No takers for 18 lakh jobs in BFSI space

Last year, India created 46.86 lakh jobs in financial services. Of those, only 27.5 lakh jobs were filled. This is because of unemployability. Jobs are there, but people are not capable enough to take them up -Krishan Mishra, CEO, FPSB India

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 said 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.