Citi India commits $1.5 mn to ISB

Under the aegis of this grant, CAF will undertake projects on a range of subjects in the financial domain. The objective of this programme is to support changes that will have a positive impact on emerging financial markets and participants, including small investors, small and medium enterprises and micro entrepreneurs.

CAF will formulate recommendations to support regulators, practitioners, academics, and other opinion leaders to implement financial development in the country.

"Government, private organisations, NGOs and individuals have undertaken several initiatives recently to extend financial inclusion and to improve capital markets access for small investors and enterprises. There exists a definite need to understand the impact these initiatives are making and to identify key issues for stimulating dialogue amidst all relevant stakeholders to induce the next level of reforms to facilitate all-inclusive growth," Sanjay Nayar, chief executive officer of Citi India, stated in a press release here on Thursday.

ISB dean, M Rammohan Rao, said it was essential to ramp up financial growth in rural areas to make the economic growth more robust and inclusive. Using the grant support, CAF would organise several projects, international conferences, workshops and extensive dissemination of the project findings over the next three years.

"Our focus at the CAF is to research capital markets in emerging economies, especially India. We expect our project findings to provide help in creating a sound financial infrastructure for those markets and facilitate reforms to increase their global competitiveness," Sankar De, executive director, CAF, said.