Theme..
Techinical Session 1 :
" Indian Financial Sector at Cross Road :-
Cross-border flows and entry of new products have impacted significantly on the domestic financial
sector,forcing the system to adjust in order to remain competitive in the globalised enviornment.
The recent measures announced by the government and the RBI for opening up India's banking sector
to international investors will further increase the pressure of competition. It is clear that we
are at the begning of this new phase caught between the competitive pressure , both domestic and
external, and the politics of development, we will have to be on ours toes, to meet new demands.
Indian Financial Sector is ready to take off and will play a very important role in the growth
in the Indian Economy.
Techinical Session 2 :
"Hedge Funds - An Asset Class of its Own? :-
It is well-documented stylized fact that hedge fund returns differ from the returns of traditional
asset classes.Investors looking for alternative return characteristics in hedge funds are clearly
concerned about the question of consistency. to go beyond relying on historical hedge fund performance
repeating itself, one needs to answer the key question on hedge fund performance: " What is the wind
behind this sail?" After all, hedge fund managers typically transact in similar asset marketys to
traditional managers.How then do they deliver differnt returns characteristics to the very asset
classes they trade? The answer to these question lies in understanding the value of hedge-fund
stratergies and how they can be directly related to traditional asset classes which in itself is
another challenge.
Panel Discussion :
"Credibility of Credit Rating: A Challenge-
In the corporate debt markets, there have been some instances where agencies got things wrong.
Bust in most of these cases some severe external shock has affected a borrower's ability to pay.
Financial institutions also are particularly sensitive to changes in investor confidence. If
the market's confidence in a particular entity falters,its position can deteriorate rapidly as
its liquidity dries up. The implosion of Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers and AIG are examples here.
Even though ratings agencies try to examine the availabel business and financial information can
be missed when rapid changes occur. The credit rating business in the contry is expected to face
challanges."Even though ratings agencies try to examine the availabel business and financial
information carefully as possible, something can be missed when rapid changes occur. This session
will discuss the extend to which the credit rating agencies play role in the economy crisis & to
what extent the the investor can rely on evaluating the safety of their investments.
