Arth Samvaad 2015 – The Finance Conclave of IIM Udaipur

Arth-Samvaad is the flagship event of Finomina – the Finance Club of IIM Udaipur. Continuing the success story of previous 2 editions of Arth-Samvaad, the third edition of Arth-Samvaad assures an enriching experience with immense learning through panel discussions and various inter-college competitions. In tune with previous editions, we plan to host some of the most eminent personalities from the financial domain.

Arth-Samvaad aims at the fact that, the future managers should get to know about the current trends in the industry and how the various macro and micro-economic factors interact in order to affect the way business is done all over the world. It is a platform to deliberate on developments in the world of FINANCE.

This year we look at rethinking “Decades of Financial Folly” where the Panel discussion will try to unravel the cause for this euphoria and brainstorm whether the history will repeat itself again or not!

Events:

Slot 1: Panel Discussion

“Rethink: Decades of Financial Folly: Will it be different this time?”

Esteemed guests for the event are:

• Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Partner – Bain & Company
• Mr. Sriram Krishnan, Director – Citibank N.A.
• Mr. Umesh Agrawal, Executive Director – Investment Banking, Axis Capital
• Mr. Niraj Karia, Senior Vice-President – Kotak Mahindra Capital

Slot 2: Vitt Sangram

‘Vitt-Sangram’, is a series of competitions organized by Finomina as a pre-cursor to Arth-Samvaad 2015.

The Great Debate Challenge

We began with two rounds of prelims for our Debate Challenge. First round required the participants to submit articles on the topics; ‘Oil break’ – short term or here to stay? And has RBI killed the Euphoria by delaying the rate-cut? The second round consisted of a 3 minute video submission on the topic “Increasing Regulations on Financial Institutions is Good”. The video was evaluated by an expert panel of faculty members. The finalists who will be battling it out in the grand finale are from IIM Lucknow, IMT-Gaziabad, NMIMS Bangalore and IIM Udaipur.

Workshop on M&A

Finomina, as part of its flagship event, Arth-Samvaad ‘15 is organizing a case study workshop on Mergers and Acquisitions to be conducted by Mr. V.S. Sundaresan, Chief General Manager, SEBI. It is an opportunity to get the expert guidance on the Takeover process and M&A Deals along with first-hand industry insights. The participants will be awarded a ‘Certificate of Participation’ for the workshop.

Slot 3: Face Off

Face Off is a showdown between a stalwart speaker and a panel of students from the college. Mr.V.S. Sundaresan, Chief General Manager, SEBI will interact with a student panel on some interesting but contentious topics, utility of which is hugely debated when it comes to practice Vs theory.

The Quizzing Challenge

This will be a Two- Phased online quizzing challenge focused on the financial world where prizes will be awarded to the colleges that get the highest scores at the end of the challenge. Being a two-phased quiz competition, it will see only the best make it to the top and the league rankings. It will generate inter-college competition of a new dimension and will see participants from all over India.

Check out more details at-

Website: http://finomina.iimu.ac.in/arthsamvaad/arth-samvaad-15/

FB page: https://www.facebook.com/FinominaIIMU

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Finomina_IIMU

Mail: finomina@iimu.ac.in

Fin Talk 5.0 organized at IIM Udaipur!

The placements season is ON and amidst that Finomina – The Finance Club of IIM Udaipur hosted Fin Talk 5.0 which is a series of guest lectures delivered by Industry Stalwarts. The session was graced by the presence of Mr. Sandip Sabharwal, a renowned Financial Advisor and Ex-CEO Portfolio Management Services, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd.

The session focused on workshop based exchange of knowledge on the topics such as trading, stock, commodities and currency markets. With the current trend of volatility in Indian market, there is always risk associated with the investments made by the retail investors and others. Hence is the need of convenient Fundamental and Technical Analysis. The students, in high numbers, gathered to avail the golden opportunity of learning the skills of differentiating from investors who base their investment decision on intuition.

The discussion revolved around the topics like Technical Analysis using chart patterns, trend lines, supports, resistances, double top and triple top with important consideration to Fundamental Analysis.

