About

Qualifications, certifications & academic service

Background details behind the research: degrees, eligibility tests, certifications, teaching experience, and academic service.

Qualifications

Ph.D. in Finance

Cochin University of Science and Technology

Research: Deep Reinforcement Learning Agents for Stock Portfolio Management.

MBA — Finance & Operations

Cochin University of Science and Technology

Master of Commerce

Indira Gandhi National Open University

Postgraduate Diploma in International Business Operations (PGDIBO)

Indira Gandhi National Open University

Bachelor of Business Administration

MES College, Marampally

Eligibility Tests & Fellowships

UGC NET & JRF — Commerce

2020

UGC NET — Management

2019

Certifications & Workshops

Professional Certification

Data Scientist

Simplilearn – IBM

Focused on data science using Python, machine learning models, and complex data visualisation structures.

Workshops & Faculty Development Programs

International Faculty Development Program on Financial Analytics Using Python Alliance University — December 2023
Workshop on Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management Using Real-Time Data Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore — June 2023

Teaching Experience

Assistant Professor (BBA)

Al Ameen College, Edathala

Courses handled: Financial Management, Cost and Management Accounting, Financial Accounting.

Assistant Professor (MBA)

Kannur University Centre, Nileshwar

Courses handled: Financial Management, International Financial Management, Operations Research.

Research Publications

Iqbal, K. I., & Ramachandran, R. (2026). Volatility regime-dependent portfolio optimization: Empirical analysis of deep reinforcement learning agents. Asia Pacific Financial Markets. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10690-026-09629-8
Iqbal, K. I., & Ramachandran, R. (2025). Dynamic portfolio optimization with deep reinforcement learning: Empirical insights from Indian capital markets. The Journal of Financial Data Science, 8(1), 115–129. https://doi.org/10.3905/jfds.2025.1.210

Conferences

Artificial Intelligence in Stock Market Forecasting: Exploring the Long Short-Term Memory Model for Stock Prediction India Management Research Conference (IMRC 2024), IIM Ahmedabad — 2024
ESG Consideration in Investment Decision: Investigating Its Impact on Investment Returns 2nd International Management Conference on Industry 5.0, VIT Bhopal University — 2023