Faculty & Research

Sobhesh Agarwalla

Area

Primary Area : Finance and Accounting

Contact

Email : sobhesh@Iima.ac.in

Phone : +91-79-7152 4865

Secretary : Priyal Patel

Phone : +91-79-7152 7926

Website : Personal Website

Education

Ph.D., IIMA

FCA

ACS

ACMA

Teaching

Post-graduate Level Courses

Core Courses:

  1. Financial Reporting and Analysis (PGP and PGPX)
  2. Cost and Control System (PGP)
  3. Corporate Finance (PGP)
  4. Financial Markets (ePGP)

Electives (Joint offerings): (MBA and 1-year MBA Programs)

  1. Financial Statement Analysis
  2. Valuation of Firms
  3. Modern Investment and Portfolio Management
  4. Fraud Risk Assessment and Governance Mechanism
  5. Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Restructuring

Doctoral Courses

  1. Corporate Finance in emerging markets (Elective)
  2. Foundation of Finance (co-instructor)
  3. Empirical Research in Accounting and Corporate Governance (Elective)

Executive Education

Chair/Co-chair

  1. Management and Finance for Experienced CAs
  2. Management and Finance for Young CAs
  3. Mergers, acquisitions and restructuring
  4. Advanced Leadership Program for Chartered Accountants
  5. Executive Program in Business Finance (Blended learning program)
  6. Developing Commercial and Financial Skills for Strategic Business Decisions
  7. General Management Program (International Program)
  8. Project/Credit Appraisal in a Volatile Business
  9. Wealth Management and Financial Planning (Customized Program)

Teaching in Executive Education Programs

  1. Financial Reporting
  2. Financial Statement Analysis
  3. Strategic Cost Management
  4. Management Control Systems
  5. Valuation of firms
  6. Corporate Finance
  7. Corporate Governance
  8. Project Finance
  9. Mergers and Acquisitions

Workshops for corporate executives

I conduct 1-day to 3-days workshops for corporate executives on Mergers and Acquisitions, Developing business acumen, analysis of financial statements, valuation, etc.

Academic Experience

Chairperson, IIMA case centre, 2019- Present

Chairperson, Financial aids and awards committee, IIMA, 2018-2020

Special Invitee, ICAI Valuation standard board, 2018

Chairperson, Finance and Accounting Area, IIMA, 2016-2018

Warden, IIMA, 2015-2017

Member, Library committee, 2010-12, 2014-16

Member, Research and publication committee, IIMA, 2015-2016

Special Invitee, ICAI Accounting standard board, 2014

Chairperson, Library committee, 2013-14

Program coordinator, IIMA-Citi Financial Literacy symposium, 2012

IIMA Member, Library Committee, 2010-2016

Member, Finance Committee, National Law University of Odisha, 2010-2012

View More

Articles

Big-4 auditors and audit quality: a novel firm life-cycle approach", Mdeditari Accountancy Research (Forthcoming) (With Sonali Jain)

"GST and the discrimination against production-oriented states". in Morris,S., Macroeconomic Policy in India since the Global Financial Crisis, Springer, 2022 (with Sebastian Morris, Astha Agarwalla and Ajay Pandey)

“Betting against Beta in the Indian Market”. In Mishra, A. K., Vairam A., Mohapatra, S., and Olson D., The Financial Landscape of Emerging Economies.Springer. (With Joshy Jacob, Jayanth R. Varma and Ellapulli Vasudevan)

"Lottery and bubble stocks and the cross-section of option implied tail risks". Journal of Futures Market. Forthcoming. (With Jayanth R. Varma and Sumit Saurav)

“The impact of Covid-19 on tail risk: Evidence from Nifty index options”. Economics Letters, Vol. 204, 109878, 2021. (With Jayanth R. Varma and Vineet Virmani)

“Rational repricing of risk during COVID-19: Evidence from Indian single stock options market”. Journal of Futures Market. Vol 41, 1498-1519, 2021. (With Jayanth R. Varma and Vineet Virmani)

"An Examination of Factors Driving Big 4 Audit Fee Premiums: Evidence from India's Audit Market". Accounting Horizons, Vol 33 (2), 43-58, 2019 (With Joshy Jacob and Naman Desai)

"Indian equity options: Smile, risk premium and efficiency", Journal of Futures Markets, Vol 39 (2), 150-163, 2019 (With Sonali Jain and Jayanth R. Varma)

"Informed trading around earnings announcements - Spot, futures, or options?", Journal of Futures Markets, Vol 39 (5), 579-589, 2019 (With Sonali Jain, Jayanth R. Varma and Ajay Pandey)