Quoting the words of wisdom straight from the one of the best in the business-

“While trading it is imperative to make fundamental analysis.”

“It is very difficult to value firms belonging to new sectors like e-commerce and social networks and thus is very volatile in the market.”

“Stock Price is not real; it’s just the trading price in the market.”

Sessions by industry experts are an integral part of the education at IIM Udaipur. As the business world evolves, the institution strives to keep itself abreast with the pace and the changing trends of the corporate environment. Such initiatives provide a platform to discuss the subject and share the knowledge that is most relevant to the current market and future trends.

Things which differentiate IIM Udaipur – Live Projects!

IIM Udaipur follows the pedagogy of learning by doing. And the approach of inculcating of live industry projects into the curriculum provides a right mix of practical exposure to the students. Orchestrated by Consult-U – The Consulting Club of IIMU at the helm and coordinated by other clubs, Saksham – The Entrepreneurship Club of IIMU, Finomina – The Finance Club of IIMU and MarClan – The Marketing Club of IIMU, the projects are sought from industries. The projects are then awarded to the students and the entire process is managed by students to ensure that the opportunities are accessed by all.

Project teams comprise of students from both the years and faculties are involved to mentor the projects execution. The projects help in establishing mutually beneficial relationships between the industries seeking young and innovative people with fresh perspective on management, and students who get to hone their classroom learnings and insights by blending them with real life business challenges. IIMU’s commitment to excellence and quality is assured in the projects deliveries through a carefully planned process comprising of initial briefing, mid-term review, periodic checks and final conclusion with the focus on advantages sought from the projects.

The diversity of the projects portfolio makes sure that students get hands-on experience on all the management verticals, company domains and business functions viz., finance, marketing, research, consulting, human resources, operations, IT, analytics and systems and even in drives like energy saving. Students of IIMU have been associated with and done projects with organizations primarily operational in healthcare, mining, food, hospitality, manufacturing, e-commerce among other sectors and with NGOs. The projects aid students to take up initiatives and learn the concepts by application helping in their sound development.

Bombay Stock Exchange CEO presides over 4th edition of FinTalk at IIMU

Finomina – The Finance Club of IIM Udaipur organized the 4^th edition of FinTalk on 1^st February, 2014. The session was presided over by Mr. Ashish Chauhan, CEO & MD, Bombay Stock Exchange. Mr. Chauhan is an IIT Bombay and IIM Calcutta alumnus and he is one of the pioneers of the modern trading markets of India. His journey has seen multiple career dimensions encompassing strategy, finance, marketing, operations, policies, microstructure, information technology, organized retail, telecommunications, Indian social issues and cricket growing along with the growth of the financial market and economy of India.

Popularly known as the father of modern financial derivatives in India, Mr. Chauhan spoke in lengths about his stay at IIMC and his work with IDBI. He shared the challenges he faced being a part of the core team that founded NSE and the regulatory norms in the business set by SEBI, FICCI and CII of which he is an eminent board member. Quoting “Life is very random”, Mr. Chauhan spoke of how things at NSE led him to the role of CIO at Reliance Communications and later as the President & Group CIO of Reliance Industries Ltd.

Mr. Chauhan laid stress on the importance of proper execution and how good strategy coupled with proper execution can work out wonders. He related this with his tenure as the CEO of Mumbai Indians. He also discussed about the strategies adopted at the BSE and competitive advantage in its rivalry with NSE. He explained students about the intricacies of the trading business and how good strategies fail when traders start believing in their bluff, thus explaining the students about the need of sound judgmental skills in making business decisions.

He also laid importance on the use of sophisticated technologies and new trends like Algo Trading in business because speed and fast information flow form the essence of effective and competitive business practices. He mentioned the examples of failure of over the counter exchange and how modern trends have significantly changed the ATMs, Liquidity, Derivatives, Nifty, Futures, Options and Forwards in the market.

The sessions turned out to be extremely informative and engaging as it was full of anecdotes from real life experiences which he interspersed in his talk. Mr. Chauhan also urged the students to develop entrepreneurial skills and to contribute to the society in any way they can.

