Introduction to Alternative Investments

Dr Deepika Upadhyay is an accomplished academician and researcher with over fourteen years of teaching and research experience in the field of Finance and Accountancy. She currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Commerce, School of Commerce, Finance and Accountancy, where she continues to inspire students and peers through her dedication to academic excellence and innovative research.

Dr Upadhyay holds a PhD in Commerce from the Faculty of Commerce, Banaras Hindu University, and an Executive Post Graduate Certificate in Financial Management (EPGCFM) from IIM Kozhikode. She is also UGC-NET qualified and has been a UGC Research Fellow during her doctoral studies. Her research, titled “A Study of Growth and Prospects of Derivatives Trading in Indian Stock Market,” laid a strong foundation for her continuing contributions to financial markets and corporate finance scholarship.

Her research portfolio includes numerous publications in Scopus-indexed and peer-reviewed international journals, as well as book chapters with reputed publishers such as Emerald, Elsevier, Palgrave Macmillan, IGI Global, and Bloomsbury. She has presented papers at leading academic conferences, including IIM Nagpur, IIM Raipur, BIMTECH, and IIT Delhi, and has been honoured with multiple Best Paper Awards.

Beyond academia, Dr Upadhyay has conducted corporate training programs and faculty development workshops across national institutions, emphasising research methodology, analytics, and case-based teaching. She also serves as a conference convener and research project lead, with her recently funded project exploring the Tamil Nadu cotton export industry.

Her intellectual curiosity extends to writing for national platforms like Deccan Herald and PHD Chamber Bulletin, where she shares insights on finance, inclusion, and gender equity. Dr Upadhyay’s work reflects her commitment to bridging theory and practice, advancing sustainable business practices, and nurturing the next generation of commerce professionals.

Dr. SaravanaKrishnan V is an accomplished academician and finance professional with over 17 years of combined experience in industry, consulting, and academia. He began his career as a financial consultant and has spent the last decade as a consultant with Multi-ray Financial Services, a business partner of Religare Securities Ltd, handling a comprehensive portfolio spanning equity, commodities, currency, mutual funds, insurance, financial planning, and taxation. He also consults for a sub-broker of Angel Broking Ltd.

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, he holds an Executive Program in Applied Finance (EPAF) and has further specialized in Data Analytics from IIM Rohtak. He also holds Bloomberg Market Concepts certification and has completed an FDP in Econometrics from IIM Kozhikode. His core academic and teaching focus areas include Security Analysis & Portfolio Management, Derivatives, and Market Analytics.

Dr. SaravanaKrishnan is empanelled as a faculty-cum-trainer with the Bombay Stock Exchange Institute (BSEI) for the GFMP course in South India and he is associated with the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) as a trainer for capital markets using the NSE Nsmart trading simulator. He holds multiple NSE and NISM certifications, including Capital Market Dealer, Depository Operations, AMFI, Derivatives, and Technical Analysis. He has also cleared CISI (UK) certifications in International Securities, Risk in Financial Services, Wealth Management (India), and Investment Operations.

His research interests lie in option strategies, technical and fundamental analysis, and financial market forecasting. He has worked on IPO prediction using machine learning, stock price forecasting using ARIMA, and FII impact modeling using ANN and decision trees. He has published in Scopus-indexed journals and contributed book chapters in derivatives, machine learning, and AI in finance.