"The Impact of Self-Deception and Professional Skepticism on Perceptions of Ethicality", Advances in Accounting,Vol. 37, 85-93, 2017 (With Naman Desai and Arindam Tripathy)

"Size, Value and Momentum in Indian Equity". Vikalpa, 2017, Vol. 42 (4), 211-219 (With Joshy Jacob and Jayanth R. Varma)

"Savings, Borrowings and Remittance Behaviour of Migrant Workers in Urban India". 2016, Research Report, IIMA Publication (With Samir K. Barua, Joshy Jacob and Jayanth R. Varma)

"Chit Fund Participation and Sources of Economic Value", 2016, Research Report, IIMA Publication. (With Samir K. Barua, Joshy Jacob and Jayanth R. Varma)

"Mandatory IPO grading: Does it help pricing efficiency?" 2015, Vikalpa.Vol. 40 (2), 132-144. (With Joshy Jacob)

"Financial literacy among working young in urban India". World Development, 2015, Vol. 67, 101-109. (With Samir K. Barua, Joshy Jacob and Jayanth R. Varma)

"Impact of introduction of call auction on price-discovery: Evidence from Indian stock market using high-frequency data". International Review of Financial Analysis, 2015, Vol. 39, 167-178 (With Joshy Jacob and Ajay Pandey)

"Structuring the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited - A Lost Opportunity (Abridged)'', WCTR, 2013 conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July, 2013). (conference publication)

"Expiration-Day Effects and the Impact of Short Trading Breaks on Intraday Volatility: Evidence from the Indian Market". The Journal of Futures Market, 2013, Vol. 33(11), 1046 - 1070 (With Ajay Pandey)

"A Survey of Financial Literacy among Students, Young Employees and the Retired in India". Research Report, IIM Ahmedabad Publication. (With Samir K. Barua, Joshy Jacob and Jayanth R. Varma)

"Effectiveness of financial literacy interventions in improving financial literacy among rural women in North India". Research Report, IIM Ahmedabad Publication. (With Samir K. Barua, Joshy Jacob and Jayanth R. Varma)

"Under-pricing of Initial Public Offerings: An Empirical Analysis of Indian IPO Market", International Journal of Strategic Management, Vol. 8(1), 2008.

Read More

Cases

Essar Steel India Limited: Managing and Turning Around a Distressed Firm in Insolvency (with Ajay Pandey)

Essar Steel India Limited: Managing and Turning Around a Distressed Firm in Insolvency (with Ajay Pandey, Nupur Birmiwal and Shreyas Srivastava)

Renew Power: Building Scale in India Renewable Sector - TN (with Ajay Pandey and Sanjay Kumar Jena)

Renew Power: Building Scale in India Renewable Sector (with Ajay Pandey)

WeWork: Public versus Private Markets - TN (With Jayanth R. Varma and Vineet Virmani)

WeWork: Public versus Private Markets (With Jayanth R. Varma and Vineet Virmani)

NMDC Ltd. – FPO: Teaching Note (with Premchander)

NMDC Ltd. – FPO: Case (with Premchander)

NTPC – FPO: Teaching Note (with Samir K. Barua)

NTPC – FPO: Case (with Samir K. Barua)

ICICI Bank - FPO – (Draft) Teaching Note (with Joshy Jacob and Jayanth R. Varma)

ICICI Bank - FPO – Case (with Joshy Jacob and Jayanth R. Varma)

Lupin Foray into Japan – Teaching Note (with Joshy Jacob)

Lupin Foray into Japan – Case (with Joshy Jacob and Prem Chander)

MSGF: A checkered saga? – Teaching Note (With Samir K. Barua)

MSGF: A checkered saga? – Case (With Samir K. Barua)

Banking the unbanked – Teaching Note (with Samir K. Barua)

Banking the unbanked - Case (with Samir K. Barua)

CSR at Torrent Group = Teaching Note (with Samir K. Barua)

CSR at Torrent Group - Case (with Samir K. Barua)

Lighting up Lives Through Cooking Gas and Transforming Society Through PMUY - Teaching Note (With Samir K. Barua)

Lighting up Lives Through Cooking Gas and Transforming Society Through PMUY (With Samir K. Barua)

Indus Cricket Academy- Constructing the Financial Statements - TN

Indus Cricket Academy- Constructing the Financial Statements - Case

IndiGrid: Creating India's First Power Transmission InvIT (A)- Teaching Note (with Ajay Pandey)

IndiGrid: Creating India's First Power Transmission InvIT (A) - Case (with Ajay Pandey)

