35 Fresh Business Ideas for Small Towns in India with low investment

A) Low to Medium Investment: Food, Retail, and Services

1. Evening Chai-Snacks Stand 2.0: Place carts near bus stops and colleges, accept UPI, run a WhatsApp catalogue, and list combos on ONDC buyer apps through a seller partner. ONDC stands for Open Network for Digital Commerce.

2. Tiffin and Corporate Lunch Dabba: Centralise prep at home or in a ghost kitchen, deliver with local bikers, collect payments through UPI, and test your reach by posting menus on ONDC.

3. Micro-bakery that takes pre-orders: Bake twice a day, sell through ONDC and local WhatsApp groups, and offer festival hampers as extras.

4. A corner for fresh-cut vegetables and millet: Get seasonal fruits and vegetables and millets from farms near you. Try out weekly subscription boxes.

5. Thrift & Tailoring Studio (Women first): Add textile upcycling workshops and sell tote bags made from clothes that people have given away. Combine alterations with thrift (kids/ethnic). (See rural upcycling pilots for ideas.)

6. Budget Salon for Families: Concentrate on cleanliness, set price cards, and monthly memberships. Work with local schools to hold "back-to-school" grooming drives.

7. Laundry and steam press with pickup at home: Bundle with rental uniforms for schools and coaching centres.

8. Two-Wheeler Care Bay: Quick repairs, flat tires, and cleaning; prepaid "monsoon care" packs.

9. Fixing phones and getting new ones: Set up a kiosk at weekly markets to install screen guards, and work with buyback traders.

10. Print and Stationery Hub: Offer cheap A4/A3 prints, lamination, photos for forms, and help with filling out forms online; try to sell school kits.

11. Kids Activity Studio: After-school art, phonics, and abacus classes; festival camps; UPI autopay for monthly plans.

12. Local Handymen for Home Services: Choose electricians, plumbers, and carpenters; set prices; accept UPI; and take a cut of each job.

13. Services that run errands for seniors: Picking up medicine, paying bills, and taking people to the hospital; families who live far away can sign up for a subscription.

14. Things you need for a wedding: Lights, decorations, dhol/tasha teams, vanity vans (tie-ups), and basic stage sets are all available for rent.

15. Agro-Input Advisory Kiosk: You can sell seeds, organic inputs, soil-testing ties, and micro-workshops for farmers.

B) Digital and IT Services

16. Local Creator Studio: They make short videos for shops, homestays, and tutors. They charge simple monthly fees and add services to ONDC-services pilots as they grow.

17. Setting up WhatsApp Commerce for Stores: Help kiranas, boutiques, and bakeries make catalogues, set up UPI QR codes, and get ONDC set up (through a network partner). ONDC stands for Open Network for Digital Commerce.

18. School fees and test prep Micro-Center: A hybrid model with recorded lessons and doubt rooms, as well as UPI subscriptions.

19. Government Form-Fill and DigiLocker Helpdesk: Updates for PAN and Aadhaar, scholarship and entrance forms; make money by charging per form and printing.

20. Local Jobs and Skills Board (Hyperlocal): Connect job seekers with employers like salons, garages, and stores; charge a fee to list jobs.

C) Travel, Community, and Lifestyle

21. Physical therapy and micro-gym Tie-up: 700–900 square feet with lower rates during off-peak hours; work with a physiotherapist to make rehab packages.

22. Club for Cycling and Adventure: Weekend rides, rentals, a basic repair station, and the sale of merchandise and drinks.

23. Rural Experiences and Homestay Network: Add 5 to 10 family homestays; as tourism pilots on OTAs and ONDC grow, list them there.

24. Event Venue on a Plot: Temporary tensile structure for birthdays and kitties; sell decorations and food on top of that.

D) Green, Round, and Useful

25. Market Waste-to-Compost/CBG Partnership: Work with mandi/APMC on organic waste. Start with compost and work your way up to CBG through PPP as the town grows.

26. ATM for RO Water and Solar Energy: Set up in wards where there are problems with water; prepaid UPI wallets for people who use a lot of it.

27. Drives to collect dry and electronic waste: Monthly drives by ward; sell to recyclers; work with schools to raise awareness.

28. Detergent/Handwash Refill Station: Refills for bring-your-own-bottle; loyalty cards with QR codes.

E) Moving around and the last mile

29. Hyperlocal Delivery Hub (Spoke): Deliver food and medicine within a 2–3 km radius and work with ONDC buyer apps as a delivery partner.

30. Workers can rent EV two-wheelers: Daily or weekly plans; charge by the kilometre; work with workshops to keep things running.

31. Micro-Logistics for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses: Same-day runs for bakeries and boutiques; combine routes between towns on set days.

F) Craft and agriculture-related

32. Cold-pressed Oils and Flour Mill (Atta Chakki): Subscription Packs; sell multi-grain blends through ONDC.

33. Pickles/Papad/Namkeen Collective: Women-led SHG production; brand and label; list assortments online.

34. Bamboo & Cane Craft Studio: Makes things for the home and for tourists to do in workshops.

35. Local Plant Nursery and Landscape Kits: Kits for balconies and kitchen gardens; workshops on the weekends.

Final Words

Small towns aren't "smaller" markets; they're tighter markets where people trust each other. You can build a long-lasting, growing business with low costs and strong community loyalty if you solve a common problem, make it easy to find (ONDC), and make it easy to pay (UPI). Add government support like PMEGP to reduce upfront cost, and you’ve got a runway to scale.