No takers for 18 lakh jobs in fin services in India: FBSB India CEO

AHMEDABAD: A top official of the FPSB India (Financial Planning Standards Board) here on Wednesday said India is facing the issue of unemployability in the financial services sector because there were no takers of nearly 18 lakhs jobs last year.

GIFT City in Gandhinagar, which employs nearly 6,000 people in the financial services sector, will generate nearly 1.5 lakh jobs in this sector in the next five years, FPSB India CEO Krishan Mishra told PTI here on Wednesday.

"Last year, as per the data provided by the National Career Services portal of the central government, India created 46.86 lakh jobs in financial services. Of those, only 27.5 lakh jobs were filled. It shows that there were no takers for 18 lakh jobs. This is because of unemployability. Jobs are there, but people are not capable enough to take them up," said Mishra.

"Banks, insurance companies, brokerage houses and mutual fund companies are always in need of trained people. If you conduct an online job search, you will find that there are about 40 times as many jobs as the number of Certified Financial Planner (CFP) professionals available," he said.

FPSB India is the Indian subsidiary of Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd (FPSB Ltd) -- the global standards-setting body for the financial planning profession and owner of the international Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification programme.

At present, there are 2,731 CFP professionals in India against 2.23 lakh worldwide. By 2030, there will be around 10,000 CFPs in India as against the requirement of 1,00,000 due to huge demand, said Mishra.

"Personal finance was ignored in India. People thought financial planning is for the elite. But, in reality, wealth management is for the elite while financial planning is for everyone. We need to be financially educated," said Mishra.

He announced that FPSB India and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) had on Tuesday signed a strategic MoU to launch a series of capacity-building initiatives, targeted for professionals in financial planning and investment advisory services.

Under the framework, IIMA and FPSB India will initiate training programmes, conduct applied research, and organise focused workshops for professionals on contemporary themes, he said.

In May, FPSB India had signed a pact with the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), GIFT City, to promote GIFT IFSC as a 'Global Finance Hub', to enhance the financial market ecosystem and nurture skilled professionals for GIFT City's expanding financial workforce, he said.

"We had signed an MoU recently with the IFSCA at GIFT City to help them in getting the right talent, which is a challenge for them because majority of the talent in financial service is based in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. They are not willing to relocate to Gandhinagar due to various reasons," he said.

"We are expecting a huge growth in GIFT City because available talent is very less. There are nearly 628 firms in the banking and financial services sector having offices in GIFT City today.

"In the next five years, nearly 1.5 lakh people will be needed there, mostly into the field of distribution and management. This will create a huge demand for CFP professionals," he added.