3rd Invest India Debt Market Roundtable, 2003
06 May 2003, The Rooftop, Oberoi Towers, Mumbai, India

Invest India Economic Foundation (IIEF) has already hosted two highly successful national level conferences titled "The Future of India's Debt Market" in recent years. Each of these conferences were attended by over 300 participants from domestic and overseas markets and chaired by the relevant Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Leading firms including ICICI, NSE, STCI, CRISIL, PDAI and Warburg co-sponsored these two events. The papers commissioned for the second Invest India debt market conference were edited by Gautam Bhardwaj and published as a book by Tata McGraw-Hill.

In consultation with some senior market participants and policy-makers, Invest India is hosting its 3rd debt market forum in April 2003 as an intensive policy roundtable. Unlike the previous IIEF debt market conferences, the forthcoming forum is planned as a closed-door policy and business roundtable that will be attended only by invitation. Invitees to this roundtable will include CEOs and CFOs from banks, asset management companies, insurance firms, regulatory agencies, government departments and independent experts. No delegate fee will be charged for attending the conference.

The roundtable will include an opening session and four technical sessions. The participants will examine a host of policy and regulatory imperatives as well as technical issues in further development of India's debt market. These will include issues in building a market for efficient price discovery, preparing the market for two-way interest-rate views, new products including OTC derivatives, exchange traded interest securities and interest-rate derivatives, participation of PFs and trusts in the exchanged-based securities market, a regulatory framework for private placement of new issuances of corporate paper, and the development of an efficient and liquid secondary market for corporate bonds. The discussions will close with a reception (cocktails and dinner) hosted by IDBI Capital Market Services.

This observations and recommendations of the roundtable will be summarized in the form of an objective report. Copies of this Report will be widely circulated and also hosted on the IIEF website. A poll will also be conducted during the roundtable to 'quantify' the views and opinions of the participants as well as the key points of consensus/difference on various issues. This poll will also serve as an important input for the Report.