Hello

CAS who manage to break into IB performs exceedingly well due to a solid knowledge base of law, tax and most importantly, accounts.
For example - I work in the Real estate, Hospitality and Retail team of the IB division. All my financial models need to have Accounting Standard - 7 incorporated in 'em. Fortunately/unfortunately, everyone in my team is an MBA and they don't know jackshit about accounting standards. That's where we can add immense value.

The biggest hindrance for a CA to become an investment banker is expertise in Finance - which can very well be sorted out but, requires a lot of reading. I'd suggest everyone become Excel experts. Microsoft Excel is one factor which can indeed make you stand out from the rest. Take up self - help tutorials, do financial modelling courses, do valuation courses etc. Also, one should actively track any two sectors of his/her liking. My personal favourites are Defence, Real Estate and Microfinance (Disc - heavily invested in a micro-cap Defence stock).

In IB, the research you do is vital. Better the research, better is the sales pitch. This makes top-notch industry knowledge your life support.

You'll be attending a lot of con-calls, and will be giving a lot of presentations to Private equity guys in case of Fundraising mandates or to Promoters with regards to an IPO or QIB. Point being, you have to be extremely articulate and most importantly, you have to talk with a lot of conviction because at the end of the day you're a glorified broker - you're always selling something or the other.

Have also heard that courses from SIB and Imarticus are pretty good and helpful.

A couple of answers here mention about having stock market expertise. Just to clarify, 'Investment' Banking has nothing to do with Investing. Thanks.

Reality check - Fresh CAs shouldn't even plan on applying for IB roles as their efforts will be futile unless they've done their homework. Instead, take a break and work towards fixing the missing links viz. Modelling, valuations, a bit of finance and specific industry knowledge.

Lastly, instead of having preconceived notions or self-doubts about CAs, please address your flaws. I know quite a few CAs who even have founded their own Investment banking firms and are doing reasonably well with their fundraising practice.

Thanks