This research is aimed at refining a framework model for how subsistence entrepreneurship is systematically affected by household influences. My framework model springs from mixed mode data. Both quantitative and qualitative data using original survey techniques and interviews from more than 700 entrepreneurs in rural India and answers the call to recognize how international subsistence entrepreneurship is distinct from transformative entrepreneurship set in wall-street settings. Analyses indicate that households influence entrepreneurial decision making and engagement by controlling not only skills and capital, but also through limiting labor. Trust acts as a governing mechanism and - in the caste-dominated rural landscape in India – is associated with entrepreneurial vibrancy. After discussing the societal drivers, influencers and impediments of subsistence entrepreneurship in rural India, I present testable propositions that merit further investigation.