IIFT INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS

FROM THE BATCH OF '21

IIFT Score – 44.2(99.897%)

Location : IIFT Bhawan , Hauz Khas, New Delhi

Profile – 93/79.60/9.02

Work experience- 24 months with Hindalco + 6 months with an NGO.

WAT: Alternative medicine the way forward for India. Gave a lot of facts and figures. How
medicines are getting ineffective in India due to over prescription and about alarming
levels of pollution and WHO reports about the same. Defined alternative medicine, its
beneficial and results in different diseases. Pretty decent WAT. If I rated it, would give it
at least a 7.5-8/10.

GD: Renewable Energy or Nuclear Energy the future for India. I killed the GD. Initiated
the GD , gave the maximum points , facts and figures. Gave others chances and
everything that’s expected. The panelists asked two girls and a guy who had not spoken
much to summarize.

PI: I was once again the first candidate in . There were two panelists , M1 a ma’am in her
early 40s or late 30s. A sir. S1 in early 60s. The third panelist entered towards the fag end
of my interview (M2)

M1: So , Durga what have you planned for your birthday?

Me: I didn't get the question at first time. mumble something about the situation at
home and how that takes priority over everything currently.

M1: So ,you blog ?

Me: Yes ma’am. Tell her about my blog. What are the issues I’m interested in etc.

M1: Your father works at NHAI . What is it ?

Me: (The fuck ? ) I started explaining about my father’s role and she clarified she only
wants to know about NHAI.

I told her their role and how they’ve been going on about it and different stake holders.

M1: Rate the performance of NHAI on their performance for the last 10 years.

Me:(What the fuck man) start with NDA about how efficient and speedy work has been
under Gadkari gave reasons. Ma’am asked and before that ? Told about how the
previous governments laid the groundwork for this government .etc.

M1: What do you like to do in your spare time ?

Me: Told.
P1: Okay Durga have you heard about the interim budget ?

Me: Yes sir.

P1: Tell me why is it necessary and why interim ?

Me: Explained the whole thing.

P1: Okay tell me three highlights of Interim Budget ?

Me: Told.

P1: What is monetary policy and who controls it ?

Me: Explained the whole thing as to why RBI independent organization maintains it and
how vital it is.

P1: What are the different holding under RBI ?

Me: Told

P1: Who decides what amount of forex or gold or bonds to buy ?

Me: Told.

P1: How are different Currency exchange rates and metal rates fixed ?

Me: Told about LME in London.

For currency exchange rate said , a complex phenomenon. Depends on a large number
of factors including a nations trade , relations political climate. Depending upon the
factors the currency rates can fall or rise. Didn’t cross question but I should have done
better here.

Now P2 : Durga tell me what does the NHAI do ?

P1: ma’am I already asked him this.

P2: No worries tell me Durga .

Me: () Told.

P2 and P1: Thank you Durga.

Total PI time : 9-10 minutes.

Verdict: Converted IIFT D

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Venue: IIFT Delhi Campus 21st Feb 2018

IIFT Percentile: 96.57

WAT: Don't get intimidated by things you don't know. Use it as your strength and
think differently.

I started with,”I'm not fraid of those 100 moves you practiced once, I'm afraid of that
one move you practiced 100 times.” Then I wrote about how from beginning we're
taught that fish is the queen of water but we never taught that it's a dead body in the
land and that it leaves the breath within 10 seconds in the land cauz it's not her
strength. She performs well in her strength area. After that I mentioned how Bhutan
focuses on the Spiritually and its culture and is one of the happiest nation in the world
instead of being worrisome for tech development and all. In last I mentioned about
India can also work on its strength areas like tousrism, cultural diversity and religion.
(Rest I'm not able to recall)

GD: PINK

I said in my 1 min chance about how color stereotype is wrong and it was rather
related to men in earlier 20th century and then it changed after British era. Then I
talked about Metoo movement and how economic survey was presented. In my rest of
the GD I made first entry by telling how 2.1 mn unwanted girl child are born in India in
2017 according to Eco survey and also that's why Sex ratio of 1000:931 can't be only
balancing factor for it. In my next entry I talked about that it's more than govt policies
and rather it's about the thinking, by saying that will a man accept his wife to get paid
more than him and digest this fact without a hiccup in the name of woman
empowerment. (GD was smooth.)

