New platform micro-businesses in India: who earns what, and who holds the power
Meetup hosts, resellers and creators, ONDC and GeM sellers, home kitchens, service partners and quick-commerce suppliers. For each one, how you earn, what the platform takes, the money you need, who holds the power and where it sits on the ladder. We only use figures we could check against the original source.
Many small businesses in India now start on someone else’s platform. An app brings the customers, collects the money and sets most of the rules. You bring your time, your skill or your goods. For a first business this can be a good deal: you need little money to start, and you learn the trade while someone else finds the buyers. The catch is power. The less you own, the less you control.
This article looks at seven of these models. For each one it answers the same five questions: how you earn, what the platform takes, the money you need, who holds the power, and where it sits on this site’s ladder. We only give a figure if we could check it ourselves against the company’s own filing or a government source, and each one carries its source and date. Where we could not check something, we say so. The list is at the end.
How big is platform work?
The most quoted numbers come from NITI Aayog’s June 2022 study, India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy. It estimated 68 lakh gig workers in 2019-20 and 77 lakh in 2020-21, and projected 2.35 crore by 2029-30. News reports sometimes quote 68 lakh and sometimes 77 lakh as if they were rival counts. They are not: they are estimates for two different years, and the 2.35 crore is a forecast, not a count. Note too that NITI’s “gig workers” include casual and part-time workers who find work offline, not only people who work through apps. So these numbers show a trend, not the number of platform businesses.
The seven models at a glance
| Model | Stock? | Platform’s cut (verified only) | Ladder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting meetups (Misfits) | No | About 30-40% of tickets | 1.1, dealer-like |
| Reselling, creator commerce | No | Meesho: no commission for sellers; creators’ rate not published | 1.1 |
| ONDC selling | Yes | Not verified | 1.2 |
| GeM selling | Yes | Nil on orders up to ₹10 lakh; 0.30% above, once past ₹20 lakh a year | 1.3 (Level 3 if you make it) |
| Home and cloud kitchens | Food | Not verified | Level 3 |
| Service partners (Urban Company) | No | 28.3% | 1.1, very dealer-like |
| Quick-commerce supplier | Yes | Not verified | 1.3 or 1.4 |
The sub-levels are explained on the trader page: 1.1 is the no-stock seller, 1.2 the shop or retailer (including an online seller that keeps its own stock), 1.3 the wholesaler or distributor, 1.4 the super stockist or C&F agent.
1. Hosting meetups on a platform
How you earn. You run a regular hobby club (board games, hiking, sport, books) and sell tickets through an app. According to Inc42 (28 November 2025), Misfits’ CEO said club leaders sell tickets at ₹200 to ₹400. Inc42 also reported that about 150 to 200 club leaders had been taken on from close to 1,000 applicants, and that the company said 4,500 to 5,000 people came to about 500 meetups a month, then in Gurugram. India Today (22 May 2026) described a Delhi club on Misfits charging ₹250 a head for an evening of childhood games.
The platform’s cut. Roughly 30-40% of ticket sales, according to the same Inc42 report.
Money you need. Very little: your time and some materials. The platform arranges venues and takes the payments.
Who holds the power. The platform chooses who may lead a club, brings many of the members and sets the cut.
Ladder. Sub-level 1.1, a no-stock seller of your own service. Because the platform’s brand and rules matter so much, it behaves a lot like a dealership. Our Misfits case study does the full math, including when going independent pays.
2. Reselling and creator commerce
How you earn. A reseller shares a supplier’s catalogue on WhatsApp or Instagram, adds a margin and passes on the order; the supplier ships it. A creator posts videos or live streams about products and earns a commission when viewers buy.
Meesho’s prospectus (filed 8 December 2025) is the best primary source here. It says Meesho began as an online shopfront for small sellers, then became a reseller-based marketplace, and in 2021 moved to its current model, where customers buy directly in the app. So reselling has not disappeared, but the biggest platform that grew on it no longer runs on it. The same document says Meesho had 50,319 active content creators in the twelve months to 30 September 2025, who earn commissions linked to product sales, and that content commerce brought in ₹1,208 crore of net merchandise value in that period.
