The JM Financial Centre for Financial Research is a research centre at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur that aims to conduct cutting-edge research in broad areas of finance, accounting, and related disciplines, with a strong industry and regulatory connect. The Centre not only aims to advance research in traditional topics, such as financial markets, corporate finance, and accounting quality, but also seeks to promote research on topical issues, including environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, climate finance, sustainability, Fintech, and inclusive growth. In doing so, the Centre aims to engage regularly with both industry and regulatory bodies to provide solutions to real-world problems.
One of the primary goals of the Centre is to bridge the gap between academic and industry-oriented research by fostering a continuous dialogue among financial regulators, academics, industry experts, and business leaders. It also strives to serve as a forum for discussions on issues and challenges currently facing the finance industry to guide businesses and support evidence-based policy decisions in the rapidly transforming financial sector.
The advisory board provides guidance to the Centre on its activities. The board comprises eminent regulators, academics, and practitioners. This diversity acts as an enabling force in the Centre’s activities aimed at achieving its objectives and making an impact.
Madhu Kampani represents JM Financial Ltd. on the board.
Maneesh Dangi is a veteran of the industry. Currently, he is managing his venture Macro Mosaic Investing & Research Private Ltd and is an independent director and board member at JM Financial Products Ltd. Before these stints, he was with Aditya Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund for more than 15 years and held the position of Co-Chief Investment Officer when he left there in 2021. The list of leadership and portfolio manager awards that he has received is a testimony of the respect he commands in the industry.
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Professor Tarun Chordia is a celebrated researcher in Finance and holds the position of R. Howard. Dobbs, Jr. Chaired Professor of Finance at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University. He received his Ph.D. in finance from the Anderson School, UCLA, in 1993. Professor Chordia’s research is grounded in both theory and empirical methods and spans a diverse area of financial economics. He has published extensively in the top finance journals, including the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Business, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Review of Finance, and the Management Science. He has received numerous awards for his research on empirical asset pricing and market microstructure.
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In a bid to promote interdisciplinary research, the Centre brings together faculty with expertise not only in the areas of finance and accounting but also in other related areas to harness the collective expertise of scholars from different fields.
The Center is managed by the following IIMU faculty members-
Finance and Accounting
Nidhi Aggarwal is an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur. Her research interests include market design, market regulation, derivatives market, and impact evaluation. At present, one of the major themes of her research is around equity and commodity markets in India. Her papers have been published in the Journal of Financial Markets, Journal of Futures Markets, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and the Economic and Political Weekly. In the past, she has worked extensively on policy issues related to the Indian financial markets. She has also been associated as a consultant for the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. She obtained her Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Economics from the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai.
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Economics and Development Studies
Ranojoy Basu is an Associate Professor in Economics and Development Studies at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIMU). His research interests straddle across applied Microeconomic Theory, Dynamic Decision Making, and the Application of Mathematical Finance. He has published in Managerial and Decision Economics, Review of Economic Design, Statistics in Medicine, SMMR, and Stochastic Models. He has a Masters in Economics from Indian Statistical Institute and a Ph.D. from Iowa State University, USA.
Operations Management, Quantitative Methods and Information Systems
Prof. Shankar Prakash is a seasoned business transformation consultant with 20+ years of experience. He's a Professor of Practice at IIM Udaipur, teaching AI, IoT, and Digital Transformation to MBA students and corporate professionals. His research focuses on applications of Artificial Neural Networks for knowledge synthesis in areas like Investor Communication, Capital Markets, and Fintech. He holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business and is pursuing an Executive Fellow Programme at ISB.
Prateek Sharma is an Associate Professor in the Finance and Accounting area and Co-Head of JM Financial Centre for Financial Research at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIMU). His current research interests include applications of natural language processing to study managerial obfuscation, detection of accounting fraud, and the valuation effects of firm emission reduction disclosures. He has an MBA and PhD from IIM Lucknow. He is a certified Financial Risk Manager from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). Before his academic career, he was associated with CitiBank, Infosys, and Indus Valley Partners.
Bhavya Singhvi is an Assistant Professor in the Finance and Accounting area and Co-Head of JM Financial Centre for Financial Research at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIMU). His major research interests are around corporate disclosures, accounting quality, creditor protection, the corporate debt market, inter-firm finance, and issues related to judicial quality. He uses empirical methods in his research. He is a Chartered Accountant. He was conferred the title of Fellow in Management by the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and a Ph.D. by BITS, Pilani.
The Centre’s activities will revolve around knowledge creation, knowledge dissemination, and industry engagement.
Apart from acting as an enabler in the thematic academic research projects by faculty at IIMU, the Centre will focus on
The activities will be led by IIMU faculty and duly supported by research fellows. Industry dialogues will help the faculty understand the practitioners’ perspectives on potential research ideas and get access to proprietary data. These dialogues will also help disseminate the knowledge generated by the Center’s research activities. The Annual Research Workshop will be the flagship event of the Center and will showcase the activities undertaken by the Center during the year. The workshop will provide another platform for deeper discussions on the thematic thrust areas of the Center.
The Center will also release two annual reports (once every six months) on the developments in the Centre’s thrust areas in the Indian context. These reports will be published on the Centre’s website and will be open access.
