Ensure investment profits

Q: I want to be an investment banker. Which course should I take up and what qualifications are required? What exactly is the job profile?

Seema Sen

A :Much has been written about investment bankers — especially about how much money they make — but very little about what they do.

Investment bankers identify joint venture partners, define acquisition strategy, structure and enter into joint venture agreements, and successfully execute mergers and acquisitions (M&A). They also help to raise private equity capital. They are involved with the accounting, financial and legal issues that impact business. They also have a good understanding of all business facets.

Chartered accountants are qualified for the job but an MBA in finance from a good B-school is what companies want at the entry level.

A stint at a real job in a big industrial enterprise would also help, especially if you intend to become a so-called industry specialist. It also helps to have a notional understanding of the business you are trying to finance, buy, sell or restructure.

The National Stock Exchange’s Certification in Financial Markets (NCFM) will equip you with practical knowledge and skills for openings in treasury. For details, visit www.nsdl.co.in/certification/exam .html. Other institutes that have useful courses are: Institute of Financial & Investment Planning, B/303, Ventex Vikas, MV Road, Andheri (E), Mumbai 400 069

(diploma in financial and investment planning by correspondence); Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai (deemed university) offers a postgraduate diploma in investment management; ICFAI offers a postgraduate diploma in
investment banking and a certified international investment analyst
programme.

Evergreen calligraphy

Q :I have picked up calligraphy as a hobby and I am thinking of taking it up as an add-on career. Could you tell me how to get started and what are the prospects?

Ashraf M.

A: Calligraphy is currently being used for graphic/logo designing, and for illustrating maps, menu cards, greeting cards, invitations, legal documents and certificates. If you want to make it your “bread and butter”, you can use computer-aided design (CAD) to come up with newer designs. But computers will not make calligraphers redundant. Hand lettering artists will always be in demand for creating something unique and beautiful which cannot be replicated by typeface technologies. Traditional calligraphers are also in demand for translations and miniature paintings. You can eventually earn close to Rs 30,000 per month

Rocket into the healthcare IT sector

Q: How would someone with an IT background fare in the healthcare sector?

Anupam Pradhan

A: Fifty per cent of the current top 30 occupations are health-related. Globally, healthcare is a $4.5 trillion industry,

simply waiting to be tapped in India. This sector will account for seven per cent of the gross domestic product within the next ten years.

It has been projected that nine million people could be employed in the health sector in the next decade. There is an explosion of employment opportunities in the health sector right now.

For someone with an information technology (IT) background, the best place to look for job openings is in healthcare BPOs.

Outsourcing in the healthcare sector has come a long way — from low-end claims processing and medical transcription to medical analytics and clinical processing.

The good news for IT professionals is that the US healthcare industry outsources not only its medical billing and insurance processes to India, but also data analysis and software development. Although Indian healthcare BPOs are still in the nascent stage, medical services outsourcing from the US has witnessed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 150 per cent.

The medical outsourcing industry, estimated to be worth about $300 million, has four clients — the providers (hospitals and physicians) who outsource medical billing and claims worth $30 to $40 million, the payers (health insurance companies) who mainly outsource data entry work worth $100 to 105 million, the pharmaceutical companies and finally, the healthcare IT companies. You can find your niche in the latter. IT majors like Wipro’s Healthcare division have been handling a variety of KPO work like consultancy, technology management, claims processing, etc.

Medical transcription worth $100 million and KPO medical analytics (analysing medical data) are the other big growth areas you could venture into.