Vivek Bajaj is the founder of Kredent Infoedge, an enterprise involved in simplifying finance for everyone. He has over 15 years of experience in the financial market. He is a chartered accountant, company secretary and an MBA from IIM Indore. He begins his career as an analyst and moved on to become a trader and create one of the largest derivatives trading desk in eastern India with over 150 traders and also one of the top algo trading desks in Mumbai. He is passionate about data, technology, and education. For the last 3 years, he has been involved in empowering people with the right learning and analytics in finance through his online ventures elearnmarkets.com and stockedge app. In an exclusive interaction with the CXO Outlook, Vivek Bajaj talks about the growing finance sector, future jobs and many more.
- What according to you is at the core of industry 4.0? What should industry leaders need to know before embarking on this journey?
The core of industry 4.0 is going to be automation and using machines to multiply efficiency in every process of the product lifecycle. The per-unit cost of manufacturing a product or producing service should be as low as possible due to the adaptation of technology. From IT-enabled to IT company, every business would evolve to this realty.
- Considering that a major chunk of future jobs in India will be in areas of Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotics, what needs to be done to fill the industry-academia gap?
The major gap as you have already highlighted is industry-academia mismatch. The whole education system should incorporate compulsory engagement with the industry. Also, best practices followed globally should be introduced at every level of education. For example. Germany is known for its industry skill orientation.
- Since the demand for skill-based learning is growing in the finance sector, what Education 4.0 offers to fulfill the same? What is the idea to launch Kredent Academy and Elearnmarkets.com?
KA and ELM were formed to fulfill the promise of providing industry-oriented education to everyone. The financial market is a knowledge sea and anyone and everyone can deep drive into the same. But most critical in this domain is right and effective education. Both KA and ELM offers the right mix of theory and practical understanding to fulfill the application need of any participant.
- What impact will upskilling create on graduates and working professionals in the Finance Sector?
Knowledge of finance is most critical in society. A right learning framework will not just empower a candidate for employment but also to help the society in large become more sensitive to money management. Each person, particularly a graduate is expected to know the art of managing money since one would have to earn eventually. Also, a cross-dimensional understanding of various subjects in finance will give any finance professional an edge over others in terms of servicing the client.
- Do we have a demand-supply gap of quality workforce India Finance sector? What are the loopholes in the Indian Financial Education system?
There is always a demand-supply gap in a sector which is the most growing sector in our economy. Finance is a broad domain which comprises of banking, wealth management, investments, loan and many more. For India to become a 5 trillion economy the most impetus will come from this sector. To be on the right path, this sector would always need the best talents. The loopholes in the education system are the fact the students are focused on exams and not careers. For example, CFA qualification. Ideally one should do CFA after few years of experience in finance because the concepts taught there are more application-oriented. However, in reality, the qualification is taken up mostly by freshers, which dilutes the essence of the entire course. For entry-level jobs, one could resort to other entry-level courses like CRTA in our Academy
CRTA (Certificate in Research, Trading & Advisory) is the best course that will help a participant to build a practical base of understanding financial markets.
- Where is India lacking when it comes to corporate hiring in the finance sector?
In terms of corporate hiring in the finance sector, the major problem lies in the fact that the entry-level candidates are extremely bookish. This demotivates a recruiter to take many entry-level resources as the effort on making them worthy goes up significantly. The solution is to introduce practical projects/tenure in every education module for a smooth transition in the real world.
- Why short – term courses (1.5 – 3 months) are helpful for professionals at any level?
Short term courses are extremely important and user-friendly for both participant and recruiter. They act as a bridge between the theory and the practical world and also a great source of upskilling the existing talent.
- Is content important for skill creation?
More than content I believe the application of content is most important. I think the content has become a commodity available in multiple platforms. What one needs is not just consuming these contents but also understand the right practical framework around that content, which institute likes ours to provide the best in financial learnings.
- What is your advice to the aspirants?
My advice to aspirants is to look at learning finance not only from the perspective of a career in finance but also for a holistic understanding of the right money management. This will help them to create wealth in the long term.