IndiGrid: Transitioning into India's First Independent Power Transmission InvIT (B) - TN (with Ajay Pandey)

IndiGrid: Transitioning into India's First Independent Power Transmission InvIT (B) - Case (with Ajay Pandey)

Prime Broking Default at the National Stock Exchange - TN (with Jayanth R. Varma)

Prime Broking Default at the National Stock Exchange (with Jayanth R. Varma)

Changing Perceptions and Transforming Outcomes: L&T Acquisition of Mindtree - TN (with Asha Kaul)


Changing Perceptions and Transforming Outcomes: L&T Acquisition of Mindtree (with Asha Kaul)

Read More

Academic Conferences

"Structuring the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited – A Lost Opportunity" (With G. Raghuram) WCTR, 2013 conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July, 2013)

"Whether Cross-Listing, Stock-specific and Market-wide Calendar Events impact Intraday Volatility Dynamics? Evidence from the Indian Stock Market using High-frequency Data". FEG-JFM Symposium on the Financial Econometrics of Derivative Securities and Markets at Deakin University, Australia (January, 2013)

"Impact of Introduction of Call Auction on Price-Discovery: Evidence from Indian Stock Market using High-Frequency Data" (With Joshy Jacob and Ajay Pandey) 9th Annual Conference of Asia-Pacific Association of Derivatives (APAD), Busan, Korea (August, 2013) Eastern Finance Association, Florida (April 2013)

"Mandatory IPO Grading: Does It Help Pricing Efficiency? (With Joshy Jacob) Eastern Finance Association, Florida (April 2013) India Finance Conference, IIM Calcutta (December, 2012)

"Intraday Activity Patterns and Market Microstructure Effects: An Empirical Investigation of Indian Capital Market Using High Frequency Data" (Thesis Proposal) Doctoral Colloquium, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (January, 2008)

"Empirical analysis of post-listing performance of Initial Public Offerings" International Academy of Business and Economy conference at Stockholm, Sweden (June, 2008)

Read More

Consulting

Review of Surveillance Activities at NSE (with Prof. Jayanth R. Varma)

Estimating the Consumption Based Tax-base of Gujarat: A Comparative Study of Select States (with Sebastian Morris, Ajay Pandey and Astha Agarwalla)

Impact of the proposed GST on the Consumer Price Index in India (with Sebastian Morris, Ajay Pandey and Astha Agarwalla)

Independent Evaluation of Media Lab Asia (with Profs. Sebastian Morris, Rakesh Basant, Rekha Jain and Ajay Pandey)

Impact of Changes in Policy Framework on Prices of Fertilizers and Fertilizer Inputs and on Subsidy/Concession (with Ajay Pandey and Sebastian Morris)

Impact Assessment of the Jyotigram Programme of the Government of Gujarat (with Sebastian Morris, Ajay Pandey and M. S. Sriram)

Awards & Honors

2021 - Best Paper Award in Second Annual Capital Markets Conference

2008 - Best Thesis Proposal Award in Doctoral Colloquium IIM Ahmedabad

2008 - Outstanding Research Paper Award at International Academy of Business and Economics at Stockholm Conference, Sweden

2006 - Chaudhary Padmanabhan Pant Award for Scholastic Excellence IIM Ahmedabad

2005 - Gold Medalist (AIR 1) in the Final Examination of the Institute of Costs and Works Accountants of India

2005 - Highest Marks (all India) in two courses in the Final Examination of the Institute of Costs and Works Accountants of India

2002 - All India Rankholder (AIR 20) in the Intermediate Examination of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

2000 - University Rankholder (6th) in B.Com (Hons) of Utkal University

1997 - Rankholder (3rd) in higher secondary examination (CHSE)

2012 - Program coordinator, IIMA-Citi Financial Literacy symposium

2012 - Program coordinator, IIMA-Citi Financial Literacy symposium

2013-14 - Chairperson, Library committee

2014 - Special Invitee- ICAI Accounting standard board

2014-16 - Member, Research and publication committee, IIMA

2010-12 - Member, Library committee

2015-17 - Warden, IIMA

2016-18 - Chairperson, Finance and Accounting Area, IIMA

2018 - Special Invitee, ICAI Valuation standard board

2018-20 - Chairperson, Financial aids and awards committee, IIMA

2019-till date - Chairperson, IIMA case centre

In the Media

IIM Ahmedabad - Ahead of the Curve

The Open Magazine, 2022

Crop insurance and the agrarian crisis in India

Livemint, 2017

Why do Indian firms pay higher fees to Big Four auditors?

Livemint, 2015

Hard to Benchmark

The Indian Express, 2013

IIMA