First Day of IPO Listing: Wild & Spurious Volatility

IPO Listing day fluctuations are abnormal. As CNBC anchors term it there are lot of fun and games in these counters as there are no price bands on listing day.

1. Financial Express on Listing Day Volatility
2. Report on IPO listing day volatility in Business Standard
3. Prithvi Haldea of Prime database on Listing Day price bands.
4. SEBI's earlier proposal of 25% price band on first day of IPO Listing.
5. DNA on the Violence of Volatility of New Listings. One has to participate to experience the abrupt price fluctuations.
6. Will pre-opening trade help in case of IPOs Listing day fluctuations ?
7. IPO manipulation behind these violent moves ? Sucheta Dalal here
8. Research article on IPO pricing
9. Scholarly article on IPO pricing. Infact the vast amount of availability of academic literature makes the study of financial markets endlessly fascinating and intellectually satisfying. A motivated student of financial markets can grasp all aspects of an issue from various sources and form an informed opinion.
10. Another article by SSS Kumar who is an alumni of SVUSBM and a student of Dr M S REDDY who is my professor at Tirupati.
11. Information assymetry in IPO pricing may necessitate not applying price bands on Day 1.
12. Today( Oct 23,2011)'s new listing VASWANI has allegations of dummy IPO subscription.  
13. Related Article on  Vaswani
14. Always fascinating prose by Dr Ajay Shah on IPOs. He reminds me of Larry Harris of Trading & Exchanges. His articles on Indian Finance together with Dr Susan Thomas of IGIDR will be a GITA on Indian Finance & Markets. Infact Dr Susan Thomas web page contains lot of notes on Econometrics and Finance which is a feast for students of Finance and Financial econometrics.
15. Another respected thinker on Indian Finance even quoted in India's Financial Markets Book.
16. MoneyLife on IPO manipulation

NISM - EERF as a Platform for Finance Researchers

I had a very good experience at NISM attending the yearly EERF 2011 workshop.

1. I have no hesitation in recommending any researcher,teacher of finance, Market practitioner, Scholarly investor, Corporate executives in financial markets research and practice to attend it at least once. I have attended twice and thoroughly enjoyed it.
2. I think only comparable programe is by Susan Thomas at IGIDR namely Statistics for Financial Practitioners. But I am not sure of its frequency and accessibility.
3. EERF can act as a very good platform for budding researchers in Finance. I came to know many researchers in this area through this venue.
4. I highly appreciate an almost encyclopediac view of financial markets related research by Dr K Kiran Kumar of NISM  ( ex- ISB, IISC)

MBA/BBA in Financial Markets

A welcome trend is developing in Financial Markets Education. Super specialization and focused curriculum,industry tie-ups are becoming important  for good business education.

1. NSE has tied up with Punjabi University, MDU for BBA/ MBA in Financial Markets.
2. BSE Training Institute is offering MBA- Financial Markets in association with IGNOU
3. FTKMC an associate of MCX is also offering PGD in Financial Markets Practice
4. DMC institute of Capital Markets is also in the process of starting MBA & BBA in Financial Markets
5. ITM institute of financial Markets has a PGDM - Financial Markets course
6. NISM has  a well regarded  1-Yr course called PGPSM
7. BLB Institute of Financial Markets has MBA/BBA in Financial Markets in association with MS University
8. Business India Institute of Finance has a 1-Yr course in Financial Markets
9. IFMR has a highly reputed PGDM- Financial Engineering
10. NMIMS has an MBA in capital markets program in association with BSE

This is only a partial list. Financial Market education is on the rise on the back of NSE's Ravi Narain's comments.

Some project Ideas for MBA Finance students

I would like to list out some ideas for Project work and also empirical study. Pl note that these are are borrowed extensively from the existing financial markets literature.

1. Stock Index Futures Market in India
2. Single Stock Futures Market in India
3. Index Options Markets in India
4. Stock Options Market in India
5. Commodity Futures Market in India
6. Risk Management at NSE
7. Risk Management Using Derivatives at NSE
8. Study of Selected Mutual Fund Schemes in India
9. Study of selected ULIP schemes in India
10. Technical analysis- A study of selected Indicators
11. Study on On-line Trading, Clearing & Settlement
12. Comparitive analysis of  internet trading schemes of Selected Stockbroking firms in Hyderabad
13. Sub-Brokers at NSE : A study in Hyderabad
14. Currency Futures Market in India
15. Currency Options Market in India
16. Study on Commodity Exchanges in India
17. Study of Indian Capital Markets at NSE
18. Study on  Regulation of Indian Securities Market - Case study of SEBI
19. Indian Stock Market Volatility - A Study
20. FII impact on Indian Stock Market
21. A Study on Exchage Traded Funds ( ETFs)
22. Fundamental analysis of different Companies
23. Beta analysis of selected Nifty stocks
24. Study on IPOs at NSE
25. Dividend analysis of Selected Companies
26. Study of Single Index Market Model on selected Nifty Stocks
27. India VIX- A study on Volatility Index
28. Study on PMS Schemes in India
29. Portfolio Construction & Management
30. Study on selected M&A's in India
31. Study of Market Efficiency in India
32. Indian Stock Market Integration with Selected Countries
33. Study on Investor Behavior in Hyderabad

My role models in Indian Academic Finance

I would like to share my role models in Academic Finance. Of course this cant be an exhaustive list. I tried to put whom ever I came across or read personally or through their writings.

