The rapidly growing banking, financial and services industry sector in India is expected to create about a million jobs every year for the next five years. The insurance industry will lead by creating 500,000 jobs, according to industry sources.
The issue is no longer about finding jobs for people, but ensuring that there are enough people with relevant skills for the jobs at hand.
The foremost challenge lies in finding the right people with the right skills, says ICICI Bank managing director and chief executive officer K V Kamath.
On the sidelines of the Fourth Young Indians National Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Chennai, Kamath said his company recruited about 10,000 people from among 300,000 applicants last year.
He called for a collaborative partnership among industry, institutions and government to revise existing academic curricula to suit industry requirements, adding that pre-employment training in different fields was very essential for students to meet the job requirements of industry.
"It is imperative to change our curriculum, we must rewrite it, this will increase employability and wages," Kamath said.
To overcome skilled manpower shortage, the ICICI Group has tied up with some universities and colleges across the country to offer courses in banking and insurance.
For instance, in association with Manipal Education, the bank has started ICICI Manipal Academy of Banking and Insurance which offers a one-year diploma course for fresh graduates.
"Through the academy tie-ups, we are getting our manpower equation right and this is a strategic step to meet manpower challenges faced by the industry," Kamath said.
ICICI has also tied up with the National Institute of Information Technology to offer a six-month Post Graduate Diploma in Banking Operations programme through The Institute of Finance, Banking and Insurance.
IFBI is supported by the bank in designing the curriculum, developing course content and identifying internship sites for students. ICICI Bank also grants education loans to students selected for the training programme.
The institute now has a network of education centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune.
