Jan 2013 - S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research

Rainbow colours of innovation
The Finance Conclave 2013 - 'Tapping the Business Potential in Financial Services’
January 12, 2013
The theme for the Finance Conclave for 2013 was
'Tapping the Business Potential in Financial Services in
India'. The conclave aimed at analysing how the Indian
financial services industry, the regulatory framework
and infrastructure would evolve over the next decade to
support the nation's robust economic growth.
Dr. Sesha Iyer, Director, inaugurated the event following
which Prof. Suresh Lalwani, Head – Finance Area,
SPJIMR set the context by highlighting the need to
balance profit imperatives with customer needs and
building trust with all stakeholders.
The keynote address was delivered by Ms. Usha Thorat,
Director, Centre for Advanced Financial Research and
Learning (CAFRAL) and former Deputy Governor,
Reserve Bank of India. Ms. Thorat said the coming
decade would be the most exciting decade for the
Indian economy and the Indian financial sector. “This is
going to be the true decade of large opportunities,” she
said.
Ms. Thorat identified four major challenges for the
financial industry - i) to provide safe and convenient
products and delivery channels ii) to assess optimum
size and structure of a financial services business iii) to
focus on the fiduciary role in financial services that
differentiates the business from many others and iv)
progressive regulation – all of which were perceived as
highly customer centric.
The keynote was followed by a case presentation by
Birla Sun Life AMC on their successful initiatives at
product innovation to encourage an equity mindset.
This was followed by a presentation on the success story
of Yes Bank, which touched on the differentiated
approach that saw it emerge as India's fourth largest
private sector bank.
The case presentations were followed by panel
discussion. The panelists included Mr. T.V. Raghunath,
CEO & MD, Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd; Mr.
Avinash Gupta, National Leader, Financial Advisory
Services, Deloitte India; Prof. Suresh Lalwani, Finance
Area Head, SPJIMR; Mr. Arun Agrawal, Senior President
& Global Head – International Banking, YES Bank Ltd
and Mr. A. Balasubramanian, CEO, Birla Sun Life
AMC. The panel discussion was moderated by Mr. N.
Varadarajan, ED, Client Engagement, Open World
Knowledge Solutions Ltd. The panel discussion was
aimed at imparting insights on key growth sectors in
finance and the career potential they carry. The
discussion focused on major challenges in financial
services and how businesses are looking to tap the
potential for financial services while keeping their
customer-focus intact.
The SPJIMR Finance Conclave was covered by NDTV
Profit with Deloitte as the knowledge partner and
Business Week as the print media partner.
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