PI: 2 Male Panelists(P1 and P2) of around 50-55 and One Female F1 around 58–
60(Who came during my intro question)

I entered and wished the two male panelists.P1 said me to have seat.

P1: Akash Tell us some thing about yourself.

Sir I'm in my final year of engineering from ECE at UIT RGPV, Bhopal. I've been
working with the tech society and cultural society of my college for their promotions
and event management from past 3 years and also I've co-founded my own society
called Srijan@UIT since I was not able to execute my ideas independently in other
clubs.

(Female walks in and eat chips and offers to other two male panelists and also ask
me to take. I said Thank you mam, I'm fine.)

P1: OK Akash what are your hobbies?

Sir I love to listen Bollywood music and also write and read on Quora whenever I get
free time.

P1: Who's the music director of Padmaavat?

Sir Mr. Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

P1: Sure?

Yes Sir. He gives his music in almost every movie he's involved in.

P2: So Akash you're doing your final year of Engg from..? Which college is this?

Sir UIT RGPV earlier it was GEC Bhopal.

P2: So you're in REC?

Yes Sir.(I misheard him)

No Sir, that's different college. NIT Bhopal.

P2: So tell me some thing interesting about Bhopal?

Sir Bhopal has more than 13 operational lakes there.

P2: So 13 natural lakes.

(I heard lakes.) I said yes Sir.

P1: So Akash have you heard some thing about NITI ayog.

Yes Sir it's formed after reconstruction of our planning commission.

P2: So you know who's the chief?

Yes Sir. Mr. Amitabh Kant is the CEO.

P2: Who's the Chairman?

Sir PM himself.

P2: And Vice Chairman?

Sir it's someone with the First Name Mr. Rajiv. I'm unable to recall surname right now.

P2: So what's function of NITI ayog?

Sir I think they make the policies and steps to be taken by government.(Interrupted in
between)
P2: So is it independent body?

Yes Sir. I guess it is.

P2: Ok so we have three pillars Executive, Judiciary and Legislative. Where

would you place NITI ayog?

(Waited for around 6 seconds thinking….) Then said Sir Executive.

P2:(murmured something I couldn't hear him)

P1: So Akash which is the one question you would like us to remove from the
form.

Sir the last one maybe.

P1: What this declaration? I hereby declare that?(With a smile)

No Sir the last one which says for any extra info which you would like to mention in
this form.

P1: Why so?

Sir as other questions have covered almost every side of the candidate from personal
to professional.

F1(smiling): So you'll give 10 out of 10 for this.

Yes Ma'am apart from the form also because of the peer learning and brand that IIFT
has.

P2: So you've filled whole form by yourself? Have you gone through it
completely.

Yes Sir. I've filled the form by myself but I have gone through it at the time of filling
only.

P1: You've mentioned the Metoo campaign in your global event.Why?

Sir before meetoo we were not able to detect how much big this issue is and what's
the scale of this problem. After this movement at least they are now speaking up
without a fear and thus it'll not only increase their participation but also the intensity
of the problem more seriously. Sir I belong to a small town of M.P. and I have a
schoolmate who has put up her status in her fb too. I want to tell you that this step
can be very risky for her so called society stigma and norms, but she ignored all of
them and spoke against it.
P1: So which is the one entrepreneur whom you admire the most?

Sir I've done one month marketing internship under an IIFT alumni startup called
Knappily. He's Mr. Gautham Sethuraman.

P1: Do you know which batch he's from?

Yes Sir. 15 batch.( He's from 15–17 batch so I should have said 17.)

P1: So what do you like about him?

Sir he's very dedicated towards his idea and he just want people to know about the
efforts they're putting in single work. That's what I tried during my internship. I
pitched their product to various coachings of Bhopal, in different social media
platforms and also have engaged in different colleges to give me a chance to tell
their students about Knappily.

