B-Schools to participate in the Global Investment Research Challenge

Updated on: Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Supported by the CFA Institute, the Indian Association of Investment Professionals (IAIP) invited nearly 30 leading business schools in India to participate in the India zonal (North, East, West, and South Zones) and national finals of the Global Investment Research Challenge (Global IRC) in January and February 2011. The winning team will be invited to Bali, Indonesia, competing with other teams in the Asia Pacific region on 25 February 2011.

The Global IRC provides university students with an unparalleled experience of working with investment industry professionals and publicly traded companies to produce an equity research report, as well as to promote the best practices in research among the next generation of analysts. All participants are introduced and held to the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct. The competition was first introduced in 2002 by the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA), which is a CFA Institute member society in New York. Enthusiasm for the event spread, resulting in the introduction of the Global Investment Research Challenge in 2007.

Sunil Singhania, CFA, President, Indian Association of Investment Professionals says, “Last year, more than 425 universities from around the world competed in local rounds of the Global IRC. Four regional winners from Asia Pacific, EMEA, Americas, and New York then participated in the fourth annual Global IRC held in Hong Kong last year, and the winning team was from the Philippines. This year, we have nearly 30 teams from leading universities and business schools in India participating in the local rounds. This is an opportunity to understand the thought process of fund managers as they evaluate companies and investment ideas.”

The universities assemble teams of three to five business and finance students, who work directly with a company in researching and preparing a company analysis. Each team is assigned a dedicated mentor who is either CFA charter holder or an experienced industry professional. The zonal and national finals will be judged by a panel of esteemed judges including leading portfolio managers and industry practitioners. In the past IAIP has have had eminent finance professionals like Ramesh Damani, Ridham Desai, Manish Chokhani, Puneet Nanda, etc participate as jury and this year also leading investment professionals will be a part of the jury. For the India rounds this year, the company being researched in North Zone is HCL Technologies Limited; East Zone is Exide Industries Limited; West Zone is IDFC Limited; and South Zone is United Breweries Limited.
 
The competition consists of various components such as Analysis of a Public Company; Mentoring by a Professional Research Analyst; Writing a Research Report; Presentation of Research to a High Profile Panel of Experts; and Advancement to Regional and Global Level of Global IRC.

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