India’s financial sector is navigating a peculiar paradox. While millions of commerce and business graduates enter the job market every year, wealth management firms, banking institutions, and financial planning boutiques routinely report a shortage of job-ready talent. Some argue that the mismatch lies in training, that traditional degree programmes often focus on macro-level corporate accounting or theoretical economics, leaving graduates unequipped for the applied, client-centric reality of modern wealth management.
As automated systems absorb routine compliance and basic financial reporting, the industry’s demand is sliding rapidly toward roles requiring human judgement, ethical reasoning, and holistic financial guidance. This has brought specialized certifications into sharp focus as critical parameters for employability.
To understand the nature of this talent gap, the specific pathways open to non-finance students, and what it takes to build a career in wealth advisory, we spoke to Dante De Gori, CEO of Financial Planning Standards Board Limited (FPSB), the global non-profit body that establishes and manages the international standards for the financial planning profession. In this interview, De Gori breaks down the structural imbalance in the Indian market, entry routes for graduates, and the evolution of early-career outcomes in financial planning.
When we talk about “vacancies in finance,” which specific roles or segments are you referring to?
The demand for talent in the financial sector is shifting toward roles in financial planning, wealth advisory, and client-centric financial services. What we are witnessing is not a shortage of jobs, but a shortage of capability and readiness.
In the context of India, this shift is especially pronounced. As the market matures and financial awareness deepens, there is a clear and accelerating need for professionals who can deliver holistic, structured financial guidance. Across industry platforms and hiring channels, the appetite for Certified Financial Planner® (CFP) professionals continues to expand steadily, reflecting a broader transformation in how individuals approach investments, retirement, tax efficiency, and long-term wealth creation.
This is not a moment defined by volume, but by evolution the financial ecosystem is moving toward advice-led engagement, and the need for skilled, trusted advisors has never been more critical.
The transition is evident in terms of product distribution to advice-based engagement that needs professionals capable of providing holistic, goal-focused financial solutions, but not transactional services. At a broader level, multiple global studies reinforce this shift. For instance, research by FPSB Ltd in its “Value of Financial Planning – Global Consumer Research” shows strong and growing demand for financial planning advice, with a significant proportion of consumers expressing unmet financial planning needs.
Similarly, insights from Boston Consulting Group’s Global Wealth Report highlight a clear industry transition away from a product-sales mindset toward client-centric, advisory-led models, driven by evolving customer expectations.
You mentioned a gap between available roles and qualified professionals. Could you help contextualise this, and share any data or reports that support it? It would be useful to know the sources, timelines, and whether this is more visible in India or globally.
The gap between available roles and qualified professionals is real, measurable, and increasingly structural.
In India, demand for financial planning and advisory talent is expanding rapidly, but the supply of certified professionals has not kept pace. According to the FPSB Ltd, India had approximately 3,534 CFP professionals as of December 2025, and over 236,000+ globally.
For a market of India’s scale and growing financial complexity, this gap is significant. It underscores a fundamental reality: this is not a shortage of opportunities, but a shortage of qualified, job-ready talent.
Globally, while demand for trusted financial advice is rising, the imbalance is far more acute in India, where need for certified professional consulting is accelerating and consumer expectations are evolving quickly. This makes the talent gap not just a workforce issue, but a strategic priority for the future of the profession.
What does a typical entry pathway into these roles look like today, especially for a student graduating from an unrelated field?
The entry pathway into financial planning today is intentionally inclusive and structured to accommodate diverse backgrounds.
In India, individuals can begin as early as after Class 12 and progress alongside their graduation. The regular pathway is designed for students and early-career individuals, building knowledge step-by-step across investment, retirement, tax, and estate planning enabling even those from non-finance backgrounds to develop strong domain expertise over time.
Alongside this, the fast-track pathway is available for professionals who already hold relevant qualifications or industry experience. It allows them to accelerate their journey to certification by focusing on the final stages of assessment and professional readiness.
The CFP certification is awarded upon completion of education, examination, and relevant work experience ensuring both academic grounding and practical capability.
This means a student from engineering, science, or any unrelated field can confidently enter the profession. The framework prioritises competence, ethics, and employability over prior academic specialisation making financial planning one of the most accessible and merit-driven career pathways in financial services today.
What does the journey into these roles look like in practical terms, in terms of time, cost, and level of difficulty?
The journey into financial planning is structured, but not time-bound it largely depends on how an individual chooses to pace their progression.
The program is application-oriented and maintains a moderate-to-high level of rigor, reflecting the standards expected of a global profession. Earning the CFP certification requires clearing examinations, fulfilling work experience criteria either through a structured one-year supervised pathway or three years of relevant professional experience.
In essence, while the pathway demands commitment and discipline, it is designed to be flexible and accessible. It allows candidates to shape their own journey, without compromising on the depth of learning or professional readiness required to succeed in the field.
From a student’s perspective, what kind of roles do these pathways typically lead to in the first 2–5 years?
In India, early career opportunities are anchored in foundational roles across financial planning and advisory, enabling individuals to develop technical depth while contributing to client outcomes. As they gain experience, many transition into client-facing roles such as wealth advisors, relationship managers, or investment and tax advisory specialists.
Importantly, the pathway also enables individuals to become independent financial planning practitioners. Many professionals choose to build their own advisory practice or Financial Planning boutique firms, working directly with clients and shaping their own entrepreneurial journey in financial planning.
Beyond traditional roles, opportunities extend across investment advisory, portfolio management support, retirement planning, estate planning, and roles within fintech and digital wealth platforms.
What makes this profession unique is its flexibility professionals can specialise, grow within institutions, or build their own practice. The early years are critical not just for developing technical expertise, but for building trust, credibility, and long-term client relationships, which ultimately define success in this field.
How important is a certification like this relative to a traditional degree in finance, commerce, or business? Where does it add the most value?
A traditional degree in finance, commerce, or business provides a strong academic foundation but a professional certification adds a very different and critical layer of value.
In India, certifications are designed to be practice-oriented. They focus on applying knowledge to real-life financial decisions covering investments, retirement, tax, and holistic financial planning while also embedding ethics and client-centricity at the core.
What makes this pathway particularly powerful is its accessibility. It is not limited to those with a commerce or finance background. Individuals from engineering, medicine, or other disciplines can enter the profession, provided they have the analytical ability, commitment to learning, and an interest in personal finance.
The real value of certification lies in bridging the gap between knowledge and practice. While a degree builds understanding, a certification builds capability, credibility, and employability. It signals that a professional is not only educated, but also trained to advise, engage with clients, and deliver outcomes in a real-world context.
In that sense, certifications are not a replacement for degrees but an essential complement, especially in a profession that is increasingly defined by trust, competence, and applied expertise.
In your view, where does the bigger gap lie today, in awareness among students or in the skills that employers are looking for?
It’s encouraging to see that both awareness and skills are evolving in the right direction and they are closely linked.
In India, awareness of financial planning as a credible and rewarding career is steadily improving. As more students and professionals recognise the value and relevance of this profession, we are seeing a natural increase in interest and participation.
At the same time, employers are clearly articulating the need for well-rounded professionals who combine technical knowledge with the ability to deliver client-centric advice. This is where structured pathways and certifications play a critical role in building job-ready talent.
So rather than viewing it as a gap, I see this as a convergence in progress where rising awareness is steadily translating into stronger capability. As this momentum continues, it will help create a more robust and future-ready talent pipeline for the financial planning profession.