P1: What's this Knappily?

Sir Knappily stands for Knowledge app Daily. What Knappily does is they pick up the
current trends and do the complete analysis of whole issue in 360 degree perspective
from why to what to how.

P1: So which is the latest issue you read there?

Sir I'm not so much well versed with their app these days but the last issue which I
read was Padmaavat one.

F1(The only question she asked): What's your take on Padmaavat issue? Why
this much protests and all happened

Mam Karni Sena considered Padmaavati as their diety. So in the beginning of

shooting if movie, the actor playing Khilji Ranveer Singh casually said in one of the
interview that I can romance Deepika who is playing Padmaavati in any movie I
would be offered. So how can I see my deity whom I worship daily to be romanced
with a cruel ruler like Khilji.

P2: So you think it was a marketing tactic?

Yes Sir it was. But even director didn't knew that it'll go to this extent of protest and
all.

P1: So you also have any planning for future entrepreneurship?

Sir to be very honest I'll firstly work 2 to 3 years or whatever time it'll take me to
understand corporate environment completely and then finally I've an idea to work
upon something like an advertising and marketing firm.
P2: Okay Akash so your branch is Electronics. Can you tell me some Indian
companies which make semiconductor chips in India.

Sorry Sir(Now this answer is lined up many times :p). Only company I'm aware of is
Intel that too isn't Indian.

P1: So Akash can you tell me 3 companies in IB?

Sir any 3?

P1: Consulting ones.

Sir only MNC I'm aware of is TCS. I beg your pardon I'll definitely check it after
interview.(Moment I left the room my mind stuck at Big 4. But there's no CTRL+Z
after you left a chance)

Ok Akash. Thank you.

Thank you Sir.

Thank you Mam.

Results: Not selected.(It's lame to give explanation after this but after reading
comments it's because I'm a fresher with less than 98.5 percentile, so if you're a
fresher make sure to get more than 98.5.)

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Location – Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi

23rd February 2018, Morning Slot

Profile

Xth – 93.10%

XIIth – 90.00%

UG – 66.24%

Electronics and Communication Engineering graduate from Galgotias College of

Engineering and Technology, Greater Noida

IIFT Percentile – 99.04

WAT Topic – Leaders who refuse to listen will eventually be surrounded by people who
say nothing.

Wrote a generalised article, gave examples of Napoleon and Hitler and how they lost
important battles because they refused to listen to their Generals. Gave recent
examples of Cyrus Mistry and Vishal Sikka.

GD Topic – Is India becoming a refugee hub?

Each candidate was given 1 minute to speak and after that, the floor was open for
discussion. I spoke about how India is already a refugee hub, about Parsi and Beth
Israel refugees in medieval India. Also spoke about Tibetan refugees, Pakistani
Hindus, Bangladeshi immigrants and most recently Rohingyas. Gave points as to
what should be done to restrict the flow of immigrants, about security threats among
other things. Entered the GD four times during open discussion. I must add it was
one of the most cordial GDs I’ve ever been a part of.

Interview

There were three panellists, all male. Will address them as P1, P2 and P3

I entered and greeted them all. I stood beside the chair while waiting for permission
to be seated.

P1: Please sit.

Me: Thank you, sir.

P1: So, you’re Soman. What is the meaning of your name?

Me: Sir it means the Lunar God.

P1: Nice. So, Soman, I see here that you graduated in 2017. What have you
been doing since then? Because I see you don’t have any work experience.

Me: Sir I was reading, writing, completing online modules of the companies I was
placed in and simultaneously preparing for CAT and other exams.

P1: Okay so which companies were you placed in and which one did you
choose?

Me: I was placed in Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant. I chose Cognizant because it has a
no bond culture, and as I wanted to pursue my MBA, it aligned with my needs.

P2: So you were determined to do an MBA?

Me(Smiling): Yes sir.

P2: But don’t you think work experience would have added to your profile?
Why MBA now and not after work experience?