The student community was present in large numbers during the session to learn from such an experienced member of the industry. The objectives of such sessions conducted by Finomina and other clubs & committees at IIMU are not only to learn about the industry that the speakers represent but also to form relationships with them and with their companies for collaboration in designing academic curriculum and other activities on campus.

IRIS – The Photography Club of IIM Udaipur helped in coverage of the event.

Arth – Samvaad 2014 concludes amidst piquant discussions, applauds and cheers!

Finomina – The Finance Club of IIM Udaipur successfully organized Arth – Samvaad 2014, the second edition of its annual Finance Symposium on 25^th January, 2014. The clubs and committees of IIMU give ample opportunities to its students to master the tapestry of learning and holistic development while getting hands on experience in organizing events. Finomina’s constant endeavor remains imparting to the students of IIMU, the latest knowledge from the world of finance. In light of the recent economic complexities and the challenges faced by corporates in financial management, a host of speakers, all leaders in multiple financial services organizations were invited for the symposium.

The event flagged off with an opening speech from Prof. Janat Shah – Director, IIMU who presented his vision for the institute with strong emphasis on research, analysis and entrepreneurship. The umbrella theme for Arth-Samvaad 2014 was Financial Management – Cues for the Future, aptly developed around global financial chaos and prominent future opportunities in the sector. The Chief Guest of the event, Mr. V S Sundaresan, Chief General Manager, SEBI efficiently deliberated on the topic progressing through the performance of financial markets in leaps and bounds and how SEBI’s focus has been around Products, Processes and Participants.

Prof. Janat Shah has always been a driving force motivating his students. And IIMU students witnessed a sheer moment of this construct when the Chief Guest was joined by the Keynote Speaker of the event, Mr. Satya Narayanan R, Founder–Chairman, Career Launcher. Mr. Satya Narayanan R has been a student of Prof. Janat Shah at IIM Bangalore and his entrepreneurial success in leading Career Launcher to the helm among the Educational Services companies of India shows the prominence with which Prof. Janat Shah champions the transformation of his students exalting all of them with his vision. Mr. Satya Narayanan R discussed about the role capital markets can play in influencing the masses and the values like paying back to the society which should lead the businesses.

The event saw two important panel discussions between eminent corporate leaders. The first panel discussion with the sub-theme, “Corporate Finance – Does Practice Meet Theory?” had panelists Mr. V Srinivasa Rangan, Executive Director, HDFC, Mr. Sourav Mallik, Senior Executive Director and Head – Mergers & Acquisitions, Kotak Investment Banking and Mr. Srinivas Baratam, MD, Kriscore Financial Advisors. The discussion was moderated by PGP student, Dhiraj Kumar. The vast experience of these professionals nurtured an engaging and enriching the discussion with various aspects of corporate finance touched upon like conservatism, valuation to the shareholders, gaps between theory and the dynamic world of practice, debt, equity and the challenges of expected returns in the market. The finance enthusiasts of IIMU were equally excited to be in the audience and the panelists instantly struck a chord to inspire the students as role models with their innovative talks, delivering complex financial jargons in a light manner keeping everyone in splits.

The precursors of the final day event were competitions under the title Vitt-Sangram, the Pan India Debate Challenge, Quiz Competition and Article Writing Contest. The participants from leading B-School joined the team from IIM Udaipur for battling their knowledge out in the arena in front of the judges.

The second panel discussion revolved around the sub-theme, “Capital Markets in India: Infancy, Early Adulthood or Mature?” with the panelists Mr. Sandip Sabharwal, Investment Advisor and a Star Fund Manager, Mr. Amit Thawani, Executive Director, Nomura Financial Advisory & Securities (India) and Mr. Imtaiyazur Rahman, Group President & CFO, UTI AMC with the discussion being moderated by PGP student, Naimish Shah. The speakers discussed about the market size of Indian Capital Markets, Mutual Funds, IPO and the effect of GAAR on the Capital Markets.

