The ISB Hosts a Unique Microfinance Conference

Hyderabad, August 5, 2005: The Indian School of Business (ISB) is hosting a unique conference –“Microfinance: The Way Ahead” - on August 6, 2005, at the ISB campus in Gachibowli, Hyderabad. The conference is organised by the Centre for Analytical Finance (CAF) at the ISB, and focuses on the future directions of microfinance in India and the rest of the world. The conference is of special importance for academicians, microfinance institutions, other financial institutions, and policy-makers interested in microfinance issues, particularly in light of the United Nations declaring 2005 as the “International Year of Microcredit.”

"The calibre of a top class B-School is judged by its academic excellence and the quality of intellectuals it attracts,” says M Rammohan Rao, Dean, ISB. “The Microfinance Conference is in keeping with this perspective as it establishes the ISB as a thought leader in management education and research.”

A unique feature of the Conference is that it has the potential to impact millions of poor people the world over, by addressing very important issues in designing microfinance contracts. The Conference is of special importance for it has panelists who are leaders in policy making (Rajya Sabha, RBI, NABARD, SBI), practitioners (NGOs, NBFCs) multilateral institutions (World Bank), commercial banks (domestic and foreign) and academicians (from leading universities in USA and India – MIT, UCLA, Harvard and the ISB) to discuss future directions of microfinance in India and abroad. It brings together on a single platform the leaders in all the microfinance constituencies.

Professor Sankar De, Executive Director, CAF, ISB, says, “The Microfinance Conference is of special relevance to a wide cross-section of the Indian population and institutions. Microfinance is an all-encompassing business as it involves the biggest of the commercial banks, highly acclaimed academicians at renowned universities, and the poorest people in remote villages.”

The Conference features many important speakers. Among these are the Governor of RBI, Y V Reddy, speaking on “The regulation of microfinance institutions,” and A K Purwar, Chairman SBI, delivering the keynote address on “Microfinance: Co-creating Wealth.” The three sessions of the Conference focus on crucial microfinance issues and have panelists comprising eminent academicians, policy makers and researchers from India and abroad. The topics for the three sessions are:

• How to estimate the effectiveness of microfinance programmes
• How to redesign microfinance contracts to expand the reach of microfinance
• How to regulate microfinance institutions

 The CAF, effectively, has a week-long schedule of activities aimed at bringing excellence in management education through extensive high-quality research at the ISB.

Before the Microfinance Conference, the CAF is hosting a symposium on future directions of Indian Capital Markets. The symposium on “What new financial institutions and markets will India need in the next fifteen years (until 2020)?” is scheduled to be held on August 5, 2005, and has six CAF advisory board members as its panelists. The panelists are also the heads of their respective institutions such as NCAER, NSDL, NSE, UTI, Citigroup-India and CRISIL. The symposium aims at providing concrete guidance for India’s financial institutions to plan and prepare for the future.

The second Annual Summer Research Conference in Finance follows the Microfinance Conference, and is also hosted by the CAF from August 7 – 9, 2005. Well-known finance scholars from North America (USA and Canada), Europe, South-East Asia, New Zealand, and India are coming to the ISB to present their work.

About the ISB

The Indian School of Business is a research-oriented independent management institution that grooms future leaders for India and the world. Its partnership with the Kellogg School of Management, The Wharton School, and London Business School make it one of its kind in Asia. The School offers a one-year Post Graduate Programme; short-duration, high-powered Executive Education programmes for CEOs and senior executives; and a two-year Research Fellowship Programme. The origins and distinctive research of our faculty members ensure that our programme content is contemporary and global in its perspective, and develops our students’ understanding of modern management opportunities and challenges.

For further information please contact:

Bhuvana Ramalingam

Director - Communications
Indian School of Business
Ph: +91 40 23187431
Email: Bhuvana_r@isb.edu