Me: I definitely agree that work experience gives an advantage but I was interested
in a marketing profile. And after speaking to my seniors I realised that for a
marketing profile one doesn’t need work experience as such, infact firms usually
prefer freshers in such cases.

P1: Soman I see you’re from Durgapur, West Bengal.

Me: Yes sir.

P1: How many years have you lived there?

Me: Never sir, my father was in the Air Force so I’ve lived in various cities but not
West Bengal.

P1: So you must not be knowing much about Durgapur?

Me: Sir I know it was the second planned city in India after Chandigarh. It is a steel
township and it has mainly developed because of Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) under
SAIL.

P1: Do you know other steel townships like Durgapur?

Me: No sir, I am not aware of any.

P1: So, where have you lived? From your form, I can see you did your schooling
from Agra and graduation from Greater Noida.
Me: Sir I was born in Agra, after that Chandigarh, then Nagpur, then again Agra and
currently Greater Noida.

P1: So just North and Central India.

Me: Yes sir.

P1: What was the major difference that you found in Central and North India?

Me: Sir as a kid the only major difference I could observe was the climate. Agra and
Chandigarh were temperate compared to Nagpur which used to be hot almost
throughout the year. I remember my school uniform changing during winters in Agra
and Chandigarh but it remained same in Nagpur.

*Panellists laugh*

P1: Soman, suppose you’re heading an FMCG firm. How do you plan on
introducing a new product in the market? Just give me a basic idea as you
wouldn’t be knowing marketing terms.

Me: Sir I know the basic marketing concepts. I will start with market research,
knowing about people’s preferences, existing competition and all. After that buying
out shelf spaces in leading stores. Also as this is a digital age, therefore, social media
marketing, especially advertisements on YouTube…

*cut me off*

P1: Fine I get your idea.

P3: Soman you read, so I will be asking you names of authors of three books. If
you can name all three of them I will be impressed.

Me: Sure sir.

P3: Turning Points?

Me: Sorry sir but I am not aware of this.

P3: Ignited Minds?

Me: Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

P3: Do you know any other books that he has written?

Me: I know Wings on Fire is a semi-autobiographical account of his life, other than
that I am not sure of the titles.

P3: Transforming Dreams into Actions?

Me: (thought it was APJ Abdul Kalam but refrained from saying as I wasn’t sure) I am
not aware sir.

P3: That’s also by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

Me(Smiling): Right sir.

(It turned out all the three books were written by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam)

P1: What are your expectations from the marketing course that you wish to
pursue?

Me: Sir the profiles offered are something that I am most interested in. Mr. SK
Roongta is one of the famous alumni of IIFT and he was a marketing major. He
transformed SAIL from a loss making PSU to the world’s second highest profit
making steel firm during his tenure. So I know the pedagogy provided here is good.

P2: What other calls do you have?

Me: MDI and New IIMs.

P2: What are you looking for in the colleges you’ve mentioned?

Me: Sir I know what I am looking for in IIFT, I saw the syllabus being taught here and
liked some of the subjects like International Marketing and Strategy, International
Finance, India and World Economics etc. I believe in this globalised world a
marketing specialisation with an international perspective and exposure will definitely
give me an edge over a regular marketing course and that’s why I am preferring IIFT.

P2(Smiling): You seem to have done your groundwork.

Me(confidently): Yes sir.

P2: What adversity do you think you’ll face the most while pursuing your MBA?

Me: Sir whatever adversity I face I am sure I will be able to overcome it.

P2: No, no, you’re not listening to the question properly. Tell me a specific
adversity that you’ll face when pursuing your MBA?

Me: Sir I have stage fear. And as I am targeting a marketing profile, I’ll have to give
regular presentations and interact with clients, something I am not very good at.
Though I have controlled it to a great extent by participating in various debate
competitions, and I have a certificate from Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs for the
same, but the fear still remains. That might cause a hindrance in my journey but I am
sure I will be in a much better position after two years than I am right now.
P1: Okay Soman, you can leave. Thank you.

Me: Thank you, sir.

