Department for International Development (DFID) India in partnership with the BFSI SSC held an online workshop to disseminate the findings of the study titled ‘Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) Industry: A future Skills Perspective’.
The study was conducted by the technical assistance team of DFID led by KPMG. Concluding in March 2020, the study sought to understand human resources incremental demand in the key sub sectors namely banking, insurance and Microfinance, the emerging job roles, impact of technology on the key competencies the gender inclusivity and diversity aspects in the sub sectors. A special emphasis was laid on the growing importance of Fintech in India, job roles and key competencies which would be needed in that sector in the coming years. Presented by Debabrata Ghosh, Director, KPMG, the study presentation concluded with a discussion on key recommendations made for various skilling stakeholders relevant to the sector.
The workshop was attended by close to 110 delegates with rich participation from the financial services industry as well as from the skilling ecosystem. Ms. Anu Gupta, Head-Skills, DFID India opened the session with a brief introduction on DFID’s work in India, especially in the vocational education space.
Mr. Sanjay Valsangkar, Senior Programme Manager, DFID India elucidated the priority areas of Skills for Jobs programme including in the BFSI sector. From degree apprenticeship programmes to facilitating sector specific studies, he spoke about the prospects of creating Centers of Excellence through opportunities of India-UK institutional partnerships.
Mr. Ambarish Datta, Founder Director, BFSI SSC and Managing Director of BSE Institute Ltd set the context of the study, emphasizing the need to bridge the gaps between the skill requirements of the industry and the training ecosystem. Mr. Meghdoot Karnik, COO, BFSI SSC spoke of the increasing role of technology in the domain of financial services and the growing need for convergence between the domains of BFSI and IT for the tech-based roles.
The keynote address was delivered by Ms. Shikha Sharma, DGM, Chief Learning Officer, Punjab National Bank (PNB). She narrated the steps taken by PNB in skilling its workforce and the role played by technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the bank. With more than three decades of banking experience, she shared her valuable insights on the future roles being created in the sector and need for the constant up-skilling and re-skilling of the present workforce.
The speeches and presentation were followed by an interactive question and answer session which saw active participation of the delegates. The workshop ended with a vote of thanks from DFID and BFSI SSC to all participants and the research team of the study.
