Top 5 Career Options in Finance in India
If finance is something that fascinates you. Reading about the economy and various factors affecting it all the time excites you, or you have an inclination toward stock markets. Or you love managing money and always come up with ways to efficiently use it. In that case, a career in finance is worth considering.
The finance industry provides a wide range of opportunities to everyone possessing the required skill set for the role. The financial sector is so diverse in terms of opportunities it offers as well as in terms of the role it plays in the economic ecosystem. Nearly 15–20% of the GDP contribution is from the finance and real estate sector. So you can imagine the importance of the financial industry through this. With this in mind, let’s explore the career options available in the Finance sector.
The above diagram shows the various roles available in the finance industry, and many more are there. In this blog, we will talk about this industry’s top 5 most attractive roles and tell you where to start? And what skills do you need to develop? So let’s begin.
Broadly speaking, most of these roles can be categorised into two categories, i.e. Front office roles and Middle office roles.
Front office roles require you to be proficient in soft skills because you would be in direct contact with the customer and explain to them about each and everything. These roles include Sales, Trading, Dealing, Structuring, Advisory, Dealing, Products, etc.
Middle office roles require you to be a good analyst, researcher. If you are an introvert, these roles are where you would fit well. These roles include Research, Analytics, Credit, Risk, Operations, strategy, etc. Now let’s look into the most popular roles in the finance sector.
1. Investment Banking
Investment banking is considered one of the most distinguished career options you can opt-in finance industry, and for that, you need to be highly specific about the job requirements. You would be dealing with other companies and guiding them in the path of creating wealth for the company. You would need to guide them in their decision making(financial aspects) process to minimise risk for the company.
An investment banker is expected to include underwriting new debt and equity securities, guiding them in the sale of securities, or facilitating mergers and acquisitions for various institutions. Investment bankers are experts in decision making who have a crystal clear understanding of the current market situations and sentiments. So if you also dream of being an Investment banker, you should focus on these things along with your communication skills.
2. Corporate Finance
If you love playing with numbers and enjoy budgeting to maximise the output from a certain amount of money, then corporate finance could be the best fit for you. Companies have a massive amount of money available to them which they use in various activities for the company’s benefit. So they require people to manage, allocate that money to different activities, invest, and save those funds.
An analyst needs to keep track of the institution’s ROI(Return On Investment) and analyse things to get maximum returns on minimum investments. If you find handling money exciting and love to find smart solutions to manage money, then this is something worth considering for you.
3. Financial Planning
Are you a Perfectionist when it comes to planning things? Do you always try to come up with the most efficient plan to solve a problem? Do you give importance to each tiny detail and take most of the factors into consideration when it comes to decision-making? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘Yes’, then you should explore the field of financial planning and see if this excites you.
In financial planning, you would need to plan and present the best strategies to the companies to meet the company’s requirements. You will get to formulate strategies to maximise revenue for the company, investment growth, wealth preservation or tax planning, etc.
4. Risk Management
Do you have a habit of analysing the risks involved in a task before taking any actions? Do you give importance to every detail? Do you feel that you make decisions after being aware of its outcomes and be prepared if things don’t turn out the way you planned? If yes, then you should give this profile a chance.
Every organisation wishes to minimise the risk attached to its business model and maximise profit with minimum investments. So they require Risk managers who can efficiently suggest changes to minimise the risk and can analyse the risk appetite of the organisation and suggest plans accordingly to deal with unforeseen situations. Risk management carries a lot of importance for any institute. This also includes purchasing insurances for the company, ensuring health and safety measures, conducting policy audits, creating risk awareness within the organisation etc.
5. Portfolio Management
A portfolio is a set of investments that detail the activities and decisions of a client or company. It can be used to make informed decisions about the allocation of assets and investment strategies.
The goal of portfolio management is to find opportunities to maximise profits. This process involves identifying and managing the various threats and opportunities within the company’s multiple markets. If you find the role interesting and challenging, then it’s worth considering a career option.
I hope you found this insightful and if you can’t find anything which suits you, don’t worry. There are so many other roles that the finance industry offers. We will be talking about those roles in detail in our upcoming blogs. Till then, stay tuned. Keep learning.
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