Guest Lecture by Mr. Indraneel Pandit[/b]
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Foreign Banks in India - Careers & Opportunities[/b]
On 5th of August 2013, Mr. Indraneel Pandit, Vice President of Development Bank of Singapore, and an alumnus from the 2002 batch, was present at his alma mater to guide the batch of 2015 on careers and opportunities in foreign banks in India. Mr. Pandit started with a brief introduction of himself and his profile. He succinctly put forth certain specifics of working in foreign banks to give the lecture a structure and a flow, and then described banking and finance from a broader perspective so that the listeners could capture the primordial aspects of the industry, and develop some understanding of how it is organized and how it functions.
Mr Pandit stated that all industries are divided into three core levels - primary, secondary and tertiary, and explained how different avenues of banking are related to the corresponding needs of these levels. A discussion on corporate banking then followed. He elucidated that corporate banking customers can be broadly divided into three categories – VLCs (Very Large Corporates), Mid-sized corporates and SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). He further explained how VLCs, which have high market capitalizations, use the services of banks to get funds and other investment instruments. SMEs need a large amount of funding as this domain is capital intensive. Apart from being the most dynamic segment currently, the SME segment also has a large risk factor associated with it and hence smart analysis and decision making skills are needed there. Mr Pandit further added that courtesy of its inherent intricacies, the SME banking sector is also somewhat unorganized.
Further discussion revolved around the other avenues of banking. Investment banking, retail banking, forex, treasuries and wealth management were touched upon. Mr. Pandit touched the broader elements of each one of them and gave an idea as to what they include. He emphasized that relationship banking as an entity is linked with all other domains of banking and elaborated the roles and responsibilities of retail banking personnel. He then moved to treasury and explained how hedging, which is an extensively used tool by various corporates, is incorporated in it. Then speaking on wealth management, Mr. Pandit explained how HNIs (High Net-worth Individuals) use the services of this banking segment to handle their pecuniary needs.
Once the floor was laid open to questions, the session gained impetus and moved towards general industry related aspects. Mr. Pandit emphasized that a company cannot be viewed and scrutinized as a standalone entity. This was certainly a very valuable management dictum because markets and companies are not secluded entities. They are all integrated to form the industry and then the economy. A few other questions and doubts pertaining to general business aspects were asked and Mr. Pandit eruditely clarified all of them. Then a few questions were asked regarding the difference in culture and working of Indian banks vis-a-vis the foreign banks. Mr. Pandit concisely stated the differences and listed down the parameters on which they fare differently. He explained the kind of culture present in PSU banks, private banks and then in foreign banks and compared all of them.
Towards the end of the lecture, discussion moved towards who banks perceive to be ideal candidates. Mr. Pandit stated that banks are not particularly specific about pedantic knowledge or extremely strong analytical skills; instead banks look for basic knowledge, the ability to learn and most importantly, the attitude. Mr. Pandit then explained how each one of the three elements maps to the job role of a banker. All in all, the lecture was highly productive and fruitful for the batch because of the in-depth perspectives provided by Mr. Pandit. The knowledge shared during this lecture shall go a long way in guiding the batch of 2015 in their entry into the corporate world.
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