Conclusion:

I thought my WAT was above average and GD was excellent.

I didn’t think my interview went well, mainly because all prospective candidates are
asked about trade-related questions and my interview lasted hardly for 8 minutes. I
had studied heavily about WTO, BRICS, SAARC, BIMSTEC, BBIN, G20, ASEAN, NAFTA,
SAFTA, TPP etc. and was not asked even a single question from it. No questions from
the CV form we had filled earlier or any current affairs either. All in all, I wasn’t
satisfied with my interview.

The results were declared recently and I found my name on the shortlist for IIFT
Delhi campus

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Season 3:

Date: 27.01.2020

Venue: The Pride Hotel, Chennai.

Profile:

GEM.

X - 95.6%(Tamilnadu Board)

XII - 92%(Tamilnadu Board)

UG - 67.4% (B.Tech.(IT) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore)

Work Experience - 9 months, 18 days as Business Technology Analyst at Deloitte

USI Consulting; 4 months 16 days as DILR faculty member at TIME Chennai as on
January 31, 2020.

IIFT 2019 - 99.90 percentile.

WAT Topic:

Overexposure to Social Media & Negative tendencies.

An easy topic. Started with definition of social media, moved to how the
overexposure of it is happening with increased internet penetration and cheap data
prices. Before delving into the negatives, I mentioned some of the positives. The
negatives I mentioned include the attention seeking tendencies, mental disorders like
diminishing attention spans, susceptibility to online frauds and even honey-traps. I
added some ways of dealing with these issues before concluding by saying the
positives far outweigh the negatives. Satisfied with my write-up.

And like the past two years, our WAT answer scripts were sealed and we were
informed our answer scripts will be centrally evaluated at IIFT, New Delhi.

GD Topic:

Iran vs US: India’s Economic Dilemma.

Our group had around 18 members. Yes, 18. And for the third consecutive time the
same professor moderated my GD. The structured GD format of IIFT gives one
minute to everyone initially before a fifteen minute open house. Oil imports, Electric
Vehicles and Chabahar Port remained the primary points of discussion. Inspite of the
huge group size, the discussion remained cordial. I was satisfied with my initial pitch
in. I made two short entries in the open house. Three people who contributed
comparatively less were asked to conclude. An average performance here.

Interview:

It was a long wait for the interview as I was the fourteenth one in my panel. The
panelists had the printout of my CV form.

There were three panelists: All males and all being professors of IIFT. When my turn
came, the younger professor went out and he never came back for the whole
duration of my interview. The interview began with my last year’s calls. In my answer
to this question, I mentioned that this is my third IIFT interview. Half of the interview
was about last year’s interview - the questions asked and my answers to those. This
was followed by questions on what went wrong last year and how I worked on
improving myself after that. The same professor asked me to choose one area in
which he can test me technically. I chose Software Testing. “What are the things to be
considered before you start testing?”, “What are the differences between BPR and
ERP?” were the followup questions. I believe I answered the first one well. Though I
answered what ERP is, I couldn’t recollect anything about BPR. He said he would have
asked “Which one among BPR and ERP comes first?” if I had answered the previous
question. He passed on the baton to the other interviewer. This professor started by
asking about my CAT percentile and my calls. Then he told that he worked for eight
years in EID Parry, which is a sugar factory in my native place. This was followed by a
few Why MBA type questions and “Which specialization I’ll choose if I get selected”. I
felt I could have done better in the last part. Overall, an above average interview in
my opinion and I am not confident of converting again.

Personal Rating:

WAT - 7/10. GD - 5/10. PI - 13/23.

Season 2:

Date: 11.02.2019

Venue: The Pride Hotel, Bengaluru.

Profile:

GEM.

X - 95.6%(Tamilnadu Board)

XII - 92%(Tamilnadu Board)

UG - 67.4% (B.Tech.(IT) from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore)

Work Experience - 5 months, 19 days at Deloitte Consulting as on January 31, 2019.

IIFT 2018 - 97.487 percentile.

WAT Topic:

One nation one election.

