India, Sept. 22 -- Every year, thousands of students walk out of college with one question on their mind: How do I get into investment banking?

Most of them start looking for an answer in the wrong place. They look at degrees, colleges and CGPAs as if these alone will open the door. They don't. They get you the interview. What gets you the offer is something else entirely.

So before chasing another qualification, it's worth asking a more useful question: what skills does investment banking actually require and how do you build them?

It helps to understand the scale of what's happening before talking about how to break in.

India's investment banking industry is in the middle of a genuine boom. More than 190 mainboard companies are curr...