My Boat in the Canal
November 21, 2018Shades
November 26, 2018KIIT School of Management organized its 9th National Finance Conclave on 24th November, 2018. The theme of this year’s conclave was “Future of Work: Transformations in the Financial Sector.” The conclave was inaugurated by Prof. Anil Bajpai, Director, KSOM along with the distinguished guests.
The conclave began with keynote addresses by two eminent personalities from the field of Finance and Banking. Mr. Gopalaraman Padmanabhan, Chairman, Bank of India, spoke about how technology has changed the way traditional financial systems work. He further stressed upon how API, UPI, peer-to-peer lending, Aadhaar-linked services, block-chain and cryptocurrencies are transforming and reshaping the future financial services thereby bringing a paradigm shift in customer expectations and demands.
Mr. Shubhashish Gangopadhyay, Research Director, India Development Foundation, addressed a wide range of issues from shrinking demand for muscle power to increasing demand for other human attributes in different sectors. He discussed how new jobs are getting created in knowledge-intensive sectors like medicine, education and professional services in the UK market.
The first panel discussion was on “Is FinTech Transformational?” The panel comprised of “Ms. Deepa Rath, Business Head, Invoicement ; Mr. Upendra Patro , CFO, Essar Oilfield Services India; Mr. Ravinder Bhatia, VP- Finance and Supply Chain, DXC Technology; Mr. Vikas Chadha, ED & CFO, Berggruen Hotels and Mr. Amit Singh (Moderator), ED, Avendus Capital. The panel deliberated on whether transformation is actually happening in FinTech or is it still in evolutionary stage? The panel concurred that FinTech assisted the service sector and provided a digital platform which connected MSMEs to multiple financiers. They were of the view that it will eventually give an edge to business and make it more agile and efficient. The panel also observed that challenges like lack of infrastructure, regulatory norms and security of data remained at the forefront.
The second panel discussion was on “Commoditization or Consumerization: The Future of Financial Services.” Industry experts in the panel comprised of “Mr. Samir Mohanty , COO, Avanse Financial ; Mr. Satya Mahapatra , Sr. VP, Analytics and Financial Risk in Barclays; Mr. Sambit Mohanty , Country Head, South Asia, Accuity; Mr. Chandra Vikram Prahladka, CFO, Devyani International and Prof. Praveen Mohanty (Moderator), Professor, KIIT School of Management. The panel gave a lot of importance to consumerism by stressing on the requirement of need-based financial commodities. They were of the view that consumer needs digital services combined with consultancy and expert advice from the firms. The panel discussed at length on anti-money laundering, swift system, IFSC and cross modelling.
The conclave was one of four national level conventions which are annually organized by KIIT School of Management in the areas of Marketing, HR, Finance and Operations Management to bring industry closer to the academia. This year’s Finance conclave provided students with an opportunity to interact with business leaders and policy makers for holistic learning. Seven workshops related to Finance were also conducted as part of the conclave by industry stalwarts. The conclave was received enthusiastically by industry professionals, academia and students.