An easy topic for any serious aspirant. Started with how countries like USA have a
sort of common election; went into the pros of having a common election in India
like reduced expenditure, reduced armed forces deployment, reduced time under
code of conduct and reduced time spent by the ministers in electioneering leading to
more governance overall; moved into the complexities like convincing the states to
couple the central and state elections, by-elections, defections and assembly
dissolvement; concluded by saying a common election is the way forward provided
the complexities are removed. Totally satisfied with my performance here.

Our WAT answer scripts were sealed and we were informed our answer scripts will be
centrally evaluated at IIFT, New Delhi.

GD Topic:

Can MOOCs and other virtual learning platforms replace conventional learning
platforms?

Our group had around 10 members. Incidentally, one of the two GD moderators was
the same Professor who moderated my last year’s GD also. Everyone was given one
minute to pitch in their views and then the floor is thrown open. In my initial pitch in,
I classified the education sector into three - primary, secondary and tertiary and
argued that these platforms are now restricted to tertiary sector although there is
scope in the other two sectors. I was satisfied with my initial pitch in. Once the floor
is thrown open there was cooperation among group members and the discussion
was cordial. But, thanks to my poor GD skills, I was unable to speak even though I
had some valuable points. I was asked to summarize. Although my initial pitch in and
the conclusion were good, I did not contribute anything during the open house. A
below average performance here.

Interview:

The restobar of the hotel was converted into a PI room. So, literally I had my PI inside a
bar. I was the first one in my panel. The panelists had the printout of my CV form.

There were three panelists: one middle-aged lady Assistant Professor(F), one elderly
male Professor(M1), one young male alumnus(M2). M1 called me in and asked me
to take the seat.
K: Good morning sirs and good morning ma’am.

F, M1 and M2: Good morning.

F: So tell us about yourself briefly.

K: As you know, I am Karthik. I was born at Puducherry and brought up at

Nellikuppam, which is a small town in the coastal district of Tamilnadu called
Cuddalore. I completed my undergraduation in Information Technology stream from
PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore. I believe the four years of undergraduation
has shaped me into a perseverant and resilient individual. I was also recognized for
my leadership skills there as I held two Positions of Responsibilities there in my final
year. I secured a placement offer from Deloitte in the final year of my
undergraduation where I am working for the past 6 months. I also spent my final
semester at Deloitte as an Intern. Apart from this, I like to spend my free time
browsing Quora, solving logical puzzles especially sudokus and I follow Cricket.

M1: Why do you read Quora? Is it a reliable source of information?

K: No sir, Quora is not a reliable source of information. Anyone can add wrong
information. I read it to gain knowledge.

M1: Then why do you read it? How did it help you? Explain with an instance.

K: I read it because it gives me perspectives, sir. To say an instance, the recent farm
loan waivers, sir. I had a chance to read the for arguments and the against
arguments. From the for arguments, I got to read about the rural distress, how the
Minimum Support Price is not doing enough and how the low food prices because of
the excessive supply is hitting the farmers. I noticed most of the writers for the for
argument are from the rural areas. From the against side, I got to read about how it
is used as a measure to gain votes by putting severe strain in the fiscal discipline of
the states and how it is inefficient in the long run.

M2: What do you think is the problem with these kind of social forums like Quora?

K: Sir, as I said…(M2 cutting in)

M2: Not only in Quora, any social forums like Twitter, Facebook, etc,…?

K: Sir, the problem with these applications like I was saying is the reliability of
information. These applications depend on the users to generate content. So anyone
can add any false information there. And with people getting increased access to
digital connectivity, these false information can spread in an exponential speed. The
social media sites are taking steps towards it, like WhatsApp limiting the number of
forward messages to five. But still the problem persists.
M1: You have your core competencies set. Why do you want to move away from it?

K: (Hesitantly) I am sorry sir, I don’t understand what you mean by core

competencies.

M2: You did your undergraduation in IT. You work in the IT sector. Why do you want
to switch now? And, how does IIFT figures in that plan. That is what sir meant. Right,
sir?

