Press Release
ISB Hosts International Conference on 'India Vs. China'

Hyderabad, August 14, 2004: The ISB Economic Forum at the Indian School of Business organised an International Conference on "Will the 21st Century belong to India and China?" on August 14, 2004. The Conference represented yet another pioneering effort by the ISB community to further the ISB's vision of becoming a research driven global institution.

This conference was the highlight of a five-day research workshop in Finance and Economics which was being attended by academia from both India and abroad. The conference was sponsored by the ICICI Research Centre and the University of California at Los Angeles, Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER). This conference brought together prominent business leaders, policy makers, and academic scholars to discuss ideas related to these themes and engage the entire country in a meaningful dialogue on these important issues.

Talking about the conference, Professor Bhagwan Chowdhry, Professor of Corporate Finance and Area Leader for Finance at the ISB, had said, "This conference is unique, in that it will be a platform for all, policy makers, business leaders and academia to listen to each other's informed opinions and think differently on policy making, business practices as well as further research." Professor Bhagwan Chowdhry is the Professor of Finance, the Anderson School at the University of California at Los Angeles. He is currently at the ISB on a sabbatical for a year, along with his family.

Professor Bhagwan Chowdhry added, "I hope this conference will lead to many such opportunities for the ISB to get involved and make meaningful difference to the country's knowledge bank."

The Conference hosted several eminent speakers such as:

• Mr Peter Tan - Vice President, McDonalds, Asia
• Mr Tarun Khanna - Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School
• Mr Sanjeev Sanyal - Senior Economist, Deutsche Bank
• Mr NJ Sheth - Director, Tata Economic Consultancy Services
• Mr Deepak Goyal - Engagement Manager, Mckinsey & Co
• Mr Anwarul Hoda - Member, Planning Commission
• Mr Ching - Sung Wu - National Taiwan University
• Prof Bhagwan Chowdhry - Indian School of Business and UCLA
• Professor Shankar De - Indian School of Business
• Prof Ravi Jagannathan - Chicago Mercantile Exchange Distinguished Professor of Finance; Co-Director of Center for Financial Institutions & Markets, Kellogg School of Management
• Mr John Talbott - Consultant, Indian School of Business
• Mr Gopi Gopalan - Consultant,
• Mr Madhavan Nair- SEEPZ SEZ
• Mr Paul Antony - Cochin SEZ

The ISB is now focussing on developing its research capabilities. The international conferences held on Global Corporate Governance Forum and Financial Market Development in Emerging and Transition Economies were efforts in this direction. ISB is setting up five Centres of Excellence for Research in Emerging Markets. The Centre for Analytical Finance has been set up recently and the Centre for Integrated Marketing will follow. The first of these, the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurial Development, was established in 2001.

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Contributed by -
Ms. Bhuvana Ramalingam,
Director - Communications,
Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.