The platform’s cut. Meesho says it charges sellers no commission and earns from services it sells them, such as order fulfilment, advertising and data insights. That rule is for sellers who list goods. It says nothing about a reseller’s margin, and the prospectus does not give creators’ commission rates.
Money you need. Almost none for a reseller or creator: a phone, data and time. A seller who lists goods needs stock, or a supplier who will ship.
Who holds the power. The platform and the supplier. If your customer finds the same item cheaper elsewhere, or in the app itself, your margin gets squeezed. You own no stock, no brand and usually no customer list.
Ladder. Sub-level 1.1, like a commission agent. A seller who lists their own stock is at 1.2, or Level 3 if they make the goods.
Hypothetical What a reseller keeps, and how fast it shrinks
A supplier’s price for a kurta is ₹450. You share it and add ₹50, so your customer pays ₹500.
- Your margin: ₹500 − ₹450 = ₹50
- As a share of the selling price: ₹50 ÷ ₹500 = 10%
- Orders needed to earn ₹10,000 in a month: ₹10,000 ÷ ₹50 = 200 delivered orders
- If 1 in 5 orders comes back and you earn nothing on returns, you must take 200 ÷ 80% = 250 orders
- If the same kurta is on sale in the app for ₹470, your margin falls to ₹470 − ₹450 = ₹20, and you need ₹10,000 ÷ ₹20 = 500 delivered orders
3. Selling on ONDC
How you earn. You list your own goods through a seller app on the Open Network for Digital Commerce, and buyers on several different buyer apps can find and order them.
The government told the Lok Sabha that more than 1.16 lakh retail sellers from over 630 cities and towns were live on ONDC as of 9 December 2025 (PIB, 16 December 2025). In a Rajya Sabha reply of 20 July 2026, the MSME Ministry said that under its MSME TEAM scheme 63,570 small firms had registered and 11,457 had come onto ONDC with the scheme’s help, with 2,40,911 transactions, all as of 30 June 2026. Nearly half of those transactions (1,06,497) were from Delhi.
The platform’s cut. Not verified. ONDC is a network, not one shop: each seller app and buyer app sets its own fees.
Money you need. Your stock, plus packing and delivery (yourself or through a logistics partner).
Who holds the power. Less concentrated than on a single marketplace: the government says sellers are not tied to one app’s terms. But the apps you use still set fees and decide how you show up in search.
Ladder. Sub-level 1.2, a shop that keeps its own stock and sells to final customers, online. A seller who makes the goods is at Level 3.
4. Selling to government on GeM
How you earn. You list goods or services on the Government e Marketplace and win orders from government offices, either directly or through bids. You deliver, raise your invoice on GeM, and the buying office confirms receipt and acceptance.
As on 9 March 2026, GeM had 24,60,079 profile-completed sellers, of whom 11,12,302 were MSMEs (Rajya Sabha reply, 20 March 2026). By 30 July 2026 there were 11,75,001 MSMEs, 2,17,155 women entrepreneurs and 3,784 self-help groups registered, and MSMEs won orders worth ₹2,37,235 crore in 2025-26 (PIB, 11 August 2026).
The platform’s cut. Small, and nothing at first. GeM no longer asks sellers for caution money (PIB, 8 August 2025). Orders of up to ₹10 lakh carry no transaction charge, and GeM says 97% of orders now pay none. Larger orders pay 0.30%, capped at ₹3 lakh (PIB, 7 August 2026). GeM’s seller guide (updated 6 November 2025) adds that once your orders in a financial year reach ₹20 lakh, you pay a one-time Annual Milestone Charge of ₹10,000 plus taxes, and the transaction charge applies to orders above ₹10 lakh after that point.
Money you need. Stock, or the means to make or buy it, and enough working capital to wait for payment after you deliver.
