This student group from NIT Rourkela is creating financial awareness about cryptocurrency and so on

Financial literacy is the need of the hour. Recognising this fact, a few students from the National Institute of Technology-Rourkela (NIT-R) have formed a financial club. This is under the student activity centre (SAC).

Via the club, the students are helping others develop a knack for financial issues, an understanding of the complexities of domestic and global economic systems, familiarising themselves with financial markets and tools, apart from stimulating thoughts to manage and grow wealth securely.

It was in 2020 that student Satyajit Raiguru and 10 others launched the club and today, it has over 100 members who are engaged in various roles like content writing, analytical graphic designing and social media campaigns — all in a bid to increase financial literacy among the general masses. Each member of the club is giving two to four hours per week to the club and reaches out to the target audience via Instagram, Telegram and YouTube.

All students are expected to join high-paying jobs, or create livelihood and jobs via entrepreneurship. In such a scenario, financial literacy becomes all the more important, says Satyajit.

So far, they have reached out to over 1,000 students via online sessions. More and more students are additionally encouraged to learn about the intricacies of capital markets, investment banking, corporate finance and cryptocurrency among other things, he added.

Recently, a mock-trading competition was organised to test who can trade in the best way when it comes to cryptocurrencies as well as to learn about the various strategies involved in crypto-trading.

In association with StockGro, a mock trading for stocks platform, stocks worth Rs 10 lakh were held among the participants. The rankings were decided based on the market value of investments.

Abhinandan said the pandemic has brought many opportunities and challenges to the financial sector. It is essential for students to be equipped with financial skills for survival and growth.