1. Ajay Shah definitely one of the top most thinkers in finance, economics and policy. His book on India's Financial Markets is a must read for any body remotely connected with Indian Finance.The book is full of empirical justifications rather than empty opinion.
2. Susan Thomas . I admire for her clarity and depth in econometric treatment of financial markets. She has lot of top quality finance materials online for free download.
3. J R Verma . Famous for Derivatives. I have used his book on DERIVATIVES & RISK MANAGEMENT for my class at VJIM.
4. Kotha Kiran Kumar of NISM. I have attended two summer schools on EERF just to listen to his interpretation of Market Microstructure research and his unique way of analysing research papers. He shows you how to connect econometrics with finance.
5. Prasanna Chandra . I have heard his lectures at my initial days at ICFAI.
6. NJ Yasaswy for pioneering the the financial education revolution in India through ICFAI.
7. SSS Kumar who is an alumni of SVUSBM whre I have also studied.
8. M S Reddy has made initial impression on me at my SV University MBA days for his way of questioning.

SOURCES OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Much of the information required by MBA students for their project work can be found on the web.Some of the frequently used sources are

1. Government Owned websites : Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) http://www.sebi.gov.in/
2. Reserve Bank Of India   http://www.rbi.org/
3. Ministry Of Finance  http://www.finmin.nic.in/
4. Stock Exchange Websites : National Stock Exchange ( NSE) http://www.nseindia.com/
5. Bombay Stock Exchange http://www.bseindia.com/
6. Multi Commodity Exchange http://www.mcxindia.com/
7. Financial Magazine / Newspaper websites: Business Standard  http://www.businessstandard.co.in/
8. Hindu Business Line  http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
9. Financial Express  http://www.financialexpress.com/
10. Wall street Journal  http://www.india.wsj.com/
11. Financial Times  http://www.ft.com/
12. Economic Times http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/
13. Mint http://www.livemint.com/
14. Business Today http://www.businesstoday.intoday.in/
15. Business India  http://www.businessindiagroup.com/
16. Economist  http://www.economist.com/
17. Capitalmarket  http://www.capitalmarket.com/
18. Indiainfoline  http://www.indiainfoline.com/
19. Equitymaster  http://www.equitymaster.com/
20. CRISIL  http://www.crisil.com/
21. Moneycontrol  http://www.moneycontrol.com/
22. CARE  http://www.careratings.com/
23. Myiris  http://www.myiris.com/
24. Bloomberg  http://www.bloomberg.com/
25. Reuters      http://www.reuters.com/

Essential Econometrics for Research in Finance @ NISM

I had the pleasure to attend  EERF 2011 @ NISM, Mumbai.

1. The program is from  Apr 30 - May 10,2011
2. I have met many interesting people from academics including  Mr D N RAO ( who has published widely on Mutual Funds), Dr Pandikumar ( PSGIM) .
3. On Day 1, interesting class sessions & discussion on Financial Data by Dr Kiran Kumar ( earlier with ISB) though afternoon session is a bit lacking in Financial examples .
4. Road map of Econometric tools and Statistical Thinking by  Dr K K on Day 1.
5. Most of the examples relate to Financial Markets and Market Efficiency and Microstructure. I hope to get some inspiration for my PhD Thesis.

Understanding Investments

INVESTMENTS is a subject that is better understood and interpreted through a quantitative and statistical lens. This will avoid many biases of narrative distortion,selective recounting and other heuristics mentioned in behavioral finance.

1. I would think INVESTMENTS by BKM & Pitabas Mohanty with good indian examples and data will help students of Investments learn the right way.
2. Practicing with data from NSE website, Yahoo Finance, BSE website is the way to feel and understand finance theory.
3. MBA Course curriculum is enriched in OU & JNTU. BlackSwan Financial Markets School plans to associate with MBA Colleges and B-Schools in Interpreting SAPM, Investments Courses with practical approach and live trading.
4. Bridge Course for BCom/BBA students can also be implemented.

Finance Education in Hyderabad

As I ventured into financial markets education space in Hyderabad, I happened  to meet many interesting people.

1. My  deepest regard for Dr KG Ray of VJIM for his emphasis on Empirical Research and grooming students on research methodology.I learnt a lot from him  academically even though there are minor differences with style of admin. I can vouch for the superiority of VJIM's PGDM program, its pedagogy, curriculum, student culture and Vibrant atmosphere with top class infrastructure.
2. Mr Vishnu Mohan of Firstmove Advisors for his clarity and confidence of his techno-Fundamental approach.
3. Damodar Sai for his Intraday  and Technical analysis skills.
4. Harsha for his expertise in Commodities Trading and advisory.

Learnings from NISM

Attending NISM workshop had been an enriching experience .

1. The unique format of closely tracking the session structure without random lectures from different speakers had given depth to the topic.


2. The group is cohesive with background in finance and statistics that enhanced discussions and interaction among the group.


3. Lot of my questions regarding empirical research in finance particularly market microstructure were resolved.


4. I am able to access and become comfortable with econometric terminology and financial interpretation.


5. Having a trading experience in markets gave me a unique lens to understand the empirical and theoretical angle in the discussions.