Good day, Dr. Sriram M. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia.

Hello, are you there?

Are you able to hear me?

Shall I continue?

Shall I continue?

Hello.

Hello.

Could you please respond?

Thanks. Thanks for connecting again.

Yes, I can hear you now. Please go ahead and share your professional journey in academia.

So let me quickly.

Go with.

About myself.

So I am Sriram.

I am at academics.

Since 2019.

So I finished my.

Doctor degree in finance.

At Vit Vellore in 2017.

I am very much interested.

Yes.

Thanks for sharing that!

Professor, let's begin with evaluating your expertise in financial analytics. How do you approach conducting a sensitivity analysis for financial projections in a complex, multi-year investment model?

Can we go to next question please?

If you're unable to answer, I'll need to note that as part of the evaluation. Let's proceed. Next, addressing core financial management: How do you ensure effective capital structure optimization to balance risk and return in an organization?

To have an effective capital structure.

Could you elaborate on the methodologies or frameworks you would use to achieve this effective capital structure?

So to go with effective capital structure, we need to look into two important components. 1 is.

Equity. Another one is debt.

Any organization should look into.

So that they can go with effective capital structure in the sense.

The leverage part.

What is a weightage of?

Debt in financing.

An organization should be minded more.

When the capital structure is form.

So capital structure comprises of.

Equity cost.

Debt cast.

Retail earnings cost.

And dividend cost?

So from my opinion, any organization should look into that part and equity part and they need to make sure that.

The dead part?

Will be lesser welcome Part 2.

Other costs which will make an effective.

Capital strike.

Yup.

Thank you for your explanation, Professor. Let us now move forward. How do you ensure a structured and effective approach when teaching both theory and laboratory finance courses?

So it could be handled in a way where inside the classroom the theory will be taught.

And those students will be brought to laboratory and it will be explained in practical and they'll be made hands on.

And they should submit the results and it will be evaluated.

Thank you, Professor. Let’s move on to student evaluation and exam responsibilities. How do you design assessments to effectively evaluate both theoretical knowledge and practical application skills in finance?

If we are going to teach a complete theoretical subject without any numericals, then the evaluation.

It depends on the subject that we teach.

Is is here when compared to.

Teaching a numerical subject. The weightage.

Of numericals will be more in numerical subject wherein the evaluation falls on.

How intensively the student answers.

So it will be even more challenging.

Understood, Professor. Let’s proceed. How would you guide and oversee student projects and research in finance to ensure both academic rigor and practical relevance?

So I will insist my students to apply a model, a theory that they have that they have studied.

In their course.

And the evaluation will be based on their application and the knowledge that they have gained through their project.

Accordingly, the assessment will happen.

Thank you, Professor. Let’s focus next on clear communication and structured teaching. How do you ensure that complex financial concepts are effectively communicated and understood by a diverse student audience with varying levels of proficiency?

So.

As we all know, any classroom will comprise various.

Students from different backgrounds.

So whenever I teach, I start with an example which is understood by everyone. Then I will slowly get into the theory part.

Then will lot of.

Other aids like videos.

Images.

And real time examples I'll make all the students understand about the concepts that I teach.

Thank you, Professor. Next, regarding your academic background. Do you hold a PhD in a finance-related specialization, and could you briefly share the focus of your doctoral research, if applicable?

Yes, I did my PhD.

Under finance specialization, my thesis was about.

To investigate the financial inclusion status amongst bank account holders in select districts of Tamil Nadu, India.

So it was all about.

The bank customers had access to banking products.

And services, but did they really use?

All the financial products and services.

The time I did my doctoral degree.

Pradhan Mantri Janan Yojana which came into existence which?

There was.

Enabled most of the Indian population to open bank accounts and they were so-called as bank account holders. But my study was to confirm whether they used the bank accounts effectively.

Into all financial products and services and did they use that effectively, for which I applied an index by taking permission from the World Bank called U.S. financial Inclusion Index and I derived the results out of that.

By accessing.

