help with their homework. You can start online homework and assignment consultation services. Students can call you to seek help regarding their assignments and you can charge them on an hourly or per assignment basis. You can target hostels and colleges for this business. This is an awesome business idea if you are excellent in studies and require very little money to begin with. The only investment will be in the form of the internet and your device. Tutoring is also a good way to make some money with almost no investment.
Devashish Shrivastava
Web Designing Services
If you have relevant knowledge, you can start designing websites for various businesses. In today’s digital world, every business big or small needs a digital presence to grow. By starting a web designing business, you can tap into this trend.
Niku Mandal
Graphic Designer
Are you a graphic designing expert? Well, this can indeed be a great business option. Graphic designing has a huge scope. From creating logos for companies to designing brochures and marketing materials, making graphical content for social media to designing packages, there is a lot you can offer to your clients and earn a good amount of money.
Interior Designer
Interior designing is another great business option. With the required skills and preferably the required certifications, you can easily start an interior designing business. Start by designing the interior for your family, friends, and acquaintances, and build a good portfolio that you can show to attract clients. If your work is good enough, this business will surely take you places.
Home Decorator
Being a home decorator is a good business for those who love to decorate beautiful homes. A home decorator is one who decorates the interiors with beautiful furniture, accessories, etc. While you need certification to become an interior designer, no certification is needed for being an interior decorator. All you need to be an interior decorator is creativity.
Fashion Designer
If you have a knack for fashion designing, a fashion designing business is something you can start without much investment. Find a niche segment and decide for whom you want to design clothes. Start by offering a few products, and promote your business to your acquaintances as well as through social media. Also, it is good to have your own website where you can showcase your design.
Starting an online store
Starting an online store is yet another good business idea. Just choose the products you want to deal in and decide whether you would like to go for drop-shipping or stocking the products you want to sell. As regards creating the e-commerce site, there are many platforms like Zepto, Shopify, and FreKart that will help you in this regard.
Bookstore
Starting a bookshop is an affordable and nice business. One can opt to sell used books also, as they can be procured at a low cost. While there are many these days who prefer to order books online and others who read e-books, there is still that category of readers who like to hold a book in their hands and read it, rather than reading it on a screen.
So if you can rent a space near educational institutes or in a popular market area, your bookstore will surely earn profit. The coffee shop bookstore is also a cool place that people like to visit. So if you have enough space and required skills, you can also start a coffee shop alongside your bookstore to attract more customers.
Fashion Store
If you love to look stylish and have a good fashion sense, you may consider opening a fashion store. To start with find a niche for yourself and start dealing in your niche. For example, you can begin with a kid’s fashion store, and expand later to another niche as well, with an increase in budget. You can also consider establishing your online presence and selling your clothes online.
Babysitting
Babysitting is also a business that requires very little investment. If there is space, you can start this business at your home itself. You just need to invest in some good toys, books, etc. to keep the kids busy. Also, healthy food should be made available.
Piyush Mishra
Craft Store
Opening a craft store is a viable business option. You can either create your own piece of art for selling in the shop or procure art and craft items in bulk and sell the same at retail rates. Craft items have a good profit margin when bought in bulk.
Bakery
If baking is your passion, a bakery is a good business you can start. To keep the investments on the lower side you can opt to start a home bakery or a cloud kitchen. In home bakery and cloud kitchens, you just need to cook and deliver the food items, without any hassle of making sitting arrangements. Thus your rent is saved.
Online Advertising
Online advertising is what many businesses opt for these days, as online advertising is a great way to reach a wide audience. As such starting your own online advertising business is surely a profitable option. As an online advertising company, you can provide services such as website designing, SEO services, PPC advertising, Social media marketing, content marketing, and e-mail marketing.
Dancing and Music School
If you are a trained singer or dancer, music and dance classes can be a good business you can start. When started on a very small scale at home, you do not require any registration or licensing. Once you feel confident enough, you can scale up your business.
Jeenal Jain
Self Handmade Products
Handmade products are in demand these days. So you can make and sell handmade soaps, incense sticks, candles, etc. to make a profit. The Government of India offers affordable training courses where you can learn to make these goods. You can sell them online, and as you scale up you can tie up with spas, salons, hotels, etc. for selling the products.
Other than this, you can also consider selling homemade jams, pickles, chocolates, etc. Homemade stuff can also be sold through sites like Etsy.com.
Consulting Business
Consulting services can be offered in various fields such as accounting, auditing, insurance, career, taxes, business, and more. You just need to spot your area of expertise and start your consultancy accordingly. Try to get initial customers from your acquaintances and give them the best services so that you can benefit from word-of-mouth publicity.
Real Estate Agency
If you have interest and knowledge about real estate, you can become a real estate agent. You can choose from dealing in residential properties, commercial properties, or plot investments to start with. Get the required licensing, gather the required information and knowledge about the property you are dealing with, and promote yourself well so that you can reach out to your target customers.
Travel Agency
With the boom in the travel and tourism industry in India, starting a travel agency is a great business idea. You can choose to deal in anything: air ticket booking, hotel booking, selling travel packages, or all of them.
Souvik Dey
Web Maintenance Services
With every business going online, there is a rising need for web maintenance services. Website maintenance is required to keep a website error-free, up-to-date user friendly, and safe. In current times, web maintenance services can be a profitable business to start.
Event Management Services
Do you feel that you have what it takes to organize an event successfully? If yes, an event management company is something you should start. With the boom in the event management segment in India and worldwide, event management surely is the right place to be. To start with, you can manage events for family and friends to get exposure and also do some thorough research on managing successful events.
