Communications and building new businesses in finance and retail

One by-product of the Indian economic transformation has been the emergence of whole new business sectors. Retail and finance are two cases in point: organised retail is projected to increase by 20 per cent by around 2010, meaning 2.2 million new retail jobs. In finance, huge growth is taking place in financial planning and wealth management.

The key challenge is to produce enough people in these fields who can communicate in a way that builds the business, supports the brand and creates a base of loyal customers. This will not happen without an investment in training - or your ''new'' business could quickly become a thing of the past.

If India is to truly benefit from its unique ''demographic dividend'' of a young population, communications as a part of corporate education and training will play a vital role. Communication is a skill that can be learned.

Finance organisations such as ICICI Bank are taking this seriously; it has joined up with a university to create an Academy of Banking and Insurance, expected to create over one million new jobs in the next five years.

The aim, ''first-day, first-hour productivity'' from new employees is ambitious and reflects how banking has changed: the imperative is to go out and sell, rather than wait for customers to come in, leading to new specialist roles within banks.

Across India, many corporations of various sizees across industry segments are making significant educational investments; their dollars may not come close to companies like ICICI Bank, but proportionately the educational investment is large, which is why they must approach corporate education strategically. Many are realising a boost is needed in people skills - in communicating in a way that satisfies customers.