How to break into IB from India?

How to break Ito IB (UK/USA) from India without IIM/IIT as someone starting their UG from '26. Looking for programs like bachelor's degree/1 year abroad/global pathway programs.

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Ignore these guys - your best shot would be to get an international masters from a top school such as LSE, LBS, HEC etc and get an internship from there and convert full time. 

 

Bro I’m at a t10 in the us for undergrad coming from India and it’s still effectively impossible to get a job, it’s gonna be really tough to break in

 

I’m at an ivy in my second year and it’s still a struggle to get an internship for 25 or 26 forget full time job

Bhai do whatever you can to work 2 years in India after undergrad in finance then get into a top mba in uk/us and then you can break into these markets

That’s ur best shot

 

Chances are increasingly throttled.  From the region myself, and I don't understand why south asians haven't caught up to the the objective decline in professional opportunities in the western world.  Everyone is aware of immigration, technology has changed the game, if you want an IB job in the west, you should study in the west, otherwise transfer from Mumbai.  Don't even ask how you can get in, while still being at an Indian school, regardless if its an IIM.  

 

JPM runs the "CRG" program, where you basically act as support for the FO IB teams around the world e.g. Lon, NYC etc whilst being based in India. Analysts in this program have the opportunity to be converted into roles with the team they act as support for. Its very tough, and only very few of those analysts do actually convert to the FO role in the main office. However, the ones that do are some of the best in the business. They know the product/sector better than anybody else because that is what is required to actually move across. Mostly seems to be MBA+ however there are a few who seem to have just undergraduate degrees.

 

Analyst 2 in IB - Cov:

JPM runs the "CRG" program, where you basically act as support for the FO IB teams around the world e.g. Lon, NYC etc whilst being based in India. Analysts in this program have the opportunity to be converted into roles with the team they act as support for. Its very tough, and only very few of those analysts do actually convert to the FO role in the main office. However, the ones that do are some of the best in the business. They know the product/sector better than anybody else because that is what is required to actually move across. Mostly seems to be MBA+ however there are a few who seem to have just undergraduate degrees.


Thanks, really helpful

 
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Associate 1 in IB-M&A

Depends on which part of India you are from… From my experience, London IB is already dominated by Punjabis..

Mumbai

 
Most Helpful

Just want to add my two cents and say the absolute worst experiences I have had in banking have been with Indian senior associates, VPs, Directors, MDs as I've come up in banking.

Im convinced the extremely weird/brutal caste system and old colonial culture in india easily manifests itself into the investment banking hierarchy in the worst of ways.  

If you work under a true FOB indian - they will be WAY too subservient and lack zero spine against their boss. For instance, as an analyst the VP/AS you are working under will NEVER push back against something that makes zero sense from the trenches.  100% NEVER gonna push back (old colonial mindset to gain power and influence from currying favor with those in positions of power)

The moment they get any power/promoted, they treat those below them as almost sub-human (lower caste).  There will be forced niceties and politeness in the office, but they will brutalize you over email and never stand up for you.  It's the absolute worst.  I got staffed the other day into a legit nice deal under an indian MD - and I turned it down.  It was going to be a nightmare and I don't have the stamina nor patience to do another round of this at my level anymore.

American born indians are fine.  

If you end up making it into IB - please try and consider that USA/London is not living under an evil caste system and to respect those under you.

 

Echo this, Indians make great employees because they follow orders, but to be in executive positions you are managing upwards and downwards across the chain, so there are many things that you just need to get it (people, country culture, corporate culture, etc.), and getting it it's harder if you haven't lived and assimilated this Western culture for years (or better, being a local). Because at senior levels you aren't just delivering an Excel, you are dealing with people that are more complex than simply the  professional personal they show/portray on the job and you need to relate/understand what's not seen or spoken

and for all the Indians that are contemplating this career in the Western world, the fact that you bent yourself over to please you're boss, it will not make him like you more, on the contrary, they'll condescend you even more as a human being, but they'll keep you around because you are a great servant. You need to have some backbone and push backs on some bullshit - which is what truly respected - but again, to know when it's appropriate to show you have backbone/push back, you need to understand it. 

(fair enough, many locals also don't get it, but usually they don't get too far, the true filter starts at/above VP, so 'till VP all of you are safe because you're predominantly assessed on your product).

incentives trumph ethics
 
Controversial

Had enough of the poopjeets. Stay there. We don’t want your kind.

 

It’s telling how a straightforward request for guidance gets met with thinly veiled superiority and school-ranking gatekeeping. If your only value-add is where you studied, not what you’ve actually executed, then you’ve already plateaued. Meanwhile, global finance is being reshaped by talent that came from places you’ve never heard of and often, India. Look at the leadership across tech, asset management, and banks. It’s not about where you start. It’s about how long you stay relevant. I’m focused on real work, not impress some keyboard warriors stuck in their ivory towers jerking off to their pedigrees.Some of the advice here actually had value, but a surprising amount of the responses was just recycled racism and pointless gatekeeping. If you want to add something meaningful, feel free.

 

cacoonie

school-ranking gatekeeping.

"Looking for programs like bachelor's degree/1 year abroad/global pathway programs."

 
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