EXPLORE: Hot Jobs in the finance sector!

If you have a head for numbers and good interpersonal communication skills, the finance sector may be just the place for you.


GONE are the days when finance sector jobs were limited
to competing for a Probationary Officer’s post in a government-run
bank. Or becoming an Insurance agent of the monopolist LIC. Or toiling
to be a CA or CWA.





Today finance-related work clubbed under the Banking Finance Services
Insurance (BSFI) umbrella offers a multitude of job profiles. Take your
pick; they all come in well-crafted and defined verticals.





As MBA (Capital Markets) student Ashish Gupta rushes off to attend his
lectures for the day, the performance of bellwether stocks is playing on
his mind. The second-year student of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai is now focused on acclimatising himself with Money Market mantras.

Ashish, 25, belongs to a new generation of professionals, for whom
traditional sectors like engineering, medical, hotel management, even IT
hold no charm. The BFSI has captured their fancy.

BFSI Calling
Projected Human Resource Requirement between 2008 and 2022 (in ‘000s)
Industry Segments	2008	2022	Incremental**
Banking*	1100-1200	1400-1500	350
Insurance*	200-300	350-400	150
NBFC*	25-30	40-45	10
Mutual Funds*	15-20	20-25	15
Financial Intermediaries	2500-3000	6000-7000	3700
Total	4000-4500	8000-9000	4225

Jobs in millions

Industry experts believe that the pace at which the BSFI industry is
growing, it will yield a plethora of employment opportunities. It is
likely to employ 8.4 million people, according to an ICRA Management
Consulting Services report. Credit rating agency ICRA,
states in the interim report: “The incremental human resource
requirement between 2008 and 2022 is expected to be about 4.2 million”
(view table BFSI Calling).



Titled ‘HR and Skill Requirements in the Banking, Financial Services and
Insurance Sector (till year 2022),’ the report includes contractual
employment figures too. Besides on-roll employment, contractual
employment spans across all sectors through intermediaries like Direct
Selling Agents (DSA), Insurance Agents and Mutual Fund Advisors.





The finance sector gets bullish

The major segments of the BFSI - Banking, Insurance, Capital Markets –
are abuzz with activity, which has built up since the de-regularisation
in 1991. Even though the global financial turmoil of 2008 rattled the
domestic BFSI a bit (due to the sub-prime mortgage crash in the US), the
recovery in India was fast. The Banking and Insurance contributed 6
percent of GDP during the year ended 2008.



Atul Kanwar abandoned his media-marketing job to start afresh in this
field and IT engineer Ashish took up a diploma in capital markets. “I
will make career in investment banking,” he shares his future plans.
Capital markets backed by foreign investment inflows, have gained
traction, and terms like bear and bull markets, volatility index, invest
and re-deem, no longer sound alien.



A successful career in finance requires a head for numbers. While an MBA
is the preferred credential for entry, even a graduate could apply for
the sales and marketing function.