Manipal institute setting up financial lab

Bangalore, May 7 (IANS) The T.A. Pai Management Institute is setting up a financial laboratory at Manipal to provide its students online access to financial information and stock market data from Indian bourses beginning the ensuing academic year.

"The Rs.1-crore lab will offer students pursuing post-graduate diploma in management in banking and financial services hands on experience in investments and portfolio management, forecasting, risk management and understanding of the global financial management," institute director R.C. Natarajan said in a statement Wednesday.

Manipal in coastal Karnataka is about 400km from Bangalore.

The lab will have terminals of the global financial news agency Bloomberg and data feed from Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Mumbai.

"The lab will also help students gain knowledge by experimental learning process and bridge the gap between theory and practice of finance. We want classroom lessons to be linked to actual markets," Natarajan said.

In line with the practice of Ivy business schools the world over having finance lab for their management students, the Manipal institute lab is expected to improve its industry interface with the financial sector.

"The lab will make our students entrepreneurial and job-ready with better understanding of the financial markets," Natarajan added.