Are commerce graduates prepared for industry roles?

Every year, India produces lakhs of commerce graduates. Data from AISHE shows that commerce makes up about 13.3% of undergraduate enrolments. That translates to millions of commerce students across the country each year. On paper, that should create a massive talent pool for banking, finance, consulting, and corporate roles.

In reality, the gap between degrees and job-readiness remains wide. A government report claims employability among graduates rose from 33.95% in 2013 to 55% in 2024. But anyone who has been on a recruitment panel knows the truth: too many candidates walk in with degrees yet lack the skills to perform. Unless that changes, we’ll continue to see a generation of educated but underemployed youth whose qualifications don’t match what the industry actually needs.

According to the Economic Survey, only 8.25% of Indian graduates work in roles that genuinely match their qualifications. That’s not just low, it’s structural underemployment. Millions are technically “employed,” but in jobs that don’t use the skills they studied.

The weakest link

Modern finance and corporate roles expect more than theoretical accounting. Even entry-level positions now demand comfort with:

Intermediate Excel (pivot tables, macros)

ERP and accounting software (SAP, Oracle, Tally)

Data visualisation tools (Power BI, Tableau)

Yet, most commerce programs continue to reward memorisation over application. Recruiters see this first-hand. In BFSI, 72% of employers say they now prefer candidates with demonstrable technical expertise over pure academic credentials. That preference shows up in pay scales too:

Financial analysts skilled in Excel, SQL, and valuation earn ₹6–10 LPA.

Risk managers who know Python/R and Basel frameworks command ₹12–25 LPA.

Investment bankers with M&A modelling experience can touch ₹20–50 LPA.

Degrees may open doors, but applied skills decide who gets hired and how much they earn.

The government’s skilling initiatives have been ambitious. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) has trained 1.6 crore youth since 2015. But the placement data tells a different story:

24.3 lakh tracked placements, with a success rate of less than 15%.

PMKVY 2.0 placement rate: around 19.5%

PMKVY 3.0: as low as 5.8% in some sectors

Overall placement across short-term training candidates: 42.8%

The takeaway is clear: training alone doesn’t create employability unless it’s tightly aligned with what industries need.

A Mumbai-based investment firm recently shared that 7 out of 10 commerce graduates they interview can’t build a simple discounted cash flow (DCF) model in Excel, despite having studied financial management for three years. Recruiters across India echo this frustration: “We don’t mind teaching our internal processes, but the basics should be there.”

The irony is that the finance and fintech sectors are booming. The BFSI sector employs around 9 million people, contributes nearly 6% to GDP, and fintech alone is expected to generate 3 lakh new jobs in 2025. Employers today seek talent in fraud detection, credit risk analysis, compliance, analytics, and digital product management, yet most graduates are still being trained for textbook audits and static balance sheets.

This isn’t a shortage of jobs. It’s a shortage of job-ready talent.

How to fix it?

Curriculum overhaul: Universities must move from theory-heavy syllabi to skill-oriented learning. Applied finance, Excel, ERP tools, and data visualisation should be part of the core curriculum, not electives.

Mandatory internships: Every commerce student should complete at least a three-month structured internship with defined deliverables and evaluation criteria.

Integrated certifications: Partnering with global certifications such as CFA, ACCA, CPA, CMA, and FRM — along with hands-on experience using Power BI and SQL can significantly raise employability.

Soft skills and communication labs: Courses in communication, problem-solving, and adaptability should use live case studies and presentations, not rote exercises.

The bottom line: India doesn’t lack talent. It lacks alignment. When 70% of a commerce degree focuses on theory and only 30% on application, underemployment is inevitable.

To fix this, we need a system that teaches students to think, not just memorise. That equips them to analyse, not just account. Those values applied learning over textbook knowledge.

Unless we shift towards building applied, digital, and analytical competencies, we’ll keep producing graduates who are available but not employable.

And that’s not just an education gap, it’s an economic one.

(The author is the founder of a firm providing job-assistance learning)