The Almus Rupee Money Conference 2021 was held on December 3 and 4. The inaugural address, was delivered by G Padmanabhan, former Executive Director of RBI, who has been the mentor of the conference since its inception. The keynote address was delivered by Viral Acharya, former RBI Deputy Governor. He talked about how the public digital infrastructure in India will facilitate financial inclusion and the development of a new credit ecosystem.
The panel discussions centred around the dynamics of the dollar-rupee exchange rate, including the Central Bank’s role to contain its volatility and methods of intervention, the evolution of GIFT city and how it has been instrumental in shifting business to the Indian domestic markets.
The panel discussion on the digitisation of supply chain finance focused on creating an open trade finance ecosystem. A talk on the steps taken for India’s recovery post the pandemic was delivered by V Anantha Nageswaran.
G Mahalingam (Former Whole-Time Member - SEBI), while delivering the keynote address on December 4 highlighted the importance of having a calibrated approach toward managing outflows from the country.
A discussion on Infrastructure Financing dwelt on the skill sets required for project financing and the role of Central Banks, while another panel discussion on the Role of Financial Markets covered corporate bond market, currency markets and capital account convertibility moderated by Professor Ananth Narayan.
A special talk on entrepreneurship was delivered by Ravi Goenka (Chairman and MD of Laxmi Organic Industries Ltd), who spokeon the risk-taking ability required for entrepreneurship and his experience on working during the pandemic.
The panel discussion on Corporate Treasury discussed recent regulations, usage of technology and evolution of corporate treasury.
Usha Thorat (Former Deputy Governor - RBI) spoke on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG), while Ketaki Bhagwati (Independent Non-executive director of Axis Bank) stressed the importance of having an ESG assessment system for corporates and its increasing relevance.
Venkatesh S Bijoor, Chief Strategy Officer at Almus, said that “we have at present incomplete financial markets for Indian companies and corporation”, which will be the objective of the conference going forward.
“Regulations on currency and bonds hampers the development of forex and debt markets. If these constraints are removed like in developed economies, talent would bubble up, and the economy prospers”, Bijoor said.