IMR Doctoral Conference 2025 kicks off with special talk on ‘Banking Sector in India: The Past, the Present and the Future’
Prof. Viral V. Acharya, C.V. Starr Professor of Economics, Department of Finance, New York University Stern School of Business, delivers keynote address
17 January, 2025, Bengaluru: “India needs market friendly reforms, and not incumbent friendly reforms, in the banking sector”, observed Prof. Viral V. Acharya, C.V. Starr Professor of Economics, Department of Finance, New York University Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern), while delivering the keynote address on, ‘Banking Sector in India: The Past, the Present and the Future’, earlier today at IIM Bangalore. He was speaking on Day One of the IMR Doctoral Conference 2025 (IMRDC 2025), organized by Indian Institute of Management Bangalore’s flagship quarterly journal IIMB Management Review (IMR) and the Office of the Doctoral Programme, being held on 17th and 18th January 2025.
The 16th IMRDC consists of a limited hybrid model to facilitate the participation of virtual delegates. This year, the two-day event comprises the keynote address, a panel discussion and 11 select paper presentations by doctoral students. For further information, please visit: https://www.iimb.ac.in/imrdc2025/
Keynote address
In his talk, Prof. Acharya provided an overview of how the banking sector was stabilized during the past decade following excesses of the prior decade (especially following the Global Financial Crisis), the current opportunities as well as challenges in the face of digital finance and competition from non-tech lenders, and the implications going forward for risk management and financial stability for the banking sector as well as for the overall macroeconomy, mainly in the Indian context.
“The banking system in India is steered not by the economic backdrop alone, but by the political economy of banking as well. It is a misconception that banks in the country got nationalized for financial inclusion, there was the realization of political objective as well. Very often banks are used by the Government to achieve delivery of populist expenditure.”
He gave an overview of institutional reforms, focusing on lowering inflation and borrowing costs, external sector stability, banking sector health, financial inclusion and credit penetration, and fiscal stability.
Quoting from his own research as well as research by other acclaimed academicians, he went on to explain NPAs, Stressed Assets Ratio, Capital Inflation by Government of India in PSBs, Yearly Growth in Advances, etc.
He discussed Digital Finance as well, adding, “India got this right, right from the very beginning. Digital Finance got a big boost post-Covid.”
Explaining if India suffers from a ‘savings glut of the rich’, he elaborated on concentrated wealth gains, concentrated corporate profits, indebted demand of the not-so-rich, financial palliatives, sector-wise job creation in the last five years, and real wages in formal, informal and rural sectors.
“India often does better when given a jolt, but eventually there is slowdown. Welfarism has also gone up in the country. However, there is lack of vigilantism if Government is too popular. Our growth engine has shifted at the top end, but there is little trickle-down effect at the lower level. We need market friendly, and not incumbent friendly reforms”, he observed.
He also suggested that the participants select topics for their future research based on his talk. “Research can be very helpful at times to be applied to policy – it helps you realize what the bad ideas are.”
His talk was followed by a brief Q&A session.
Welcome addresses
Earlier in the morning, Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore, as he welcomed delegates and participants to the IMR Doctoral Conference 2025 (IMRDC 2025), said, “Today, IMR features among the top global journals and the Doctoral conference, which sees participation from faculty from other reputed academic institutes, has also reached international standards. All this is due to the concerted efforts of our faculty members.”
While introducing the keynote specker, he said, “Prof. Viral Acharya’s contributions are remarkable not only in academic and research processes, but also in the spheres of policy and regulation.” He advised the participants to make best use of the two-day conference, build valuable networks and take their research to the next level.
Prof. Sushanta K Mishra, Editor-in-Chief, IIMB Management Review; Chairperson, Research and Publications & C-DOCTA, and faculty of the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area of IIMB, provided an overview of IMR and the conference, adding, “The conference, which started in 2009, has grown from strength to strength, aiding researchers benchmark themselves against the best in the world. The 36th volume of IMR is published; its impact is substantial and is growing.”
Prof. Aditya Shrinivas of the Economics area, IIMB, explained the review process of IMRDC. “What makes the conference unique is its very rigorous review process. A huge number of students get expert reviews. We take extra care in deciding on our discussants as well, who are among global experts. At the very core of the conference, is PhD students’ welfare.”
Prof. V. Ravi Anshuman of the Finance & Accounting area of IIMB, introduced the keynote speaker, adding, “His research has contributed immensely to financial stability and regulation.”
What is in store
On Day Two, the panel discussion on, ‘Academic Job Market: Recruiters’ Perspective’, will feature faculty from IIM Udaipur, IIM Kozhikode, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai and IIM Indore. The discussion will be moderated by Prof. Chetan Subramanian, RBI Chair Professor in Economics at IIM Bangalore.
The event will conclude with certificate presentation, the awards ceremony and the valedictory.
About the speaker
Prof. Acharya was the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from January 2017 to July 2019 and was a Resident Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from September 2022 to January 2023, in charge of Monetary Policy, Financial Markets, Financial Stability and Research. His research interests are in theoretical and empirical analysis of systemic risk of the financial sector, its regulation and its genesis in government- and policy-induced distortions. He currently serves as the editor of the Journal of Law, Finance, and Accounting (2014-16, 2020-), is a member of the Editorial Committee of the Annual Review of Financial Economics (2022-), and is a Board member of the American Finance Association (2024-) and Financial Intermediation Research Society (2023-).
About IMRDC
IMRDC is an annual doctoral colloquium in Management and associated disciplines, which aims to encourage doctoral research and facilitate collaborative work among researchers from different institutions. The conference provides a forum where insightful feedback from senior researchers and academicians help improve the quality and rigor of student research. The benchmark event is commended by academicians and participants for the thorough and constructive feedback provided through its ‘one exclusive discussant per paper’ format.
IMRDC 2025
This year’s conference received around 100 full paper submissions by students from leading Indian and global management schools and universities. Eleven papers have been selected for presentation at the conference with a dedicated discussant to critique each paper. The selection was through a rigorous three-tier review process by the IMRDC Review Committee.
The Conference Co-chairs are Prof. Aditya Shrinivas of the Economics area and Prof. Malika of the Marketing area of IIMB. The Conference Co-hosts are IIMB faculty Prof. Sushanta K Mishra, Editor-in-Chief, IIMB Management Review; Chairperson, Research and Publications & C-DOCTA, and faculty of the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area, and Prof. Ananth Krishnamurthy, Chairperson, Doctoral Programme and faculty of the Decision Sciences area.