On January 17, 130 attendees and speakers met in Bangalore for the Valuation Summit. It was a diverse group, including international representatives from the IVSC, iiBV, and IACVS, as well as speakers from the investment banking and private equity community. The exciting news from India is the recent passage of the revised Registered Valuer legislation and the activation of a formal process to obtain the government license for this important practice.

Nick Talbot, CEO of the IVSC, gave the keynote speech on the ever-present need for uniformity in both valuation practice and reporting. He told the audience that the securities regulators from around the world are anxious for such uniformity, especially for fair value reporting in financial statements of publicly traded companies. With the increased cross-border investment coming to India, Indian regulators are keen to see the establishment of best practices for valuation to be used in India. This will promote the public trust in India and make cross-border investments more transparent.

Michael Badham, CEO of iiBV, chaired a panel, which included Bill Hanlin from IACVS. This group discussed best practices not only in India, but also internationally. Future credibility of those involved in business valuation will be enhanced by earning a credential in business valuation, such as the International Certified Valuation Specialist (ICVS). Hanlin said that this initial valuation conference in India is a very important step in what will likely be a very rapid development of the professional valuator society in India.