Finomina’s stride to deepen the financial acumen of the students of IIMU culminated on a promissory note with the launch of the 4th edition of Arthaarth, the Quarterly Magazine of Finomina. The speakers insistence on getting the foundation and clarity of concepts in theory right before practise left the students motivated. And the institute’s infrastructure with sophisticated Bloomberg Terminals leaves no stone unturned in shaping the best finance leaders of tomorrow. The event concluded with a vote of thanks and prize distribution to the winning teams from IIM Udaipur and SIBM Pune of the Debate Challenge, as well as a token of gratitude expressed for the event sponsors, Union Bank of India and Indian Bank.

The other participating teams were IIFT Kolkata and IMT Hyderabad. The winners of Article Challenge were IIM Bangalore and IIM Udaipur. And the Quiz Competition was won by IMT Ghaziabad, NMIMS and IIM Udaipur.

FinTalk with Mr. Ramesh Srinivasan

Reposing on its tour de force to impart the Finance enthusiasts of IIMU, the latest knowledge and industrial acumen from the World of Finance, Finomina – The Finance Club of IIM Udaipur continued its virtuoso efforts in the FinTalk series and organized a session on Investment Banking by Mr. Ramesh Srinivasan, Director and Member of the Board, Kotak Investment Bank. He was accompanied by our esteemed CAG member Mr. Bhavin Shah. The session explained the various client services offered in Investment Banking and the short and long term career prospects in each of these domains. It also threw light on the key skills needed for such jobs, the nature and work culture in a typical Investment Bank and what is expected out of a person working in this sector. Mr. Ramesh also discussed about integrity and ethics involved in working in this sector. The discussion was accompanied by many examples which helped to understand how theoretical learning differs from practical working environment and the challenges involved in this job.

Later, Mr. Ramesh interacted with the faculty Prof. Vishwanathan and Finomina members wherein a discussion took place about the applicability of Bloomberg analysis in Investment Banking and how the analytical skills gained henceforth could be built in order to distinguish IIM Udaipur students from other management students. Topics like job prospects and scope in various areas of Finance and the areas to focus on considering the changing economic, political and market scenario were also touched upon in the discussion.

Student community was present during the session to learn from such experienced members of the industry. The objectives of such sessions are not only to learn about the industry that the speakers represent but also to start relationships with them personally and with their companies for collaboration in designing academic curriculum and other activities on campus.

IIMU student in Bloomberg Hall of Fame

Indian Institute of Management Udaipur witnessed one proud moment in the history of the Institute when Prateek Shukla, a PGP-2 student scored 670 out of 800 in the Bloomberg Aptitude Test (BAT), October 2013. It is a two hour exam which can be taken at any time as per ones convenience. The exam consisted of 100 multiple choice questions and is tailored with a focus on analytical reasoning. Prateek has been ranked amongst the top 5 scorers (Hall of Fame) in the Asia-Pacific region. He is one of the core members of Finomina – The Finance Club of IIMU and one of the toppers of the batch with an inclination towards Operations and Finance. Anusha Ganne, S. Prashant and Rahul Agrawal also from PGP-2 scored above 99 percentile in the examination.

Prateek Shukla

IIM Udaipur also has an academic tie up with Bloomberg. The institute has 12 Bloomberg terminals, in collaboration with Bloomberg L.P., that help students gain real insight from the financial markets. The lab is fully equipped and is one amongst the only three Bloomberg labs in the country. Only other IIM to boast of this facility is IIM Calcutta. The lab offers students of IIM Udaipur an unique opportunity to implement their knowledge and use these terminals for course-related or any other research. Finomina regularly organizes learning sessions for students so that they can have hands on experience of using the terminals which then can be used for various projects and subjects.

IIMU’s emphasis on academics and delivering it through high quality faculty and infrastructure is surely reaping results and is visible from such achievements of its students.

Life @ IIMU

Nestled amongst the lush, verdant hills of the Aravallis in Rajasthan, the Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur currently located in the campus of the Mohan Lal Sukhadia University possesses the perfect setting and environment for a business school.