Who holds the power. The buyer and GeM’s rules. GeM suspended 55,772 sellers in 2025-26, for reasons including late delivery, refusing to supply after an order and unreasonable prices (PIB, 11 August 2026).
Ladder. Usually sub-level 1.3: you sell to an institution, not a household, which is the wholesaler’s kind of work. If you make what you sell, you are at Level 3.
Hypothetical What GeM charges a small supplier in one year
In one financial year you win four orders, in this order: ₹6 lakh, ₹9 lakh, ₹8 lakh and ₹15 lakh. The charges follow GeM’s rules above; GST on the charges is left out.
- Running total after three orders: ₹6,00,000 + ₹9,00,000 + ₹8,00,000 = ₹23,00,000. This passes ₹20 lakh, so the ₹10,000 Annual Milestone Charge is due.
- Each of those three orders is ₹10 lakh or less, so none of them pays a transaction charge.
- The fourth order comes after the milestone and is above ₹10 lakh: ₹15,00,000 × 0.30% = ₹4,500
- Total paid to GeM: ₹10,000 + ₹4,500 = ₹14,500
- Your sales: ₹23,00,000 + ₹15,00,000 = ₹38,00,000
- Charges as a share of sales: ₹14,500 ÷ ₹38,00,000 = 0.38%
5. Home kitchens and cloud kitchens
How you earn. You cook and sell meals, through food-delivery apps, your own WhatsApp list, or both. A cloud kitchen is a kitchen with no dining area that sells only for delivery.
The rules (verified). Every food business must register with or be licensed by FSSAI. From 1 April 2026, a basic registration (rather than a licence) covers food businesses with a turnover of up to ₹1.5 crore, up from ₹12 lakh (FSSAI order, 13 March 2026). Registrations no longer need renewing, but the annual fee still applies (FSSAI FAQs, 27 March 2026). FSSAI’s FoSCoS fee schedule lists the registration fee as ₹100 a year.
The platform’s cut. Not verified. We could not find delivery apps’ commission rates in their own documents.
Money you need. Kitchen equipment, ingredients and packaging. We found no reliable figure.
Who holds the power. If most orders come through one app, the app does: it controls ranking, discounts and the customer’s contact details.
Ladder. Strictly, this is Level 3: you make the product you sell. We include it because the selling side runs through a platform just like the others here.
6. Service partners
How you earn. You do jobs in customers’ homes (beauty, cleaning, repairs) that come through an app. The platform sets the price and you are paid per job, minus its cut.
Urban Company’s Annual Report 2025-26 has a partner earnings table for April to December 2025 (its India consumer services, excluding the InstaHelp business). For all active professionals, it reports average monthly gross earnings of ₹55,244, commissions and fees of 28.3%, products and helpers ₹8,061, travel ₹2,662 and indirect tax ₹589, leaving ₹28,322 in hand a month for about 91 hours on the platform, travel included. That works out to about ₹313 an hour. The top 5% kept ₹51,673 a month, but worked about 167 hours for it. The same report gives 49,223 monthly active service professionals in this business in 2025-26, across 47 cities, and ₹35.65 crore of kit and service loans to help new partners buy professional equipment.
The platform’s cut. 28.3% of gross earnings on average, on the company’s own figures.
Money you need. A professional kit and the products you use on each job. The report’s loan scheme shows new partners often need help to pay for the kit; the cost per partner is not published.
Who holds the power. The platform: it sets the price, sends the jobs, keeps the customer and rates your work.
Ladder. By this site’s definition it is sub-level 1.1: you sell your own service through someone else’s platform and hold no stock. But of all seven it is the most like a dealer (Level 2): you work under the platform’s brand, at its prices and by its rules.
Hypothetical A service partner’s month
Customers pay ₹50,000 for your jobs in a month. The platform’s commission and fees are 28%, close to the average Urban Company reports. You spend ₹8,000 on products and ₹2,500 on travel. Taxes are left out to keep it simple.
