The financial laboratory at IIM Calcutta

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, has launched a financial laboratory — billed as the first of its kind in the country — to give students a better understanding of trading strategies and other aspects of financial markets.

“Many people said this was perhaps not the right time to launch such an laboratory, but we think there could not have been a more opportune moment, as there are many lessons to be learnt from the present global meltdown,” said Ashok Banerjee, the faculty in-charge of the Finance Research and Trading Lab.

The laboratory, inaugurated on Tuesday, has 51 terminals, each equipped with a trading simulator. The terminals can be used to access data from the National Stock Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange and various commodity markets.

The laboratory will also have a Bloomberg terminal to view transactions at international markets.

IIM Calcutta is planning to install facilities in the laboratory to access real-time data from other financial markets like the money market and foreign exchange market.

“We were looking for a way to build on IIM Calcutta’s strength in quantitative methods and marry it with the knowledge of theoretical economics and finance. That is how we hit on the idea for the financial lab,” said Ajit Balakrishnan, the chairman of the board of governors of IIM Calcutta.

“All foreign B-schools, especially the Ivy League ones, have such financial labs,” said Shekhar Chaudhuri, the director of IIM Calcutta.

The laboratory will give students hands-on experience in financial market data analysis and modelling and also help in advanced applied research in financial markets. Live market information will be utilised to teach other courses at the B-school.

“During my summer internship, I had to spend a lot of time learning trading strategies. Training in these areas will benefit students looking to work in investment banks,” said a second-year student who did his internship with JP Morgan and Chase.