Thank you for sharing, Professor. Moving forward, could you provide an example of a recent research publication in a reputed journal, and briefly describe its contribution to the field of finance?

So my recent paper was published along with my PhD scholar. It is all about stock market volatility post crisis. So that is my scholars thesis as well.

So the research goes this way.

So in many times most of the studies analyze the markets during.

And impact of a particular event.

But very limited studies.

Has gone through the recovery phase and gave some suggestion. So the recent research and the recent article to some means it is all about stock market volatility.

Post impact crisis.

Thank you for that detailed explanation, Professor. Lastly, let's address your experience with industry projects or consultancy. Could you share an example of a noteworthy collaboration with industry, focusing on its goals and outcomes?

So I I did.

My PhD at VIT Vellore. Meantime I was also a research associate.

At VIT Vellore.

So during my tenure.

At VIT I had an opportunity.

To do a responsibility project with.

Tamil Nadu police.

The project was all about investigating the number of death tolls and the reason of those deaths by means of accident, trespassing, electrocution, suicide.

In the train, on the train and on the track.

So myself and my research guide we worked with.

We made a study, we gave valuable suggestions and we presented the same to the Inspector of General, Chennai, the year 2015.

Tamil Nadu police.

And our policy implications came into effect into a particular railway station.

And they took the action.

Thank you for sharing about this collaboration and its impact, Professor. All target skills have been assessed. Moving ahead.

Yes.

To start, could you share which introductory course in the field of finance you find most engaging to teach and why?

So I from my side, I think financial accounting is the most important.

Basic course that should be taught to any finance student because it is ubiquitous in the sense it is studied by.

Any student who studies finance throughout the country and it tells the basic financial.

Accounting which is also applied in the market. So I think it will be more engaging because it has enough numbers to keep the students engaged and it will also teach basics about financial accounting which is already applied in the market. So I think financial accounting makes more sense to me.

Got it. Thank you, Professor.

Professor Sriram, I see notable accolades such as the Best Paper Award at the 11th International Conference on Science, Engineering, and Technology and a Certificate of Appreciation for Research Awards listed on your resume. Could you select one of these achievements and detail how the underlying research connects directly to your approach in the classroom?

The research awards that I received from the VIT was mostly focused on my PhD work. During those days. It was all about financial inclusion, most of it.

Yes.

And when I say financial inclusion, it is not about my research, it is about the whole nation which will focus on financial inclusion. And even now it is highly contemporary. So in what way I can bring that to classroom is if I say about financial inclusion in the classroom, I mean all the students.

Should be financially included. They should access to all the financial products and services through a proper stream to avoid.

Uh, all the cash embezzlement, Uh, tax evasion.

And such matters, and they can also be a teacher and they can also teach to their parents and their surroundings about financial inclusion, which will make everyone to transact legally and properly so that everything will get recorded and it will make sense as an economy as a whole. So in that way, I think I can teach my students in the classroom through my.

Research presentations and research awards.

That is insightful, Professor Sriram. Financial inclusion is indeed a topic of national importance, and embedding such research into the classroom dynamic has significant value. Could you elaborate on a specific pedagogical method or session structure you would employ to ensure students grasp this concept effectively and practically?

So this this subject cannot be directly taught inside the classroom.

I mean financial inclusion.

Can become an outcome.

Of research or a teaching method.

As a teacher, I need to teach about financial products and services 1st and the use of financial product and services.

So to make this financial inclusion as an outcome.

In in all the transactions next.

Then we need to analyze the same.

So that we will reach at a point where we could find whether.

The users are really financially included or not.

Understood, Professor Sriram. It seems you approach this step-by-step: educating about financial products and transactions, analyzing their usage, and assessing inclusion comprehensively. How do you adapt this method for diverse student groups, particularly those who might have varying levels of familiarity with finance concepts?

Our scheduled time for the interview is now up. Before we conclude, do you have any questions related to the role or the company?

No, I don't have any questions.

Thank you, Professor Sriram. It was a pleasure engaging with you during this academic discussion. Wishing you the best in your endeavors ahead.

Thank you.