Biotechnology

Growth: The market for biotechnological products is going to touch an astronomical figure of US$ 50 billion in the next five years. It has the potential of creating 1 million jobs by the year 2010.

Areas of work: genetic profiling (or genome mapping, which enables the medical community to identify disease producing genes), bio-informatics (convergence of Biotech with IT), biomedical engineering (replacing human body parts with engineered parts), drug development genetic modifications (engineering organisms to produce desired characteristics), and agricultural biotechnology (to develop genetically modified crops and food products) are going to offer a large number of opportunities.

Qualifications: Master’s degrees in Biotechnology, Agriculture, Physics, Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Biomedical Science, Zoology, Environmental Science, Plant Science, Agricultural Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Science, Physiology or Biophysics.

Pay:Postgraduates start at Rs.10,000 to 12,000 a month. One can rise fast and reach about Rs.30,000 within four to five years. PhD holders start at Rs.14,000-16,000 a month.

Prime Actors: Biocon, Avestha Gengraine, Shantha Biotech, Biosoft, Organica Biotech, Biotech India.

IT-enabled services

Growth: Manpower requirement for IT-enable services is half a million people in the next three years. The present US $ 10 billion IT-enabled service market is expected to zoom to US $275 billion by the year 2010 with more than 200,000 people employed in India alone.

Areas of work: C all centres, data entry/data conversion and medical transcription

Qualification: Call centres call for excellent verbal communication skills and pleasing personality. Data entry/data conversion needs typing conversion needs typing skills and strong written English communication skills. Medical transcription requires a good understanding of medical terminology, ability to understand English with different accents and good typing speed.

Pay : Entry-level salaries range from Rs.3,000-10,000 a month. After four to five years of experience, medical transcriptionists can look forward to Rs.14,000-20,000 a month. The same is true for other jobs in this field.

Prime actors: Convergys, Genpact, HCL, EXL, American Express, IBM Daksh.

Retailing

Growth: According to A.T. Kearney Survey India's total retail market (current) at $202.6 billion (Approx. Rs. 912 Crore) is expected to grow at a compounded 30 per cent over the next five years. At present Retail Industry contributes 14 per cent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It employs nearly 7 per cent of the total workforce which means 42 Million (4.2 Crore) people.

Areas of work:Various functional aspects of retailing industry are: Retail Merchandising & Category Management, Fashion & Apparel, Food, Jewellery, Lifestyle accessories, Entertainment, Retail Selling & Customer Service Management, Store Operations, Visual Merchandising & Store Design, Retail Marketing & Customer Management.

Qualifications: Diploma in fashion design or furniture design can get you a job as a merchandiser. Other positions like purchase executive and store manager call for experience. MBAs can also get jobs in various functions.

Pay: Floor executives start with Rs.4,000 a month. But the pay rises substantially with promotions – floor manager (Rs.30,000 – 50,000) and store manager (Rs.40,000 – 70,000). Merchandises are paid Rs.12,000-16,000 a month. Purchase executives start with Rs.6,000-20,000 monthly).

Prime Actors: Shoppers' Stop, Globus, Planet M, Titan, Madura Garments, Pantaloon's Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, PG group's Giant and FoodWorld, and Metro Cash & Carry.