The theme for this Finance Continuum.08 was, "Financial sector in India- Managing growth in challenging times." The event was inaugurated by Dr Karuna Jain, Head of the Dept., SJMSOM. In all, eight industry trend setters shared their views and insights with the students of SJMSOM through talks and panel discussion.
The Keynote address was delivered by Mr. Satish Mandhana, Managing Director, IDFC Private Equities. Mr. Mandhana talked about the various challenges faced by the financial sector in India and discussed some solutions for the same. He also talked about the unforeseen risks associated with the changes in policy by the market
regulators. Mr. Rajiv Vaid, Global Head, Management Assurance Services and Executive Vice president Citigroup shared some interesting insights on the global economy and the derivatives market with students.
Mr. Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Securities spoke on "Getting Financial Independence and Together". In an engrossing talk, Mr. Bagchi emphasized the need for financial education and planning in an emerging country like India in order to achieve financial independence. Starting on an interesting note of "markets humble
everyone", Mr. Navneet Munot, Executive Director, Morgan Stanley, shared his experiences of previous instances of market turmoil that rocked the Indian financial markets. Vasan Paul Raj, Senior VP, Investment Banking, Enam Securities, spoke on consolidation of Indian banking industry in the wake of liberalization of the sector in March'09 and implementation of Basel II norms.
The talks were followed by a panel discussion moderated by Tamal Bandopadhyay, Assistant Managing Director and Mumbai bureau chief of Mint, the financial daily. The panelists were Mr. Albert Da Costa, Associate Director, Equirus Capital, Mr. Tarun Chugh, Chief Head: Group, Bancassurance & Alliances, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd., Dr. Bandi Ram Prasad, Senior Consultant Dun & Bradstreet and Ex-Chief Economist, Indian Banks' Association and Mr. Anup Bagchi. The panel began with a discussion on the various reasons for the current economic turmoil. In the second round, the speakers moved on to trying to figure out the people, organizations or authorities responsible for the current economic turmoil and in the last lap they came out with their views on the likely duration of this crisis in the global as well as Indian economies.
All the panelists agreed that India should be well out of the current 'pain situation' within a year. They also suggested tight measures that the policy makers and market drivers must follow for the country to pull itself up again.