- Platform’s cut: ₹50,000 × 28% = ₹14,000
- After the cut: ₹50,000 − ₹14,000 = ₹36,000
- Your costs: ₹8,000 + ₹2,500 = ₹10,500
- In hand: ₹36,000 − ₹10,500 = ₹25,500
- Share of what customers paid that you keep: ₹25,500 ÷ ₹50,000 = 51%
- Over 90 hours, travel included: ₹25,500 ÷ 90 = ₹283.33 an hour
7. Supplying quick commerce
How you earn. Quick-commerce apps deliver groceries in minutes from small warehouses called dark stores. Blinkit has been moving from a marketplace, where independent sellers sold through the app, to owning the stock itself. Its parent company Eternal said that in July to September 2025 about 80% of Blinkit’s net order value was on its own inventory (Eternal shareholders’ letter, 16 October 2025). So a brand, distributor or small maker now mostly sells to the platform rather than through it.
The platform’s cut. Not verified. When the platform buys your goods, its “cut” is the margin between its buying price and its selling price, which you negotiate.
Money you need. Stock and the working capital to supply a large buyer on its payment terms.
Who holds the power. The platform, as a very large buyer that also owns the customer relationship.
Ladder. A supplier to the platform is doing a distributor’s job, selling to a business: sub-level 1.3, or 1.4 if it holds stock for a brand across a region. A maker supplying directly is at Level 3. We could not verify how dark stores’ operating partners (where they exist) are paid.
The pattern: what you own decides what you control
Put the seven side by side and one rule stands out. The less you own (stock, a brand, a customer list), the less you can start with, and the more the platform decides. A no-stock host, reseller or service partner can start almost free, but the platform sets the price and holds the customers, much as a brand does for a dealer. An ONDC or GeM seller needs stock and working capital, and in return has more choice of where to sell.
Before you commit to any platform, ask four questions:
- Whose customer is it? If you left tomorrow, would your buyers follow you?
- Who sets the price? You, the platform, or the market inside the app?
- What does each sale cost you? A percentage cut grows with every sale; a fixed fee does not.
- Can you sell elsewhere too? One app for everything is the weakest position.
The usual climb from 1.1 is the same as for any trader: build a customer list of your own, then start holding some stock or running some of the service yourself, so you control quality, delivery and margin. See the trader sub-levels or take the self-evaluation.
What we couldn’t verify
These figures appear in blogs and guides, but we could not confirm them against a company filing or a government source, so we left them out:
- Reseller margins (a 5-15% range is widely quoted) and how many resellers there are.
- ONDC fees, set separately by each buyer and seller app, and earnings per ONDC seller.
- Commission rates for home chefs and cloud kitchens on food-delivery apps, and what it costs to start one.
- Blinkit’s dark-store partner terms (a figure of about 2-2.5% of order value circulates) and how many such partners there are.
- Misfits club leaders’ actual earnings after the platform’s cut. The company publishes ticket prices and its commission range, not what leaders take home.
- Live selling, micro-franchises and creators’ commission rates. We found no primary figures. Meesho’s creator count above is the one exception.
Terms on every platform change often. Read the current terms before you sign up.
Sources, all opened on 6 October 2026: NITI Aayog, India's Booming Gig and Platform Economy, June 2022 (Executive Summary); Inc42, "Cracking The Weekend Economy", 28 November 2025; India Today, 22 May 2026; Meesho Limited, Prospectus filed with SEBI, 8 December 2025; PIB, ONDC, 16 December 2025; Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 113, 20 July 2026; Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 3234, 20 March 2026; PIB on GeM, 8 August 2025, 7 August 2026 and 11 August 2026; GeM, Payment of AMC/TC and invoice creation, updated 6 November 2025; FSSAI order of 13 March 2026, FAQs of 27 March 2026 and FoSCoS fee schedule; Urban Company, Annual Report 2025-26 (Partner Earnings Index, 9M FY26); Eternal, Q2FY26 shareholders' letter, 16 October 2025. This article is not sponsored by and has not been reviewed by any company named in it.