Indian Shifting To Multi-Source Income Reveals Study Of ITR Filings

Mumbai: Indian taxpayers are no longer dependent on just salaries but are increasingly earning from multiple sources including trading, investments, business income, marking a decisive shift away from single-income careers according to ClearTax’s report ‘How India Filed in 2025’.

The tax filing platform analysed millions of income tax returns offering a lens into how Indians are earning, investing, and building wealth today.

The most striking transformation appeared in the composition of returns filed this year. ITR-3 filings, representing taxpayers with business and trading income, surged by 45.4 per cent, while ITR-2 filings covering capital gains and investment income rose 17 per cent year-on-year. Interestingly, millennials and Gen Z were increasingly combining salaries with business income, capital gains, F&O trading and even digital assets. The report said that the country is witnessing the rise of what it calls the “Hybrid Indian”, a taxpayer who earns simultaneously from salary, business or professional activity, and investments. The study found that the share of salaried taxpayers earning more than Rs 30 lakh a year increased from 18.49 per cent in 2024 to 23.34 per cent in 2025.

The 25–35-year-olds were driving this multi-income transformation. Traditionally considered the backbone of India’s salaried workforce, they now account for 42.3 per cent of all ITR-3 filings and formed the largest share of both new and returning trading taxpayers. This cohort was most financially active, characterised by digital fluency, higher risk appetite and a growing preference for income diversification through markets and business activity.

Gen Z was demonstrating an equally remarkable shift. Among taxpayers under 25 years, ITR-2 growth of 18 per cent year-on-year suggested first-time filing is no longer just salary or internship income, but increasingly includes investments too. Crypto, while still niche, also fitted into this evolving financial profile. The data found that 76.63 per cent of Virtual Digital Asset (VDA) filers were men with nearly 40 per cent fall within the 25–35 age bracket, half of which were ITR-3 traders suggesting that crypto is emerging as an additional asset, added

to an already diverse financial portfolio.