Indians turn to side hustles, freelancing as non-salary income rises: ClearTax

New Delhi, Indians are increasingly diversifying their income beyond traditional salaries towards income from side hustles, freelancing, trading, and business ventures, as a significant percentage of self-filers on the ClearTax portal reported income from non-salary sources in Assessment Year 2026-27, the fintech platform said in a report on Monday.

Data from ClearTax's Income Tax Return (ITR) filings for Assessment Year (AY) 2026-27 has highlighted this changing behaviour.

Non-ITR-1 filings accounted for 62 per cent of all ClearTax filings in AY 2026-27, compared with 53 per cent in AY 2025-26 and 40 per cent in AY 2024-25.


Further, ITR-2 and ITR-3 filings, which capture income from capital gains and other sources, together accounted for 57.2 per cent of filings, up from 36.2 per cent two years ago.

In AY 2026-27, 47 per cent of self-filers on the Clear Tax portal reported income from investments, business, freelancing or cryptocurrency, compared with just 9.5 per cent in AY 2022-23 -- reflecting diversification of income sources.

Also, the share of self-filers reporting two or more non-salary income sources rose from 3.5 per cent to 24 per cent during the same period.

ClearTax Founder and CEO Archit Gupta said a growing number of taxpayers are reporting multiple income streams and more complex financial portfolios with young professionals participating in equity markets and taking up independent work to households diversifying their investments.

"We are moving beyond an economy where financial security was largely defined by a monthly salary towards one where individuals are increasingly taking ownership of how they build and grow their wealth," Gupta said.

The ClearTax portal data showed that young Indians are entering the investment economy earlier. Among self-filers under the age of 25, 75 per cent filed complex returns in AY 2026-27, compared with 60 per cent in AY 2025-26. Within this group, ITR-3 filings increased from 28 per cent to 44 per cent, while ITR-1 filings declined from 41 per cent to 25 per cent.

As many as 30.5 per cent of women filers on the ClearTax portal reported capital gains in AY 2026-27, up from 26.1 per cent in AY 2025-26. The share of women self-filers earning above Rs 50 lakh also increased from 3.7 per cent to 5.1 per cent over the same period, indicating a growing presence in higher income brackets.