The Finance Conclave – which is the flagship event of the Finance and Economics club of Jaipuria Institute of Management, Indore – was organized on the 3rd of November 2012. The topic for the one-day conclave was ‘A Rendezvous with FMFM: Fast Moving Financial Market’, and was prominently divided into two technical sessions. From welcoming the guests, to anchoring the sessions, to proposing the vote of thanks, the conclave was entirely anchored and managed by the students of Jaipuria Institute of Management, Indore.

In his welcome speech, Dr. J. P. Upadhyaya (Director, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Indore) set the agenda for the brainstorming by eminent corporate personalities and noted academicians of the country. Stressing the importance of the plethora of financial products available in the market, he dwelt on their pros and cons, and suggested that the conclave deal with these issues. He advised the students of Jaipuria Indore to make the most of the collective wisdom of the stalwarts of industry.

This paved way for the first Technical Sessions, which had a select panel consisting of Mr. Amber Arondekar, MD- Power Train corporation and Mr. A. Shreenivas, Regional In-Charge, SIDBI. Interestingly, both Technical Sessions scheduled for the day were preceded by a role-play by the students of Jaipuria Indore. This format was widely appreciated by the panelists, as it helped them understand the objectives and expectations from the discussions. The sessions were organized in an open-house discussion format, which went down very well with the students of Jaipuria Indore.

“The key is to bring back the numerous parallel economies to the mainstream and foster transparency and uncorrupt conduct at every stage – starting from an individual,” observed Mr. Amber Arondekar, who spoke with great insight on Global Financial Markets. “It is not the methods of managing the economy, but the ones who are handling it, who are responsible for the miserable situation. The tools of Monetary and Fiscal Policy are to be executed with very special care with a watch being kept on going to extremes. This is where economies like the Euro Zone and US are going wrong and the result is global turmoil in the entire financial sector. India is no exception when it comes to large fiscal deficit and the growth of a parallel economy.”

To supplement his points, Mr. Arondekar made effective use of data and statistics, to showwith shocking clarity the mammoth size of the EuroZone crisis and the role of PIIGS nations, especially Greece.

Speaking on the Financial Market in the context of SMEs, Mr. A. Sreenivas painted a picture of the process through which his organisation – SIDBI – supports SMEs as well as start-ups through direct financing, refinancing, consultancy, guaranteeing, technical know-how, rating services and many more. He elaborated on the gaps in the financial market related to small-scale industries, as well as the numerous benefits of SMEs and how they contribute to economic stability. He also shared what organisations like SIDBI look for before approving a project for funding, and gave various tips to the future entrepreneurs of Jaipuria Indore, for them to use in their own start-ups.

The panelists for the second Technical Session were Mr. Rajendra Goyal, CA and Mr. B.J. Rao, Branch Head, Central Bank of India. Speaking on Capital Markets, Mr. Goyal’s was an in-depth session, dwelling on how an investor thinks and acts before investing.

For his part, Mr. B.J. Rao presented the nitty-gritty of the currentfinancial market from the perspective of commercial banking. The session was highly interactive, with youngsters of Jaipuria Indore showing a keen interest in how the entire banking channel operates. Various simple bank transactions were demystified, and a clearer understanding of the moves made by RBI and commercial banks emerged. Mr. Rao helped the Jaipuria Indore students understand how fiscal measures and monetary measures may differ – referring to the recent CRR cut – and how these changes influence the fast-moving and changing financial market.

The conclave was an opportunity for youngsters of Jaipuria Institute of Management, Indore to get a finger on the pulse of industry, and they made the most of it.