Want to become a financial adviser? Best financial planning courses and institutes in India explained
The career change of Sumit Aggarwal to a mutual fund distributor illustrates a notable trend within the financial advisory realm in India. With a vast number of investors, there's a growing necessity for certified financial planners. Educational i...
Sumit Aggarwal has been on a career break since March this year. After nearly 20 years at Infosys, he quit as a project manager to make an unlikely professional switch. “I want to be a mutual fund distributor (MFD) and eventually establish my own financial advisory firm,” says the 42-year-old from Ghaziabad. To that end, he has been taking up short-term courses offered by the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) since March. Earlier in 2024, Aggarwal had also obtained a Qualified Personal Finance Professional (QPFP) certification from Network FP (network of personal finance professionals).
Aggarwal may well be in the right place at the right time. For, while lakhs of Indians are entering the financial markets, qualified financial advisers and planners remain in short supply. As of March 2026, India had only 977 Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)-registered investment advisers and 3.4 lakh MFDs as per the Association of Mutual Funds in India, against a registered investor base of 13.2 crore as of June 2026 (NSE Market Pulse report). This gap highlights the untapped potential of India’s financial advisory market.
The same is true for financial planners. “India’s wealth is growing faster than its pool of certified financial planners (CFP),” says Devashish Chakravarty, Founder, QVerify. “As of December 2025, 3,534 CFP professionals were serving the wealth management market, whose addressable assets will rise from $1.1 trillion in 2023-24 to $2.3 trillion by 2028-29, as per Deloitte. The gap is not a problem; it’s a career opportunity,” says Chakravarty.
At 21, Sonit Marwah has already figured out how to make the most of this opportunity. He’s pursuing a Master’s degree in Applied Finance & Wealth Management from S P Jain School of Global Management. “Professional guidance is going to become a necessity rather than a choice. India’s economy is maturing and the new generation is building wealth faster than before. With more investment products, tax rules and cross-border options, it will be harder for people to manage everything alone,” says the student who is aiming for a career in wealth management and high net worth individual (HNI) advisory.
Prabhanjan Kulkarni, Chief Human Resources Officer, Scripbox, agrees that the demand for CFPs is set to grow. “The drivers include rising incomes, financialisation of household savings, increasing capital market participation, growth in affluent, HNI, and family office segments, IPO-driven wealth creation, and greater complexity in tax, succession, global diversification, and retirement needs,” he says.
While a degree may be a good idea for a fresh graduate like Marwah, for someone like Aggarwal planning to open a distributorship, or those looking for mid-career upskilling, or even those wanting to manage their personal finances, a better option may be certification and courses on financial planning, wealth management and markets & investing.
If you, too, want to turn personal finance into a profession, financial planning courses and certifications can offer a route to a growing industry where the need for credible, qualified advice is increasing. Here are the options you can consider.
What’s on offer?
A career in financial planning or wealth advisory has not been lucrative so far because people have been reluctant to pay for financial advice. The RIA community has grown slowly because rising compliance costs, which many say keep newcomers out, and established firms limiting staff to cut costs have slowed growth. On the distribution side, commission norms have tightened over the years. Limited earning potential has meant very few academic or professional training institutes serve this industry. Universities typically do not offer an independent course or degree in financial planning and wealth management, with most including it as an elective or a specialisation as part of the basic undergraduate or post graduate degree in finance or management.
Things are changing though. As people build wealth, they value financial advice and are increasingly willing to pay for it. The growing demand for qualified financial planners means institutes are starting to offer relevant courses to train them. While the S P Jain School of Global Management is offering a Master’s degree in Applied Finance & Wealth Management, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad launched a one-year Executive Programme in Financial Planning and Investment Advisory Services last year, in collaboration with the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) India. Meanwhile, IIM-Calcutta is launching a nine-month Executive Programme in Wealth Management & Planning in 2027.
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“These courses have been started only recently and are too academic and expensive,” says Aggarwal. “They are fine for those seeking brand value, but it’s the courses from NISM, the QPFP course or the CFP certification from FPSB India that provide practical experience and value for money,” he adds, as per his independent assessment.
While the IIM-Ahmedabad course costs Rs.7.5 lakh (plus GST), the IIM-Calcutta course costs Rs.4.07 lakh (plus GST). By comparison, the CFP certification for 12-18 months costs Rs.1.4 lakh (regular pathway) and the QPFP certification costs Rs.68,000 (plus GST) for a six-month course.
