The Centre for Analytical Finance (CAF) at the Indian School of Business (ISB) represents the ISB’s guiding principle that excellence in management education comes through extensive high-quality research. Right at its beginning in the year 2000, the School formulated plans to set up Centres of Excellence in different areas with the mandate that the research activities of the centres would focus on issues and problems in the emerging economies. It was also envisioned that the centres would attract and engage the best minds in their respective areas.
In our short history since CAF was founded in 2004, we have remained true to the ISB’s original vision of a Centre of Excellence dedicated to studying issues and problems in emerging capital markets. We are doing path-breaking research in a host of important emerging markets topics, including how to improve access to finance for SMEs and whether development of the financial sector in a country reduces economic inequality of the population. CAF research papers are invited for presentations all over the world. The papers are almost always top downloads in their respective fields at the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Our flagship annual research conference, the Summer Research Conference in Finance, is regarded internationally as a premier finance research conference.
Our initiative to train the next generation of finance researchers has seen notable success. The fresh graduates from various Indian universities that we hire and initiate into research, regularly get admission to top-tier PhD programmes in the world, following a period of research apprenticeship with us. In the course of our progress, we have formed collaborations and partnerships with scholars based abroad, important think-tanks and special financial institutions, such as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India. With time, we are getting more recognition and visibility across the world for our work.
We are now embarking on a new and exciting phase where we are taking the policy implications of our work to the financial services practitioners and regulators for implementation. Our recent initiative to securitise trade credit of SMEs has received enthusiastic reaction from all stakeholders. The initiative is described later in this brochure.
Instead of resting on our records, we are broadening the scope of our activities and making ambitious plans for the future. We plan to strengthen our linkages with financial sector regulators and practitioners and, to that end, organise a series of policy conferences that will include leaders of our three constituencies: academics, industry professionals, and regulators. We also plan to engage with other finance researchers in the Asia-Pacific region, and work toward developing a culture of high quality finance research in the region.
I hope that my recent appointment to the Board of Directors of the Asian Finance Association and the Board of Advisors of the Institute of Global Finance at the Australian School of Business will facilitate this mission. We want to form more partnerships and collaborations with the leading think-tanks and finance research centres in the world, and have regular exchange of ideas, researchers and resources, such as special data. Ultimately, we want to be the world-wide hub of research in emerging capital markets. As the scope of our activities expand, we will undoubtedly encounter many challenges. However, if the past has been any indication, the future will be on our side.
Sincerely, Sankar De Executive Director, Centre for Analytical Finance, Indian School of Business
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