XLRI hosts annual finance symposium with focus on digital revolution

XLRI – Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, hosted the 12^th edition of its annual finance symposium, GNOSIS 21 on November 13 and 14.

The theme of this virtual symposium organised by FINAX, the finance association of the premier B-School, was ‘Shifting Tides in Financial Services’.

The pandemic has brought about several paradigm shifts and digital finance, IPOs, neo-banking, crypto currency and financial planning are making a way into the Indian economy and financial services industry.

The keynote address of the symposium was given by R. Gandhi, former deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India who illustrated the long history of technology and how this made way for a digital push in Indian banks.

Gandhi spoke about how the shift to digital banking has ensured greater inclusivity. He discussed how the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian government have been frontrunners in terms of integrating technology in the Indian finance ecosystem. RTGS, NEFT and UPI have enabled faster and larger real-time payments. Gandhi also talked about the steps being taken by RBI to introduce digital currency by December and make government securities available to retail investors through the recently launched Retail Direct platform by the RBI.

XLRI director Fr Paul Fernandes highlighted how the recent financial crises have exposed inadequacy and vulnerability of the traditional mechanisms in managing risk and that it is imperative to look for newer and innovative ways to ensure the safety of assets.

He emphasised that new innovations in the banking system should act as catalysts to reduce economic inequality and protect people’s hard-earned money.

H.K. Pradhan, senior professor of finance and economics at XLRI, said banks had a greater role in financial intermediation despite digital deepening and entry of payment banks.

Kaushik Guha, co-founder, Hostbooks; Angel Investor for Ola, Housing.com, R Srinivasan, CIO and Head (Equity) of SBI Mutual Funds, Rajesh Sehgal, managing partner, equanimity, took part in a panel discussion on India's millennial era.

Another panel discussion on Neobanks and the Next Banking Revolution saw Nirvikar Jain, CFO, DreamBig Semiconductor Inc., Vaibhav Joshi, CDO, Equitas, and Sameer Jaini, founder, Digital Fifth. It was moderated by Upasna Handa, Founder, K Lane Fintech Consulting, taking part.

The symposium concluded with a speaker session by Tahem Verma, co-founder and CEO of Mesha, a decentralised social platform for investors.