M1: Yes.

K: Explained.

F: Karthik, I am seeing your academic achievements. Your college score is very poor.
Why ?

M2: Yeah, you have written here that you had three backlogs (circles that part in my
CV form)

K: Sir, it is actually five.

M2: Ohh, yes, you have written five here. Why? What happened?

K: I come from a small rural town. I did not have much worldly knowledge when I
entered college. I was a bit arrogant and I was under the presumption that I
possessed great leadership skills. I was ignorant to that extent that I thought getting
into a good Engineering college would mean passing out with a good managerial
job. I didn’t pay much heed to my academics because of this. As a result, I had five
backlogs and my grades were in the 50s at the end of the first year. I realised my
mistake, I realised that I would get nowhere in life at this pace and started working
hard. I studied the basics of my academics and this not only resulted in my grades
improving from the 50s to the 60s, but also helped me to secure an Internship + Full-
time placement offer from Deloitte in the final year. At the end of the first year, I
struggled to hold a single complete conversation in English. I have made good
progress on this front but my English communication in still a work in progress. Apart
from this, I started taking part in Extra curricular activities in my college. I went on to
become the only student to hold two significant Positions of Responsibilities in the
final year.

F: What will be the advice you’ll be giving to someone who is coming from such a
background?

K: I would advice the person to have good General Awareness and particularly to be
more aware of future career prospects.

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Season 1:

Date: 14.02.2018

Venue: The Pride Hotel, Bengaluru.

Profile:

GEM Fresher.

X - 95.6%(Tamilnadu Board)

XII - 92%(Tamilnadu Board)

UG - 66.2% at the time of the interview(B.Tech.(IT) from PSG College of Technology,

Coimbatore)

IIFT 2017 - 99.96 percentile.

Having secured only 99.06 percentile in CAT, I wanted to retake CAT and XAT again
and give it a one more push for IIM C, FMS and XLRI. So I just planned to attend the
interviews of all those institutes which called me (IIM S, New IIMs and IIFT) without
serious preparation and gain some useful interview experience for next year.

We were called in to the GD room at around 02:00PM. We were checked for our ID
proof. No other document verification happened. The moderator for WAT & GD
explained us the time allotted for WAT & GD and the parameters on which we will be
evaluated in WAT & GD. We had different panel members for GD & Interview.

WAT Topic:

You will face your greatest opposition when you are closer to your greatest miracle.

The topic seemed too abstract for me and I wrote on the lines it is the opposition
and the way the opposition is overcome decides what the greatest miracle is. I also
added that, to a particular person, he/she might have a personal feeling about
his/her greatest miracle which may or may not be the same as the public’s
perspective.

Our WAT answer scripts were sealed and we were informed our answer scripts will be
centrally evaluated at IIFT, New Delhi.

GD Topic:

Is India’s Demographic Dividend underutilized ?

Our group had around 10 members. Everyone was given one minute to pitch in their
views and then the floor is thrown open for open discussion. I was satisfied with my
initial pitch in. Once the floor is thrown open there was cooperation among group
members and the discussion was cordial. But, I was unable to relate to what the other
members were speaking and I was one among the two people who were finally
asked to summarize since we were the quieter ones.

Interview:

I was the second one in my panel. We were informed no certificates are required to be
carried. The panelists had the printout of my CV form. Heard that IIFT this time are
conducting shorter interviews with panelists asking basic questions. It was the case for
me also.

There were three panelists: one elderly male professor(M1), one middle-aged male
professor(M2) and one middle-aged lady professor(F). M1 was smiling throughout
the interview. I(K) entered the room and M1 asked me to take the seat.

**Thoughts inside double asterisk**

K: Good Afternoon Sirs and Ma’am.

M1: So Karthik, tell us about yourself.

K: Told them about the place I hail from(mentioned the frequent cyclones we
experience), my places of education and my hobbies and interests.

M1: (Skimming through my CV form) What business is your father into?

K: He is a distributor of submersible pumpsets and fertilizers, Sir.