Academic rigour has always been a part and parcel of the life of an IIM student and the experience at IIM Udaipur so far, lives up to the same. With business cases to be prepared on an almost daily basis, the study sessions with fellow group mates and the umpteen reports and presentations that have to be made and delivered before deadlines (which more often than not are at unearthly hours, so far spent either watching movies, surfing the net or partying hard) life can get stressful and sleep, a bygone luxury. And just when you’ve had a really heavy lunch topped off with some chilled lassi, does a mail pop into your inbox. Now, outside professional life, mails are usually responded to with a bored glance or a casual laugh. An IIM student learns to expect more. Mails from the PGP office between 12.30PM and 3.30PM are…the most dreaded on campus. Statistics for Management toppers have for decades struggled with their regression, correlation and heuristic analyses to comprehend the relationship between full stomachs and afternoon mails from the PGP office. Surprise quizzes, considered by many as an initiative by the Lucifer himself, serve to knock you off your dreamy siestas and full tummies to those notes that you had, in all probability, hastily scribbled over the last couple of sessions in class. However, the burden of all these activities can be alleviated by merely stepping out onto the hostel terraces for some casual banter with your “ever-ready” group mates whilst taking in the fresh mountain air that most of us have for so long missed, before resuming preparations.

Udaipur, also called the ‘Venice of the East’ is also called the City of Lakes. Hills, lakes, gardens and palaces, the city is not short on options to recharge the soul and the mind, a welcome relief from the daily grind. The Chief Conservator of Forests in Udaipur organizes regular treks for the students, which apart from being an experience in itself, helps build bonds that could very well last a lifetime. For the foodie, the alleys of the Old Udaipur town are a godsend. Rajasthani delicacies, Mumbai vadapavs and even Keralite non-vegetarian cuisine, the city’s got enough to keep you satiated. Fast food outlets of the likes of KFC, Pizza Hut are in a close proximity to the campus and make for a welcome reprieve at the weekends.

For those who want to work on their extra-curricular activities, IIM Udaipur’s clubs and committees (currently numbering to around 20) provide ample opportunities. The Media & Industry Interaction Cell organizes the Leadership Summit, which is the flagship event of the campus. The Literary club is not just restricted to organizing quizzes. Over the last year, it has organized the Udaipur Leap Day Lit Fest where authors of the likes of Rashmi Bansal and Ashwin Sanghvi visited the campus and interacted with the students. The club also conducted the Udaipur Amazing Race which was basically a treasure hunt across the city of Udaipur, organized along the lines of the popular TV show. The football and crickets enthusiasts among the batch have a Cricket and Football League system in place, complete with an IPL-style auctioning system to add a little extra spice. There are also regular JAM sessions and film screenings that allow the entire batch to let its hair down and have fun as a group. The institute also has a music room, where the musicians of the batch can let loose post the sessions in class.

As in every Management School, due importance is given to those clubs that promote the business of Business itself at IIM Udaipur. Finomina – The Finance Club of IIM Udaipur holds sessions and competitions with the batch to illustrate and discuss various aspects of finance. The Entrepreneurship Cell – Saksham holds guest lectures with the batch, where students get to interact with budding entrepreneurs. Prayatna – The Social Responsibility club has taken up a variety of initiatives to promote a spirit of social responsibility among the students. The Cultural Committee organizes various cultural events in the campus to highlight the diversity of the batch. The recent Food Fest conducted in association with the Mess Committee is just an example of the same.

As with any other college, the real flavour of IIM Udaipur is best experienced in its hostels. Time inside the hostels doesn’t run according to the Indian Standard Time though, at any point in the day the mean number of people sleeping and those wide awake are roughly the same. The latter are either working furiously to complete some assignment or trying to derive some inspiration for doing so off of Facebook!

Come 8:30 AM and its quite common to see mouths frantically trying to gobble down the breakfast before entering the lecture hall – hopefully before the professor. The afternoons and evenings that are privileged enough to not be spent in class are utilized for impromptu siestas, volleyball matches or Counter Strike battles. More often than not, it’s all three combined.

The nights can be rather subdued before a quiz or some similar tragedy scheduled for the next day, however one thing that manages to bring people together even in times of such hardship is the call for “Maaro Maaro Maaro Maaro” that accompanies every poor soul’s birthday celebrations. The crowd congregates, beats the person black and blue, eats all the cake, (occasionally remembers to wish said person) and then go back to their respective studies. The quizzes still lie in waiting, and they are not going to study for themselves!