Nowadays, money management is no longer optional. It’s becoming a core life skill.
Yet, according to the National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE), only 27% of Indian adults are financially literate. That gap is even scarier for students who are starting careers where they have to make financial decisions right away.
As far as commerce students are concerned, financial literacy is the solid foundation upon which they make decisions on savings, investments, taxes, and even starting a business. That's why a lot of the best colleges in Pune for BCOM have already started adding money management topics to their curriculum.
Let’s check out why it’s so important.
Why B.Com Students Need It Early
B.Com students are groomed to become future financial professionals, like an accountant, financial analyst, manager, or even a business owner. You will be expected to:
- Read and understand financial information like balance sheets, P&L statements, and cash flow reports, to spot trends.
- Look into different funding options for your business to grow and weigh the pros and cons of equity and debt financing.
- Keep an eye on operational budgets so that costs don't go over income, which will protect profits.
To do all this correctly and confidently, you need to be good at managing money.
Why Financial Literacy is Essential for B.Com Students
Here’s why a sound knowledge of money management is mandatory for B.Com students:
1) Learning the Basics of Financial Literacy
Financial literacy is all about understanding how to earn, manage, grow, and protect your money. For business students, this goes beyond knowing the basics to include:
- The basics of budgeting
- Savings and investments for beginners
- Risk management through spreading your money around
2) Real-World Applications of Financial Literacy
For B.Com students, finance management is a daily reality. You might have to:
- Make financial reports for a client.
- Handle payroll for a small business.
- Look at different loan options for growing your business.
- Check the cash flow to make sure things are stable.
These are tasks where knowing about money directly affects how well you do. For example, knowing how interest compounding works can help you pick the best loan and save lakhs over time.
Some of the best colleges in Pune for BCOM focus on experiential learning to teach these concepts so that students can connect what they learn in class with what happens in the real world.
3) Debt and Loan Awareness
Millennials in India are the fastest-growing segment that takes out personal loans. This is often because they don't know how to manage their debt. If not handled properly, such loans could become a big burden for the young graduates.
To stay safe, there should be financial literacy for students. They should know important things like:
- Reading loan agreements thoroughly to understand interest rates, repayment schedules, and penalties.
- Avoiding debt with high interest rates
- Planning ahead with repayment calculators.
A B.Com graduate who knows a lot about money can use this information to stay out of debt or pay off loans in a smart way.
4) Better Decisions in Business and Personal Life
Being financially literate also helps you make better decisions. It helps you:
- Pick the right way to invest based on how much money you make.
- Look at different financial products, such as credit cards, insurance, and mutual funds.
- Make smart decisions about hiring, expanding your business, and running costs.
In personal life, you can make the right decisions, like building a new house or buying a new car, at the right time so as to minimise risks.
Conclusion
Financial literacy is an asset that grows over time, like good investments. It's the link between what B.Com students learn in school and what they need to do to be successful in the real world.
That’s why we, MIT Commerce College, focus more on it. We follow a practical learning approach, where students are required to apply money management concepts through practical projects, workshops, industry interactions, and so on.
Let’s nurture the next generation with financial literacy!