Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), a Standing Committee headed by the Hon’ble Union Finance Minister, has recognized the importance of financial education and investor awareness and has adopted a policy document, “National Strategy for Financial Education”. In this background, a national webinar on ‘Financial Empowerment – a Tool for Prosperity’ was organized by KIIT School of Management (KSOM) under its Knowledge Dialogue series on July 31, 2021. Since this is a SEBI mandated programme, the event was organized by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), apex body of mutual funds, in collaboration with KIIT Deemed to be University. The participants included the faculty, staff and students of KIIT-DU and many external members.

The webinar was conducted virtually and graced by Prof. Sasmita Samanta, Pro-VC, KIIT-DU, Prof. S K Mahapatra, Director, KSOM and Shri Suryakant Sharma, Senior Consultant, AMFI. The programme was coordinated by Prof. K. K. Ray, KSOM.

Dr. K. K. Ray introduced the speakers and mentioned the significance of the theme. Welcoming the distinguished guests, Prof. S. K. Mahapatra underscored the importance of financial planning. He mentioned that everyone including students should understand the benefits of financial independence and act carefully to achieve the same.

Prof. Sasmita Samanta spoke about her personal experience of financial education and awareness. She mentioned that every individual should develop interest towards finance, financial instruments and the financial system of the country to understand their personal finance and planning better. She also talked about the emerging changes in the environment of finance and contemporary research in the area.

The keynote speaker, Shri Surya Kant Sharma touched upon the importance of financial security of individuals. He emphasized that an investor should first think and ensure adequate life insurance, reasonable medical insurance cover and an emergency fund before embarking upon the journey of wealth creation through sustained investments which is most essential for prosperity. He talked about the need for wealth creation for prosperity and emphasized that investors should not be money accumulators but wealth creators which only would make them comfortable with regard to their money needs for their milestones in life. He cautioned participants that most of the investments except in governmental instruments have risk but risk can be managed by simple formula – Think, understand and invest.

After the keynote speech, there was a question & answer session, where many interesting questions were asked by the participants on various issues pertaining to investment and financial planning. The event concluded with the vote of thanks by Prof. Praveen Mohanty, KSOM.