The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized a ‘Financial Awareness and Personal Finance Conclave: Finance in Everyday Life’ on 17th June 2022 at Fortune Park Pushpanjali, Durgapur. Financial planning is a step−by−step approach to meet one's life goals. A financial plan acts as a guide as one goes through life's journey. Essentially, it helps to be in control of income, expenses and investments so that one can manage the finances and achieve the goals. There are helping hands ranging from banks to insurance companies to capital market but one need to understand the offerings from them to maximize the utility. The Conclave thus on one hand enhanced financial awareness to individuals, corporates, high net−worth individuals, entrepreneurs, MSMEs and service holders and on the other hand introduced all to the nuances of managing finance. Smt. Anindita Mukherjee, Hon’ble Mayor, Durgapur Municipal Corporation inaugurated the Conclave. 

The Conclave witnessed eminent speakers from Durgapur, Asansol and Kolkata. The speakers were Mr. Vinod Mahajan, Zonal Head, East, UTI Asset Management Company Limited, Mr. Prabir Kumar Tah, General Manager, Zonal Head, Punjab National Bank, Durgapur, Mr. Pradeep Kumar Behera, Regional Head, Bank of Baroda, Burdwan Region, Mr. Ajit Kumar Poddar, Deputy General Manager (B&O), State Bank of India, Burdwan Zone, Mr. Arabinda Girish Chandra Sahu, Sr. Vice President, West Bengal Circle, Axis Bank Limited, Smt. Anuradha Manna, Secretary (Pension & Group Schemes Mktg.), Eastern Zone, LIC of India, Mr. Manoranjan Das, Senior Divisional Manager, LIC of India, Asansol Division, Mr. Anuran Bakshi, Chief Manager, SBI Mutual Fund and Mr. Sanjib Gain, Manager, Business Development, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. 

The Conclave had three Sessions viz. on Banking, Insurance and the Capital Market. The Session titled “Experts’ Roundtable on Banking and Beyond: Connecting Consumers” dealt with the intricacies of various schemes, criterion for loans, speedy solutions, and impact of digitization amongst others. 

The second session was the “Expert’s Roundtable on Insurance: Means of Securing your Dreams”. Along with other financial instruments, we often treat Insurance as an investment instrument, particularly for its nature of forced savings. The penetration in life and non life segments are mostly due to forceful laws enforced by the eco system. There exists a kind of hesitance amongst the consumers in purchasing insurance for the sake of hedging their most valuables. In tier II cities awareness of insurance is much less. This was our effort to make them learn and educate them about the various nuances of the Insurance sector. 

The third session was the “Experts’ Roundtable on Capital Market: From the Perspective of an Outsider” focused on the capital market. Gone are those days when we can could keep our savings in a fixed deposit and remain confident with its interest rate return. In order to earn money, we need to invest now. The sweetest spot in the capital market is the Mutual Fund. Hence the objective was to reach out to a larger financial community and multiple stakeholders so as to create a sustainable ecosystem for the Indian Mutual Fund sector. 

The participants also learnt about the commodity futures market and the technicalities of working of the commodity markets with respect to the products, price discovery, transparency. The Conclave was attended by around 150 delegates.