IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Trichy and IIM Calcutta Win the Coveted CFA Institute Research Challenge India Finals

CFA Society India announced IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Trichy, and IIM Calcutta as winners of the national final of its CFA Institute Research Challenge India 2017–18. These future investment management professionals will represent India at the Asia Pacific Regional competition to be held on 25–26 April 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Eight teams - IIM Indore, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Trichy, NMIMS, Mumbai, AIMS Institute, Bengaluru, IIM Calcutta, IIFT, Delhi, IIM Raipur - participated in the national final. Suresh Krishnamurthy, CFA, Senior Director, Global Head of Research - CRISIL Global Research & Analytics, Pramod Gubbi, CFA, MD and Head of Equities, Ambit Capital and Pankaj Murarka, Founder, Renaissance Investment Managers, were the judges.

Winners of CFA Institute Research Challenge India 2017-18 with Mr. Jayesh Gandhi, CFA,President, CFA Society India (volunteer) and Senior Portfolio Manager at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd 

The 11th edition of the Challenge saw the participation of 55 business schools from 25 cities across four zones. They pitched their equity research on four companies - Indigo (Inter Globe Aviation), Hero MotoCorp, Titan and Asian Paints - in a brief, time-bound presentation followed by a round of questions.

“As an association of investment professionals, our endeavour is to interact with the next generation of investment professionals, build their understanding of the investment management industry, and mentor them to build successful careers. The CFA Institute Research Challenge gives them a unique opportunity with live environment equity research almost akin to the practical world. The rigour of research supported by quality professional mentors, the rigour of presenting to an experienced fund manager, is unmatched,” said Kishor Bagri, CFA, Director, CFA Institute Research Challenge India.

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university students with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. Students work in teams to research and analyse a publicly traded company - sometimes even meeting face-to-face with company management. Each team writes a research report on their assigned company with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation and selected teams present and defend their analysis to a panel of industry professionals.

About CFA Society India

CFA Society India was established in April 2005 as an association of local investment professionals consisting of portfolio managers, security analysts, investment advisors and other financial professionals. As one of the 149 CFA Institute member societies, CFA Society India connects local members to a global network of investment professionals.

For more information, visit www.cfasociety.org/india.

About CFA Institute Research Challenge

The CFA Institute Research Challenge is a global competition that tests the equity research and valuation, investment report writing, and presentation skills of university students. This annual educational initiative promotes best practices in equity research among the next generation of analysts through hands-on mentoring and intensive training in company analysis and presentation skills. Through the course of the competition, which requires hundreds of hours of preparation, participants receive mentoring from a professional research analyst as they analyse a publicly traded company, write a professional research report, and present their research results and recommendations to a high-profile panel of experts. Points are awarded to teams based on their investment case, their poise, and their ability to answer the judges’ questions.

The first Research Challenge competition was hosted by the CFA Society New York (erstwhile New York Society of Security Analysts) in 2002 and involved just five teams from the New York area. Since then, the competition has grown to involve tens of thousands of students from over 1,000 universities worldwide.

For more information, visit www.iaipirc.org and https://www.cfainstitute.org/community/challenge/Pages/index.aspx.