Centre For Financial Studies (CFS)

Accounting: CFS seeks to engage with developments in financial and non-financial reporting practices in local (Indian) and international contexts through a range of activities. These include: (a) thought leadership through policy engagement (b) development of a robust accounting research eco-system through academic and practitioner collaborations, and (c) dissemination of curated knowledge sessions in partnership with professional /industry leaders.

Governance and Risk: The issues of Governance and Risk have been witnessing special attention in the light of recurring events of losses in financial and non-financial companies. CFS will aim to conduct analysis and research in various areas within governance, on contemporary topics that include: (a) linkages between corporate governance and performance for commercial and not-for profit sectors, (b) impact of regulatory changes on entrepreneurial risk taking environment, and (c) role of institutional investors in enhancing firm-level social and financial outcomes.

Financial Inclusion: CFS will engage in the study of various initiatives and policy measures being implemented to enable ‘access to’ and ‘usage of’ basic financial services by the un/under-served sections of the society. Partnering with practitioners in this domain, CFS intends to: (a) document case studies of businesses that are innovating in delivery of financial services for the base of the pyramid population, (b) study the impact of behavioural interventions on financial inclusion, and (c) think through mechanisms to deepen usage of digital financial services.

Fintech: Fintech has emerged as a specialised area integrating cutting edge technologies with traditional finance. In the area of Fintech, CFS we will focus on studying new technologies in Payment Systems, Block chain applications in lending and banking, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Applications in Text Mining, Behavioural Finance and Credit Scoring among others.

Policy and Regulation: CFS aims to participate in the intellectual processes underlying the evolution of the financial sector policy and regulation. It intends to do so by a) Creating a bipartisan platform for stakeholders in policy to come together, discuss and debate, b) Developing evidence based policy research and alternatives, c) Pooling and analysing data and perspectives, and d) Becoming a pre-eminent think-tank for objective discussion on important sector policy issues.

The Centre plans to have its own Fintech Lab with state-of-the-art computing capability to facilitate research and analytics. The finance faculty at SPJIMR is a mix of academic researchers and experienced practitioners with excellent connect to both the industry and policy makers.

Driven by its mission to influence practice and promote value based growth, SPJIMR has built deep and direct connects with both the industry and the social sector. This along with its sizable alumni across sectors including SMEs, will enable CFS to engage meaningfully with the wider eco system of finance.