Commerce route
Equity research and investment banking
You either work out what a company is really worth and tell investors whether to buy its shares, or you help companies raise money and buy each other.
First question
What does this person do?
These are two different jobs that sit next to each other. An equity research analyst covers a set of listed companies — say, the cement industry — and tries to work out what each one is actually worth. You read their published accounts, build a spreadsheet model of what they will earn over the next few years, visit their factories, talk to their customers and competitors, and then publish a report saying buy, hold or sell, with a target price and your name on it. When you are wrong in public, everyone can see. Investment banking is the other side: a company wants to list its shares on the stock exchange, or borrow a very large sum, or buy a rival, and the bank runs that transaction.
Juniors build the financial models and the presentation decks that the deal is argued from; the hours in the first years are notoriously long and unpredictable, and a deal collapsing at 2 a. m. is an ordinary week. In India both jobs sit mostly in Mumbai, with a large amount of research and analysis work also done in Gurgaon and Bengaluru for banks based abroad.
Next question
What are they paid?
LPA = lakhs per annum; ₹1 lakh = ₹100,000. These are broad India market estimates across common employers and work settings—not guaranteed offers, audited statistics or the ceiling. References give context, not proof of each exact band. Historical anchors and evidence gaps remain in Sources.
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Entry first role
Estimated range₹6.0–18LPA
Broad India market estimate, not a guaranteed offer or audited statistic. Boutiques, research teams, domestic banks and global investment banks sit on sharply different tracks; bonuses can move totals.
Commerce estimated midpoint at this rung: ₹7.5 LPA · midpoint median across 11 editorial Commerce routes · compare all routes
Market reference: AmbitionBox www.ambitionbox.com Estimate dated
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Mid about 5 years in
Estimated range₹12–35LPA
Broad India market estimate, not a guaranteed offer or audited statistic. Boutiques, research teams, domestic banks and global investment banks sit on sharply different tracks; bonuses can move totals.
Commerce estimated midpoint at this rung: ₹16 LPA · midpoint median across 11 editorial Commerce routes · compare all routes
Market reference: AmbitionBox www.ambitionbox.com Estimate dated
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Senior about 10 years in
Estimated range₹25–70LPA
Broad India market estimate, not a guaranteed offer or audited statistic. Boutiques, research teams, domestic banks and global investment banks sit on sharply different tracks; bonuses can move totals.
Commerce estimated midpoint at this rung: ₹27 LPA · midpoint median across 11 editorial Commerce routes · compare all routes
Market reference: AmbitionBox www.ambitionbox.com Estimate dated
The vertical line marks the midpoint median of the editorial estimates for this stream. Published examples are excluded. Scale: ₹ lakhs per annum.
Hiring landscape
Who hires for this work?
Examples of large employers and institutions associated with this route in India:
- Goldman Sachs
- JPMorgan Chase
- Morgan Stanley
- CRISIL
Examples, not a ranking or a promise of a current vacancy. Hiring changes; check the employer’s own careers page.
What it takes to get in
- Entrance exam
- There is no common entrance exam covering both careers. Employers set their own hiring requirements. Regulated research-analyst work has separate SEBI qualification, certification and registration rules; those rules do not automatically apply to every investment-banking job. Relevant NISM certification is required for the research roles covered by the regulations, with renewal needed to maintain compliance.
- Realistic cut-off
- Regulation 7, amended on 25 November 2025, permits a recognised graduate degree or equivalent qualification, or a CFA Charter, with relevant NISM or NISM-accredited certification. It also provides a route through specified NISM postgraduate programmes. The earlier graduate-plus-five-years requirement is not the current general rule. These are regulatory qualifications for covered research services, not a guarantee of a job or a universal entry requirement for investment banking. Individual employers may require further qualifications and experience.
- How long
- 5 years
- Roughly what it costs
Not stated as a single figure
Costs depend on the chosen qualification: an MBA, chartered accountancy and the CFA programme have different fees and training commitments. Covered research roles also require relevant NISM certification and continuing compliance. Current examination fees and assessment details are published by NISM; this review could not re-access the linked examination page to verify its earlier fee and pass-mark figures.
Approximate, tuition only, excluding coaching and living costs unless the source text says otherwise.
- Can you switch out later?
