How to get hired
"Treasury" means three different jobs in India, and the route into each is different.
Corporate treasury sits in a company's finance team: daily cash position, bank accounts and limits, working capital loans, term loans and bonds, investing surplus cash, and hedging foreign currency on imports, exports and foreign loans within FEMA and RBI rules. Bank treasury is the dealing room and its support: forex, money markets, government securities, liquidity and asset-liability management, plus mid-office risk and back-office settlement. Treasury operations in global centres run cash positioning, payments, bank reconciliations and treasury systems for a foreign group from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune or Chennai.
Into corporate treasury
Most corporate treasurers are CAs or MBA Finance graduates who first spent two to four years in audit, FP&A or banking. Indian groups with large borrowings, exporters and importers, and infrastructure and NBFC businesses have the biggest teams, mostly in Mumbai. A newly qualified CA can get an Assistant Manager – Treasury role, especially after audit work on bank-heavy clients. Interviews test working capital (cash conversion cycle, CC/OD limits, bill discounting), how a forward contract hedges an import payable, how you'd compare two loan offers, and what you know about banking relationships. Being able to read a sanction letter and its covenants is a real edge.
Into bank treasury
Banks staff the dealing room mostly from within: officers who joined through bank recruitment or management trainee programmes, then moved to treasury after branch or operations stints. Back-office and mid-office roles (settlements, confirmations, SWIFT messaging, limit monitoring) are easier first steps, and foreign and private banks hire for them directly from commerce graduates and MBAs. IIBF runs certifications for bank staff, including a foreign exchange course built on FEDAI material; check the current eligibility on the IIBF site before you pay for anything. The banking operations guide covers the operations side.
Into GCC treasury operations
Global centres hire B.Com and M.Com graduates and CA or CMA Inters as "Treasury Analyst" or "Associate – Treasury" for cash management and treasury accounting, and experienced people for treasury management system work (Kyriba, SAP Treasury and similar). This is the most fresher-friendly door into treasury. Learn how bank statements flow into the ERP, what a cash pool is, and how intercompany loans are booked.
Credentials that matter
Nothing is mandatory. CFA (all three levels) is respected for investment and funding roles; the CFA guide covers it. FRM from GARP helps for market risk and ALM work in banks. For corporate roles, CA or CMA plus a solid understanding of FEMA for trade and borrowing transactions matters more than any certificate.
Moving up
In companies: Analyst or Executive, Assistant Manager, Manager – Treasury, Head of Treasury, then CFO in some groups. In banks: back office or dealer, senior dealer, desk head, treasurer. Treasury people also move into risk management, especially market and liquidity risk.
What the work is like
Treasury starts early. Corporate treasury teams know the day's cash position by mid-morning, decide what to borrow or invest, and release payments before bank cut-off times. Month-end, quarter-end and tax payment dates (advance tax, GST) bring big outflows to plan. In a bank dealing room the day follows market hours, and screens, phones and quick decisions are the job.
Mistakes cost real money, so controls are tight: maker-checker approvals, call-back verification of bank instructions, and limits on who can commit the company. The field is small, so reputation follows you across Mumbai's banks and corporates; a careful, honest track record is your biggest asset.