Dear Vivek,

Thanks for writing to www.careerguide.com!
Well, I will first answer your question directly and then would like to share what it means to be a graphic designer.

To become a professional graphic designer, you need to first, identify focus area and get degree in relevant area of interest.

Identify your area of focus:
Before you decide to be a graphic designer, decide your area of interest and focus within graphic designing. Graphic design is very broad area. There are different forms of graphic design and you need to choose specific focus area, for example,advertising, web development, multimedia, print design, or animation. Narrow your focus on an area that appeals to you.

Choose an appropriate course:
If you want to be professional graphic designer, there are graduate (B.Des.). post-graduate (M.Des.) and doctoral (PhD) courses in graphic designing. Based on your area of focus, choose appropriate course that helps you learn what you seek to learn. Admission procedure for graduate and post-graduate courses are through entrance test, group discussion and personal interview.

There are many Government as well as private institutes offer courses in Graphic Designing. I am sharing a list of Institutes offering courses in Graphic Designing:
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad: www.nid.edu
National Institute of Fashion Technology (operates in 13 locations): www.nift.ac.in
Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai: www.idc.iitb.ac.in
Department of Design, Indian INstitute of Technology, Guwhati: www.iitg.ac.in/design/
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur: www.iitk.ac.in/design/
Srishti School of Art, design and technology, Karnataka : www.srishti.ac.in
Arch Academy of Design: http://www.archedu.org/

List of entrance exams:
There are many entrance tests conducted by Government as well as private institutes. You need to inquire about admission procedure from institutes where you want to pursue the study. For you information, I am sharing a list of common entrance exams as follow:

Common Entrance Examination for Design (CEED), conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT, Bombay), on behalf of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Department of Education, Government of India.
All India Entrance Exam for Design (AIEED) conducted by Arch Academy of Design ARCH.
General Proficiency Test and Design Aptitude Test (GPT+DAT) conducted by many private institutes

Graphic Design
In simple words, graphic design is a sort of visual communication. Graphic designers use a wide variety of visual mediums to communicate messages via shapes, fonts and colors on print design, websites and social media. A good graphic designer possesses strong interpersonal and marketing skills, in addition to an eye for details and strong knowledge of electronic media packages.

Graphic designers are experts in designing, lay-outing, typography, diagramming, drafting, drawing and lettering. Designers are expected to be skillful in handling photography, imagery, colors, textures, patterns, graphics, animations etc

Graphic designers are employed by advertising firms, design companies, publishers and other businesses that need design professionals. One can start own designing company.

Hope this is helpful to you.
If you still have querries, feel free to write back to us.

Best Wishes for Bright Career,
Apurva Kumar Pandya, PhD