Dear Niveshak,

The winds of change are blowing here at IIM Shillong. Amidst the hustle of the placement season, 18 fellow Niveshaks are hard at work at crossing one of the most significant milestones of our existence. The Niveshak Investment Fund, NIF as it is commonly known, is set to fight it out with the big boys. NIF will soon be going live, an ambition that is finally close to becoming a reality. It is with great pride and gratitude we dedicate this significant achievement to the forbearers of our office who have set the bar high and have been instrumental in creating a hard culture and heritage of the Finance Club, the oldest and proudest club of IIM Shillong.

This month’s magazine starts with “The Month that Was” looking at the latest happening of the financial world. We weigh in on the BRICS summit which was threatened at that point due to the Doklam crisis, something for which this administration has to be commended in succeeding to come out of the confrontation smelling of roses. The cover story of this edition tries to objectively analyze an issue we seldom have had to face before: the issue of plenty. As the country’s foreign exchange reserves peaked at a staggering US$ 402.246 Billion, we look into what is the ideal amount of foreign currency assets we should be holding and what is the cost, opportunity cost and otherwise, of holding such high levels of currency. Ms. Bekxy Kuriakose, who charmed during the recently concluded Manthan, weighs in on issues mainly relating to fixed income securities and the enormous potential that it has.

The guest articles for the month are especially interesting with the article of the month taking an interesting look at decentralized IT systems and its implications for the banking and financial systems. While the FinGyaan opines about how the consolidation of the state-run banks could play out if the existing potential synergies are exploited. FinFame looks at Viral Acharya, one of the most influential men in the Indian financial industry and widely tipped to be the next RBI governor. Finally, in its second edition, Juxtapose compares and contrasts the Zimbabwean economic crisis and US Great Depression.

We hope you have as much reading the magazine as we had in making it.

Stay Invested,
Team Niveshak