Students show off their managerial skills

Bancquest, the annual programme conducted at Pondicherry University, saw over 100 participants

Two-pronged strategy: Vice-Chancellor Gurmeet Singh addressing the gathering during the intercollge event, Bancquest ’19.

A hackathon and quiz contests were interspersed with weighty deliberations at the recently-concluded Bancquest’ 19, an annual event of the MBA Banking Technology programme of Pondicherry University.

More than 100 students from engineering colleges located in the U.T. and Tamil Nadu participated in the two-day event. According to the University, the flagship event aimed to fulfil twin objectives — connect to the industry (Banking, Finance and IT, ITeS) by bringing experts from these fields and capitalise on industry resources for the benefit of students and scholars.

Event organisation

It also created an opportunity to showcase their talents through organising management events by inviting engineering and management students from various universities and colleges across the southern part of India.

Prof. Gurmeet Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Pondicherry University, inaugurated the event. A.S. Ramasastri, director, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), Hyderabad was the chief guest. Among those who participated in the inaugural function were Prof. G. Anjaneya Swamy, dean, School of Management, Prof. G. Chandra Sekhara Rao, dean (i/c), College Development Council and founder-head of Banking Technology Department, Prof. S. Sudalaimuthu, head, Department of Banking Technology and Prof. V. Mariappan, convener of the Bancquest.

Guest lectures hosted

Sundar Murthi, general manager/senior faculty, RBI Staff Training College, Chennai, led a session on “Channeling the Technology Geyser — Regulating towards an innovative but Safe future”. R. Vittal Raj, auditor/partner, Kumar & Raj Chartered Accountants, Chennai, managed a session on “Cyber Security Resilience in Indian Banking Industry”.

This was followed by a session on “Technology Disruption in Banks — Winning the Fintech War”, by Balaji, regional manager, State Bank of India, Pondicherry.

The final session was on “Applications of Block Chain in Banking Industry”, by Kameswara Rao Kesavarapu, Oracle IoT/ Blockchain expert, Bengaluru. The events included quiz, best manager contest, ad selfie and treasure hunt. The valedictory function featured Prof. G. Balakrishnan, director of studies, Pondicherry University, B. Veeraraghavan, zonal manager, Indian Bank, Puducherry and Dr. Prasanna Venkatesan, professor, Department of Banking Technology.