Students with analytical mind, open to challenges and with zest of learning are best suited, says Prof Thakkar

CFA Krupesh Thakkar, faculty at ITM Business School, discusses about the PGDM programme in Financial Markets in an interview with Shiksha.com. He goes into great detail on curriculum, pedagogy, practical exposure, internships, and other variables that help students get ready for the workforce. Finance, according to Krupesh, should not be confined to four walls but should be experienced in the actual world through labs or industrial trainings.

Krupesh is a post-graduate MMS with specialisation in Finance and is a CFA® charterholder. He has also completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Foreign Trade and Diploma in Banking & Finance. Having spent more than a decade in the capital market, his research area included tracking the economy, establishing market strategy and assignments in investment banking.

Read the complete interview below.

Q: What are the salient features of the teaching methodology adopted by your college? How does this differ from others?

A: The teaching methodology adopted by us is very unique. Finance is a subject that can not be confined to classroom learning. One has to go beyond walls, understand markets to understand the concepts in detail. Following are the salient features of our teaching methodology:

PGDM-Financial Markets is a dedicated course using classroom teaching with innovative pedagogy to better learn and strengthen student’s base, knowledge and proficiency in the subjects of finance and financial markets. The course is designed to give a perfect blend of classroom sessions along with practical training in our Business Simulation Lab

It also has a subscription to the financial database of companies, sectors and economies through Accord FinTech.

The course covers all core finance area including corporate finance, investment banking, financial derivatives, fixed income,  portfolio management, wealth management, treasury & risk management, banking management, equity markets, financial modelling, forex markets, alternative finance and Fintech.

Q: How are you preparing your students to be Industry ready?

A: Industry readiness is a crucial skill these days especially for finance students. Finance as a subject can not be mastered only by reading books. Rather needs a lot of market exposure, industrial training to understand how does money actually flows, invested and earned. To help our students become  industry ready –

• The course gives exposure through Industry-Academia Interface involving Industry Visits, Guest Lectures, Workshops, Panel Discussions and Seminars. The course-specific workshops are also conducted on subjects of ‘Financial Regulations’, ‘Banking Dynamics’, ‘Investment Banking’, ‘Tableau’, and likewise.
• PGDM-FM as part of its programme, also facilitates certifications from CISI (Chartered Institute for Securities), UK and NISM (National Institute of Securities Markets. The students are provided special training for various certifications offered by these organisations.
• With certification from CISI being an internationally approved certificate by pursuing this certification, students stand a good chance of making a career in international financial institutions. Various companies in BFSI segment have mandatory requirement to have specific NISM Certifications, thus passing these certifications, students get a better chance for these placement offers.
• 5-month Industry Internship to avail real-world experience in top corporates

Q: What are the qualities you are looking for in student applicants? What qualities do they need to do well in your course?

A: The course is best suited for those aspirants who want to shape their careers in the Finance sector in India and overseas in the field of Investment Banks, Banking, Financial Services, Research, Mutual Funds, Rating agencies, Wealth Management, Insurance, Micro Finance & IT.

The students with analytical minds, open to challenges and with zest of learning are best suited for the course. 

Q: How do you ensure that your course curriculum is up to date and meets industry requirements?

A: Every year we conduct two Board of Studies in addition to the regular Faculty Meet to discuss the various aspects of the course including need for updating curriculum and syllabus, gap-finding in the current curriculum, pedagogy review, assessment review

The members of this Board of Studies include the Director and Dean of the colleges, internal and visiting faculty, industry experts, subject specialists, recruiters, alumni to get a holistic view of the current trend and industry demand

Any areas of improvement are being considered in the coming years and for the current year, we conduct various guest sessions and workshops as mentioned earlier

Q: Is your college receptive to innovation, technology, science & entrepreneurship? How? Could you cite some examples of these?

A: The Business Simulation Lab is a part of ITM Center of Excellence available exclusively to Financial Markets. It facilitates learning in a real-time, live market environment simulation in various asset classes, giving a chance to the students to get a first-hand experience of a live trading environment along with Cogencis (Newswire software) for getting Live News feeds on global & domestic economy and financial markets. Also, corporate software of AceKP (Accord Fintech) provides all the Indian companies and sector data

Also, at ITM we have an Entrepreneur and Incubation cell that encourage and help students to be an entrepreneur.

Some of our students after getting related work experience, have started their own venture.