Mangala Krishnamurthy differs. The 53-year-old business consultant and trainer, who is currently doing a Post Graduate Certificate Programme in Capital Markets and Investment Banking from IIM-Indore, says, “I strongly believe that programs from any IIM are curated and we can expect the best faculty for that topic. There are a lot of courses in the market, but I would have to take up five different courses to get 70% of what IIM-Indore offers.”
“Think of the degrees and certifications as complementary, not competing. NISM is the regulatory licence you need to distribute or advise in India, while CFP certifies planning competence against a global standard, and Network FP builds practitioner habits,” says Arindam Banerjee, Professor, Finance & Accounting, and Director, Master of Applied Finance and Wealth Management, S P Jain School of Global Management.
To be fair, NISM, FPSB India, and Network FP have been conducting courses in this field for a long time. Set up by Sebi in 2006, NISM provides certification for professionals such as MFDs, investment advisors and research analysts with a range of programs in financial planning, investment advisory, wealth management and securities markets. For RIAs, NISM certification is among the mandatory courses required to obtain a licence.
Meanwhile, Network FP, set up in 2011, is an education and professional development platform for financial planners, investment advisers and mutual fund distributors, offering professional certification, practical financial planning training, workshops and continuing education.
Importantly, many courses offered by reputed institutes and universities, including IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Calcutta, and S P Jain School of Global Management, follow the CFP pathway in collaboration with FPSB India. “The CFP certification is a specialised professional qualification focused on comprehensive, client-centric financial planning. It equips professionals with the knowledge and skills to address multiple aspects of an individual’s financial life, including investments, retirement planning, risk management, taxation and estate planning,” says Ramesh Vishwanathan, CEO, FPSB India.
While claiming the CFP course is currently among the best in the country, 30-year-old Ashutosh Shaw still chose the QPFP certification, which he completed in September this year, along with other shorter NISM courses. “I wanted practical knowledge and experience. While the CFP course has a global orientation, the latter is suited to the Indian context,” he says.
Career potential
The career options after completing these courses are immense. “These are much wider than students assume, because the profession is shifting from product distribution to advice,” says Chakravarty. “Fresh graduates can earn Rs.3-6 lakh a year, though some planning-support roles start lower. CFP candidates with internship exposure can get roughly Rs.4-8 lakh with stronger employers, varying by city and role,” he adds.
“A financial-planning qualification can open doors in wealth management, investment advisory, retirement planning, financial analysis, and relationship management,” says Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital. “Tech-enabled wealth adviser and portfolio-support analyst roles are experiencing a rapid hiring growth, driven by digital adoption across tier-1 and tier-2 markets,” she adds.
Popular financial planning courses
Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification by FPSB
National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM)
Network FP
Other institutes offering financial planning programs
Courses you should opt for
The course you choose will depend not only on your requirements but also on your life and career stage.
Fresh graduates: A mix of theoretical knowledge and practical experience will suit them best. “Students who learn planning before their first job enter the industry speaking client’s language, not just the product’s. The caveat is that theory without client exposure ages quickly,” says Banerjee. “Begin with an undergraduate degree in commerce, finance, economics, or a related field for foundational knowledge, followed by NISM modules for quick industry entry and licensing. Progress to QPFP (eligible after graduation plus any one industry exam such as NISM or Irdai) or the regular CFP pathway for structured development,” advises Kulkarni.
Employed finance professionals: Since such candidates are rooted in theoretical knowledge, they should pick modules that suit their specific needs. “This is arguably the highest-return moment. You understand products and clients; a structured course turns the experience into a disciplined process,” says Banerjee.
“Prioritise NISM certifications for regulatory compliance, combined with QPFP, which is particularly suitable for working professionals, or CFP,” says Kulkarni. NISM modules are short, modular, and mandatory for many Sebi-regulated roles.
Setting up advisory/ MFD:
Regulation sets the minimum requirement here. “Beyond compliance, founders need to price advice, document suitability, and build a practice clients stay with for long,” says Banerjee. “Start with the mandatory NISM certifications (especially Series V-A for MFDs to obtain an Amfi Registration Number, and Investment Adviser series for Sebi RIA registration). Layer on the QPFP course for practical, India-specific advisory skills, tools, and frameworks, or CFP for comprehensive credibility in holistic planning,” says Kulkarni.
