Second Annual Convocation of NISM at BKC, Mumbai
The 2nd Annual Convocation was held on April 29, 2013, to felicitate the successful students of the School for Securities Education (SSE). These candidates were from the Batch of 2011-12 of two programmes: the One-Year Full-time Post Graduate Programme in Securities Markets (PGPSM) and the One-Year Part-time Certificate in Financial Engineering & Risk Management (CFERM). The Convocation Ceremony was held at the Grand Salon, Hotel Sofitel Mumbai, located at BKC-Bandra. Around 180 persons attended the glittering ceremony.
Shri Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director-Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., was the Chief Guest and Shri P K Nagpal, Executive Director-SEBI and immediate-past Director of NISM, was the Presiding Officer on the occasion. Both Shri Kotak as well as Shri Nagpal are also Members of the Board of Governors of NISM. Accompanying them on the dais, on the occasion, were Shri Sandip Ghose, Director-NISM and Shri G P Garg, Registrar-NISM.
The function commenced with the rendering of the Saraswati Vandana. Shri Ghose provided an activity report of NISM during the year gone by, mentioning that four out of the six schools of NISM are fully active and have scaled up their activities. He also made a mention about the strength of SSE in terms of faculty capabilities in curriculum and research.
Shri Nagpal distributed the certificates to the successful students of PGPSM and CFERM. Shri Kotak gave away the awards to the toppers. From the PGPSM batch, the topper was Saikiran Kopparthi, who was awarded the State Bank of India Gold Medal, a Citation and a cheque of Rs.1 lakh, in the presence of Shri Arijit Basu, GM-State Bank of India. From the CFERM batch, the topper was Srujan Reddy, who was awarded the Canara Bank Gold Medal and a Citation, in the presence of Shri K S Balachandra Rao, GM-Canara Bank. The officials from State Bank of India and Canara Bank were also felicitated by Shri Nagpal, the Presiding Officer for this occasion.
Shri Kotak, a role-model for this generation of budding professionals, was invited to deliver the Convocation Address. Shri Kotak’s speech was highly inspirational and motivational, especially for the successful students. The principal messages delivered were: the dangers of over-leverage, the need for simplicity as opposed to over-engineering, humility and following one’s dharma. He also appreciated NISM’s passion for education in the field of securities markets which is often displayed at the meetings of NISM’s Board of Governors. A silver salver was presented to Shi Kotak to commemorate the occasion.
Shri Nagpal, Presiding Officer on the occasion, advised the budding professionals to enjoy their work in order to bring in the required passion. While emphasizing the importance of regulation in financial markets, he said that NISM’s educational process is unique due to regular interactions with SEBI officials, for first-hand exposure to the thinking behind the regulations. He also encouraged the inculcation of managerial skills among students.
Shri Garg proposed the vote of thanks. The Convocation Ceremony concluded with the singing of the National Anthem. The event was attended by the successful students, their family-members, alumni, current students, officers from key institutions and the corporate world, faculty and staff of NISM. On the media side, the event drew coverage from Bloomberg.
