NISM's Rs 400-cr campus to be ready by 2015

NISM's Rs 400-cr campus to be ready by 2015

Business Standard: August 08, 2013

Mumbai: Sebi-backed National Institute of Securities Management (NISM), which imparts education related to the financial markets, has embarked on an ambitious project of setting up a sprawling new campus on the outskirts of Mumbai to cater to students across south-east Asia.

The estimated cost of the new learning centre, to be spread across 70-acres at Patalganga, near Panvel, less than 100 kms from Mumbai, is Rs 400 crore, which will be funded through the public-private partnership (PPP) route.

Bulk of the contribution will be made by the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), while marquee financial institutions including the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Deutsche Bank, ICICI Bank and Canara Bank have already agreed to be part of the project, which is slated to be completed in 2015-end.

The foundation stone for this project was laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May this year, during the silver jubilee celebrations of Sebi.

Sandip Ghose, who was formerly with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and now a director, NISM, says, "The top management institutes in India do not have courses in capital markets and insurance. The ambition of NISM is it should have a campus befitting the institution."

NISM, from its new campus will not just aim to impart education to Indian students but also from countries in the region as well.

"The Indian stock market is one of the most mature, in Asia. Hence, we are expecting that NISM will grow into a major player in South Asia. Regions like Sri Lanka, Middle East, Mauritius and Africa have also evinced an interest in collaborating with NISM. We could also look at other SAARC nations, Singapore and Hong Kong among others, for partnerships in their stock market," said Ghose.

The institute is also planning to increase the number of short-term courses at its new campus, while the number of long-term courses would continue to remain the same. The shorter courses, typically between five and 15 days, are aimed at catering roughly 50,000 new individual entrants into the securities market every year.

NISM, an autonomous body governed by its board led by the Sebi chairman, consists of six different schools-School for Investor Education and Financial Literacy (SIEFL), School for Certification of Intermediaries (SCI), School for Securities Information and Research (SSIR), School for Regulatory Studies and Supervision (SRSS), School for Corporate Governance (SCG), School for Securities Education (SSE).

The institute, currently operates out of a building in Vashi, Navi Mumbai, and offers courses on capital markets and training and certification to intermediaries . Once the new campus is established, all the activities will be conducted at Patalganga.

NISM at present has three deans for its six schools. With the new campus, the institute will have more faculty members and is aiming for a student strength of 1,000 a year.

At present, NISM offers three programmes including Certificate in Securities Law, Post Graduate Programme in Securities Markets and Certificate in Financial Engineering and Risk Management (CFERM). Apart from this, NISM also provides mandatory certifications to the intermediaries through its testing centres. Ghose explained the institute was looking for an accreditation from All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for its course on capital markets which would have a duration of 10-15 months. This, according to Ghose, will also enable students to pursue further studies and research after they complete the course.

Going ahead, NISM aims to have its own identity and doesn't want to be know as an institute run by a regulator.

"We do not want to be recognised as a regulator's institute, though the support of Sebi is important in the journey of development," said Ghose.

After the establishment of the new campus, NISM aims to become an institution that sparks policy debates, which are both intra and inter-regulatory in nature.

Ghose said NISM would also be open to presenting recommendation papers to the regulators concerned on these issues.

Building on the research capacities in the nation, NISM is working to develop its own case studies in the area of capital markets. This, says Ghose, is to ensure there are contemporary case studies available for study on capital markets. Apart from academics the institute will also train the students on soft skills.

Besides the recent memorandum of understanding that NISM has entered into with Asia Pacific Institute of Management to launch its CFERM Programme at the institute's New Delhi campus, Ghose said they would be open to partnering with BSE and NSE for long-term investor education. NISM has been identified as the nodal agency for National Strategy for Financial Education.