The Best Indian Affiliate Programs

Affiliate marketing has become a significant source of income for many internet marketeers around the world. In fact there are many 'super' affiliates out there who earn solely from selling others products and services in return for a commission ranging between as low as 1 percent to as much as 80 percent! Although there are many popular affiliate programs like Amazon, Commission Junction, ClickBank,and so on, affiliate marketing has only just started gaining momentum in India. In fact I suppose while there a lot of Indian marketeers the corresponding affiliate programs are quite few. But picking up pace nonetheless. So without further delay, let's find out which are the top Indian affiliate programs to join.

This is probably the best Indian affiliate network currently. It's an online portal mainly selling books apart from Mobiles, Cameras, DVD's, Music etc. Their affiliate program is quite detailed and has been recently updated to display banners and links on your site with your chosen products. You can also view your daily, weekly, monthly earnings, conversion rates, hits and other useful metrics.

Commission: Flipkart has a multi-tiered commission structure for its affilates. You earn 6% on book sales, 2% on DVD's, Music, Digital Cameras and Movies and just 1% on Mobiles. You can either redeem your earnings through gift vouchers or through check. The minimum payout threshold for receiving payments via check is Rs 2500 which is quite reasonable according to me as you can make this much in about one or two months time.

The good part about Flipkart is that it's quite well known brand thanks to the regular marketing they carry out both online and offline. As far as books are concerned their inventory is quite diverse. The only flip-side is the very small commission paid for mobile sales. Also the flat commission structure is a bit of a let down but overall a very good affiliate network to apply for.

This is another portal, selling educational books in India. They offer a flat 5% commission to affiliates. Although their inventory of educational books is quite good but the affiliate system is not that well developed. For instance there's no tracking of referrals, unique links or banners. Also I found their customer service below par and unresponsive to my queries. But if you want to promote educational materials then you might give it a shot.

The above two affiliate programs don't require applicants to have their own web sites but the ones I will be listing from now on do have this requirement. Shoogloo Network is a well-known affiliate network in India and boasts of top clients like yatra.com, letsbuy.com, Jet air and so on. Each application goes through an approval process before being accepted in their affiliate network. The affiliate system is quite transparent and provides many useful tools to keep track of your affiliate performance and earnings.

Matri Money is an affiliate network of 14 regional sites from one of India's top matrimonial site, Bharatmatrimony.com. Obviously it's a niche affiliate program dealing only with matters of love. If you are not into this or don't have a blog to promote stuff relating to dating, romance, marriage and the like then it may not be your cup of affiliate tea. But if you game for it then returns are quite good.

This is another affiliate network in India and one of the oldest as well, set up in 2006. You need to fill an online application stating your promotional methods, your interests, websites you plan to promote affiliate products on and so on. Once your application is reviewed you will be accepted into their affiliate program.

As they say, 'save the best for the last'. Tyroo is India's biggest affiliate network, acquired by Yahoo in 2008. They have some high benchmarks for affiliate applications including pre-defined page impressions, websites where ads and products will be displayed. But in case you fulfill their criteria then your site could soon be displaying ads of big names like Tata Finance, HDFC and many other popular brands. But if for any reason you fail to meet their minimum acceptance criteria you can again apply after 45 days once your site build up enough traffic.

This was the list of the top affiliate networks in India. If you know of more such Indian affiliate programs let us all know!