Being a first-timer, you may find it overwhelming to provide all the event management-related services. So you may start by offering one or two services like visitor management services, flower decorations, press and publicity services, etc. to big event management companies. Once you are confident enough, you can take the plunge to start your own full-fledged event management company.
Arbaz Sayed
Amazon Seller
Becoming an Amazon seller is a lucrative and profitable initiative. Currently, there are over 5 lakh sellers registered with Amazon India. The best part about being a seller with Amazon is that you can reach out to a wide customer base not only within India but globally; Amazon takes care of everything from delivering the products to the customers to transferring money to your account.
YouTuber
Not just money, YouTube can turn you into a celebrity. If you choose to be a YouTuber, you can make money through various streams. You can earn money by becoming a YouTube partner, selling your merchandise through your YouTube Channel, or creating sponsored content. There are options where your fans can pay you directly. If you are a viral content creator, you can even make money by letting media houses use your content and get paid in return.
Podcasting
Looking at its popularity, podcasting can be a good business too. There are many ways in which a podcaster makes money. Some businesses sponsor podcasts and that means a good source of revenue. Podcasters also earn from donations and crowdfunding by selling their own products and services, or through affiliate marketing.
Abinaya Arangarajan
E-book Writing
With all the craze around e-books, being an e-book writer can also prove to be a profitable business. Before diving into writing an e-book, you need to find your area of expertise and interest and write something that will create value for your readers. Once written, it’s important to extensively promote your e-book to the relevant audience to generate more sales. You can sell your e-book through your website, on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform, or through other publishers.
Vivek Dev Jacob
Laundry Shop
Services that make household chores easy are gaining popularity fast. Laundry service is one such lifesaver for the millennials. A well-managed laundry business is something you can start and earn profit from. You would need a staff to take care of washing, ironing, etc. Regarding marketing, targeting young people, working professionals, and tying up with co-living space providers can help significantly.
Tailoring
Tailoring is one of those businesses which can be started with low investment. Depending on your budget and skills, you can start tailoring at a small level from your home with a sewing machine and once budget and experience permit, you can launch a boutique. Upon expansion, you may buy a pico machine, interlock machine, embroidery machine, etc., and diversify your specialties in tailoring.
Home Cleaning or Corporate Cleaning Services
Cleaning is an essential service that individuals, organizations, and others cannot live without. With the uptick in the number of corporate offices, co-working spaces, co-living areas, and serviced apartments, the demand for home cleaning and corporate cleaning facilities has surged. Hence, starting a business in this domain is certainly a good idea.
Devashish Shrivastava
Home Repair and Maintenance
There is a lot to do when it comes to home repair and maintenance. From electrical work to painting, plumbing, carpentry, or roofing, many chores need to be taken care of. Considering the huge demand, a home maintenance and repairing business can surely turn out to be a profitable one if executed right.
Catering Business
If cooking and feeding people make you happy, then the catering business is for you. All you need to invest in is cooking utensils, ingredients that will be required for cooking, and some helpers. Once your setup is in place, you can start taking orders and supply food for parties, functions, and other events.
Grocery Shop
A grocery shop does not require much investment. The most important factor you need to keep in mind is that the shop should be in a good location. Try to provide the variety of goods that people demand, be open to home delivery facilities, and watch as you gain loyal customers.
Kacham Saikrishna
Mobile Repair Shop
As reported by market research firm techARC, India had 502.2 million smartphone users in 2019, and the number is ever-increasing. Given the scenario, a mobile repair shop can undoubtedly be a profitable business you may consider. Besides repairing, you can also sell accessories and provide mobile recharge facilities in your shop.
Paper Bag, Cloth Bag, or Jute Bag Making
With the buzz around the danger of using plastic, manufacturing cloth bags, jute bags, and paper bags is an eco-friendly way of making money. With proper marketing and the fabrication of reliable bags, you will end up with a pretty solid business. It is the best business under 1 lakh in village.
Rishita Jain
Conclusion
These business ideas might seem small as they only need an investment of INR 1 lakh or less. But the sky’s the limit when it comes to profits. Once you establish your foot with these initiatives, you can easily scale your business to the next level. Focus on marketing and correctly executing your business model. You may not see overnight results, so hold your horses and be patient. Are you aware of some other business ideas that can be started with a low monetary investment? Do comment.
Shubham Kumar
FAQs
Is it really possible to start a business with just INR 1 lakh?
Yes, many viable businesses can be launched with limited capital, especially in the service, online, and home-based sectors.
What are the key factors to consider when choosing a business?
Consider your skills, interests, market demand, competition, and potential for growth.
How can I minimize startup costs?
Utilize free or low-cost online tools, start from home, leverage social media for marketing, and purchase second-hand equipment if needed.
What are the business ideas under 1 lakh?
Business ideas under ₹1 lakh include dropshipping, tiffin service, home bakery, mobile repair, digital marketing, pet grooming, handmade jewelry, photography, cloud kitchen, and fitness training. Low investment and smart marketing can help you grow fast!
What business can I start with 100k in India?
With INR 1 lakh, you can start a small business like dropshipping, home baking, tiffin service, handmade jewelry, digital marketing services, pet grooming, or a mobile repair shop. You can also start a YouTube channel, tuition classes, or a blogging business with low investment. Focus on online marketing and good service to grow fast!
What are the Business Ideas 50,000 to 100000 rupees?
With ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh, you can start a tiffin service, digital marketing, dropshipping, pet grooming, mobile repair, handmade crafts, photography, fitness training, or reselling business. You can also open a small café, cloud kitchen, or printing business. Focus on low-cost marketing and quality service to grow!