- Moderate. The qualifications behind it — MBA, CA, CFA — travel well into corporate finance, consulting, private equity and company finance roles, so the preparation is not wasted. The job itself is narrower: the skills are specific to valuing companies and running transactions, the employers are concentrated in a few cities, and hiring shrinks sharply when markets fall, which is exactly when the people already inside are looking to move.
Delhi entry paths
These are the routes people in Delhi commonly take into this career. This is not a ranking of institutions and does not list cut-offs for any particular college.
- Any three-year degree — BCom, BA Economics and BBA at Delhi University colleges are the common ones — followed by an MBA, chartered accountancy, or the CFA programme taken while working
- The NISM-Series-XV Research Analyst certification is an online exam taken at test centres across Delhi NCR and requires no particular degree to sit
- Gurgaon and Noida hold a large concentration of the research, analytics and support arms that global investment banks and asset managers run out of India, and these hire commerce and economics graduates directly out of college
- The transaction side of investment banking is concentrated in Mumbai; a Delhi entry path usually means moving there
- Internships during a degree matter more for these employers than for most others in the commerce stream, and are the ordinary way in
How this compares
| Route | Entry | Mid | Senior |
|---|---|---|---|
| Actuary (actuarial science) | ₹4.0–8.0 LPA | ₹10–22 LPA | ₹20–45 LPA |
| Bank Probationary Officer (public sector banks) | ₹10–15 LPA | ₹14–21 LPA | ₹18–30 LPA |
| Chartered Accountant (CA) | ₹6.0–13 LPA | ₹12–25 LPA | ₹20–45 LPA |
| MBA through CAT (management) | ₹5.0–16 LPA | ₹10–30 LPA | ₹18–50 LPA |
| Equity research and investment banking (this route) | ₹6.0–18 LPA | ₹12–35 LPA | ₹25–70 LPA |
Sources
- Securities and Exchange Board of India www.sebi.gov.in
2024-12-16: Historical SEBI Research Analysts Regulations reference, retained with its original record date. It is not a salary source. Current qualification wording is supported by the separately linked consolidated regulations amended on 25 November 2025; the older postgraduate or graduate-plus-five-years description is superseded. 2024-12-16: Historical evidence gap for the entry rung; not validation of the displayed estimate: No representative entry-pay dataset for Indian equity research and investment banking was established in this review. SEBI regulations describe eligibility and conduct, not salary. Campus reports describe particular institutions and cohorts; compensation may include variable bonuses. The displayed band is an editorial estimate, not a pay schedule published by SEBI or a guaranteed offer. 2024-12-16: Historical evidence gap for the mid rung; not validation of the displayed estimate: The cited regulatory source does not provide five-year salary data. No representative five-year pay series for these two occupations was established in this source-quality pass; employer, role and variable compensation limit comparisons. The displayed band remains an editorial estimate. 2024-12-16: Historical evidence gap for the senior rung; not validation of the displayed estimate: The cited regulatory source does not provide ten-year salary data. No representative ten-year pay series for these occupations was established in this pass. Individual executive disclosures cannot establish a typical outcome for all practitioners. The displayed band remains an editorial estimate.
- National Institute of Securities Markets www.nism.ac.in
2026-08-17: Earlier recorded NISM-Series-XV examination-page reference, retained with its 2026-08-17 check date. The page could not be re-accessed during the 2026-10-12 pass, so its previously recorded fee, assessment format and pass mark are not treated as freshly verified. Current regulatory certification obligations are supported by the separately linked SEBI regulations. This source does not establish salary levels or the displayed market bands.
- Securities and Exchange Board of India www.sebi.gov.in
2025-11-25: Official consolidated SEBI Research Analysts Regulations linked from the SEBI page labelled last amended 25 November 2025; that is the amendment date, not the PDF hosting month or check date (2026-10-12). Regulation 7, pages 10-11, covers recognised graduate/equivalent qualifications or CFA Charter with relevant certification, the specified NISM programme alternative, and continued certification. Applies to the covered research-services roles; does not establish all investment-banking job qualifications, hiring probabilities, salary levels, or the editorial market bands.
- AmbitionBox www.ambitionbox.com
2026-08-21: Broad India market estimate, not a guaranteed offer or audited statistic. Boutiques, research teams, domestic banks and global investment banks sit on sharply different tracks; bonuses can move totals.