Dr.Sangeeta Pandit is the Head of Department, Finance at Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research, and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE), Mumbai. She conducts regular sessions in hospitals with patients and their caregivers to cope with the emotional and financial trauma of life threatening ailments. She works closely with various organizations for the cause of financial inclusion. She has been in the educational sector for twenty-six years. She is an Independent Director in listed companies. She is a much sought-after corporate trainer.

SIMSREE

What keeps you connected with the Education Sector and how has your experience been so far with the institute?

“The education sector is my true calling, segment of learning and contributing to society”

 The more and more I teach and train, the happier and energetic, I am. There have been days when I have taken sessions for 10 hours with small breaks and it has not tired me. I am constantly interacting with young people, half of my age, and even younger. Their youthful exuberance and innocence motivate me to prepare long and hard to deliver lectures that would be a valuable addition to them. Due to so much information available on the internet, classroom learning has taken a different dimension. Students have all information about a topic at their fingertip. 

Being the HOD, what are your roles and responsibilities towards the students and the institute?

“To provide a vibrant student-driven culture is the foremost responsibility”

 There are a plethora of activities; they keep the bar of learning very high. I am HOD Finance and we have a student body called the Finance Forum. My role and responsibility are more of being a mentor to the Finance Forum. They organize a flagship event of our Institute called FISCUS, where there is a panel discussion on current macro issues impacting the global and domestic financials. They also have an excellent monthly finance magazine. I need to constantly coordinate with student representatives to add topics to their modules, extra workshops on skillsets as the external environment changes and new skillsets are required.

What are the factors that make this program the best for the students to opt for?

“Practical knowledge and digital learning for skills development and better equipped for the future”

 Today robotics, machine learning, and AI are making more and more jobs automated. This is making qualities like soft skills, communication skills, team building ability, and leadership qualities very important and necessary. At SIMSREE, from Day 1, each student is a manager and is encouraged to be pro-active and help in organizing activities that will increase learning. In the process, hands on, they hone their leadership and team-building skills, they also bond a lot. They also interact with industry stalwarts a lot that increases their networking. The events they organize have participation pan India and even overseas, this helps them to leverage their visibility and opportunities through social media. Students arrange workshops on emerging skillsets needed with the help of illustrious alumni.

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How does the program ensure that students are being prepared for the future?

“Providing experiential learning with associating to industries for activity-based learning”

 The future is technology. SIMSREE focus is not exam-oriented teaching but teaching from making students conceptually sound. Visiting faculties deliver nearly 60% of our lectures. They are from Industry and teach not for money but as a passion. They share what they are doing in their jobs. Besides, the structured syllabus; students are allowed to do certificate courses in six sigma, technical analysis, advanced financial modeling, and the like. 

What are the types of projects that the students are working on through this program?

“Internships, research learning and seminar knowledge are the crucial parts of the developed academia”

  • There is a mandatory summer internship that each student has to do for 3 months after semester 2. 
  • They have to write a report on this called the summer project report. They have 3 projects in their last semester, one relating to environmental issues, one on general management, and one on the specialization they have opted for-finance, marketing, HR, or Systems. 
  • With our close association with bodies like IMC, CII, and due to the good wishes of our illustrious alumni and guest speakers, students do get opportunities to work on live projects. 

What are the upcoming trends in this industry? Do you see any particular change(s) Post-Corona period?

“The acceptance of alternatives and new trends created out of necessity that may continue to remain”

The upcoming trends are the shift to the importance of logistics and supply chain. 5G and the way it will change the speed and volume of communication. Data management, privacy issues, and cybersecurity are becoming increasingly relevant. Post-Corona too, organizations may not want to go back to paying rentals for big office spaces and may want some employees to continue from work from home. Travel of employees may be reduced and more virtual meetings. 

What are the benefits and career options after pursuing this course?

“There is no full stop in the aspect of a career in finance”

Benefits: 

  • Exposed to the various types of managerial skills and opportunity to hone them. 
  • Good networking opportunities, 
  • Ways to display writing skills and 
  • Hand on to learn how to work in teams and also be a good leader.

Career Options:

 In Finance- Investment Banking, Risk Management, Equity Analysis, Wealth Management, PMS, working for Venture Capitalists, PE and Hedge Funds, Big Broking Houses, Depository Services, Banks, NBFCs and other financial intermediaries, Business Consultancy, Core Finance jobs, more and more opportunities in Mutual Funds as analysts and customer procurement and servicing and of course employment in startups. 

What do you see as the department’s greatest strengths and how can they be enhanced?

“The student driven culture with various student bodies. The pro-active attitude of students to make the campus a great learning center”

 My two great strengths are the student body of the Finance Forum and the able course coordinators. I can enhance their competency by constantly interacting with them and mentoring them to see that their focus is to make the campus environment, even the virtual one, conducive to learning, networking, bonding, and building strong ethical attitudes. Also encouraging a multi-disciplinary approach so that the student clubs of marketing, entrepreneurship, research, etc add value to the financial acumen of students.

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What valuable advice would you like to give the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

“Life is not fair, do not complain but develop good people’s skills and leadership traits. Also, manage your investments prudently”

My repetitive and constant advice to students is that start saving as early as possible, more important than saving is investing. In investing, follow all concepts learned of diversification and risk mitigation. Do not succumb to greed, fear, and Ponzi schemes. In the long run, transparency and ethics pay. Understand the compliance issues of your work profile and at the same time be innovative. Focus on performance. The three basic ingredients in the recipe for success and happiness is transparency, ethics, and diligence.