Great Lakes Institute of Management hosted its 11th Annual Finance Conference virtually on 17th December 2020 with Economics Nobel Laureate Prof. Robert Wilson as Chief Guest and Dr Rajat Kathuria as Keynote Speaker. 

Prof Wilson while answering the questions of strategies in auctions, explained the ‘use it or lose it’ rule, exposure and problem. With a few real situations, he taught the students, how to tackle a ‘snake in the grass’ kind of bidder. Further to that, he said, “Companies want to bid to win; they want the minimum bid that is sure to win. They are only concerned about the probability of winning, and rarely consider how that interacts with the value of actually having won.”

With Prof Wilson’s address, Prof Sanjoy Sircar (Professor of Finance, Great Lakes) set the tone for the keynote address. He explained the current auction trends in India with a few examples. With that, the Keynote address was delivered by Dr Kathuria on several aspects and spectrums including the allocation models, value determination, and spectrum scarcity of India. While evaluating the spectrums of India, Dr Kathuria said “Spectrum is a quasi-public good which can provide substantial welfare and social benefits. So ultimately the challenge that the government faces is, how to manage the trade-off between its revenue objectives and social welfare objective.”