Programme Content
Curriculum structure & Modules Module 1: Microeconomics & Business Environment Goal: Understanding the factors. How a business survives (or dies). Supply & demand Elasticities Market Structure & monopolies Accounting literacy (finance for non-finance): o Golden equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity. o Profit vs. cash: "Cash flow trap" – why profitable companies (can) go bankrupt. o Debt vs. equity: Cost of borrowing vs. cost of sharing ownership. Module 2: Macroeconomics and Big Picture Goal: Understanding the “Big Picture”. No math, just the "economic machine." Engine of growth: GDP (Consumption + Investment + Government). What makes a country rich vs. poor? Money supply: Inflation vs. Deflation. Why printing money isn't always the solution. Central bank (Reserve Bank of India – RBI): The cockpit of the economy. How repo rates control home loan EMI. Global plumbing: Forex, FX reserves and why the US Dollar is the "global reserve currency" (and why that might change). Module 3: Digital Shift (new economics) Goal: New age developments that “break” the rules learned in modules 1 & 2. Future of money (ex: fiat vs. crypto) Zero marginal cost: Why software businesses scale infinitely compared to factories. Network effects: "New Moat." Why the second user adds value to the first user (Metcalfe’s Law). Two-sided markets: How Uber/Zomato hack the "supply & demand" using subsidies. Behavioral economics in product: How "Nudge Theory" and "gamification" are used in FinTech apps (e.g. in Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) prompts). Module 4: Valuation & The VC Game Goal: Now that we know the business models, let's value them (the math). Time value of money & XIRR: Introduction to these (and related) concepts in Excel. Valuation shift: Old world: P/E, EV/EBITDA, EV/Sales, etc. ratios vs. new world: SaaS Metrics (CAC, LTV, Churn, ARR) Venture capital (VC) dynamics: Term sheets, dilution, pre-money vs. post-money. Possible Exercise: Startup and breakeven Module 5: Markets & Automation Goal: The final layer – how machines trade financial assets (the tech). Market structure: Role of exchanges, clearing houses, depositories and the trade lifecycle. Passive vs. Active: Intuition behind ETFs and why "beating the market" might be a myth. Trading mechanics Algo-trading concepts: High-Frequency Trading (HFT) and market making (liquidity provision). Module 6: Portfolio and Predictive Analytics using AI Goal: The bonus - Understanding of portfolios and prediction of prices etc. using AI Introduction of Portfolio management Introduction of Predictive Analytics and AI