M1: You mentioned that your place frequently encounters cyclone. Have you been
affected by Tsunami?

K: No sir. We live around 10 kilometres away from the shore. The effect of Tsunami is
limited to 200 to 300 metres and at the most 500 metres away from the shore in my
place. But we still suffer from extensive damage by Cyclones.

M1: What do you like about PSG the most ?

K: Told them about the place - Coimbatore, the freedom PSG offers to explore oneself,
and I used this opportunity to mention about the Higher Education Learning Centre for
which I was the coordinator.

M1: How is PSG Institute of Management ?

K: Told them about the reviews I am getting from my hostelmates and said that it is an
average B-School. Mentioned that it was my IIFT test centre.

M1: (Says about some Professor from PSG Institute of Management who interacted
with them for the organizing of the test) Where do you see yourselves in 10 years?

K: Sir, I see myself as a successful manager in whatever the stream and organization I
am getting into. **I should have prepared this basic question at least**

M2: Who do you think a successful manager is?

K: A successful manager is the one who is able to do what is expected of him. **In a
bid to not answer the same thing as I had written in my CV, I blurt out something**

M1: So, a successful manager climbs the ladder quickly.

K: Yes sir, that is because he is able to do what is expected of him. **It is going
nowhere in my favour**

M1: (Makes fun of my answer) So an unsuccessful manager remains stagnant. (They

all share a laugh. I laugh with them on my stupidity)

F: You are from Information Technology background. Are you aware of simulation
techniques?

K: No ma’am.

F: So Karthik, can you tell us about any business news from the last week?

K: Yes ma’am, I would like to speak about the freefall Bitcoin price is undergoing.

(F nods)

The Bitcoin price after hitting a peak of 20000 USD is now on a freefall as experts
predicted. It has already went down below 8400 USD. This is because … (At this
moment, I got stuck. My mind went blank and I didn’t utter anything for the next few
seconds)

F: It’s okay. Are you aware of our country’s imports and exports?

K: To an extent ma’am. I don’t know the exact figures.

F: We’re not looking for exact figures. Just tell us what are the major exports and
imports of our county?

K: Ma’am, I think Agriculture and Textile products form the majority of our Exports
and Electronic Items form the majority of our Imports. We export a lot of electronic
items from China and we import Apple products also. (Also mentioned the Apple
facility being setup at Hyderabad. Having blew up my chances already, I started to
blurt out something. This answer is a complete guesswork and it turned out to be
completely wrong.)

F: You have mentioned that you have an offer from placement.

K: Yes ma’am, I have an offer from Deloitte U.S. India Consulting Private Limited. My
internship started only two weeks back.

F: Are you placed there?

K: Yes ma’am, I have a PPO also.

The three interviewers said we’re done.

K: Thank you Sirs and Thank you Ma’am.

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x
IIFT- 99.63 %ile
Acads- 96/97.2/81 (Final Year , IIT Roorkee)
Second last in the panel
P1 , P3 ( Female , Middle Aged Professors) and P2 (Aged Male Prof, Kaafi Jovial)
Entered:
P1: Tell us about yourself
P2 and P3 still reading the CV form
Me: Briefly told about my branch and where I come from , not much.
P1: This is your best chance, sell yourself
I am blank. Told I won’t be able to sell ( Stupid), added that most of the things I say would be
cliche
P1: Ok tell me chalo one quality
Me: Hard-working
Now onward whole interview was in Hindi
P1: Maximum stretch kitna kara apne aap ko?
Me: Around 13–14 hours each day for a week while working on Btech Project.
P2 who was reading the form till now
P2: Toh project ke alawa aap nahi padte matlab. Matlab aap kam chor hai.
P1 and P3 starts laughing
P2: Acads are good. You should go for some R&D thing. Why are you here?
Told ki did my best in engineering. Couldn’t really get into the rhythm. Tried different
courses from Eco , Fin. So thoda better grasping laga as compared to engineering.
P2: Basically you are saying ki that to score same number of marks in engineering subject
and eco subject, you require less efforts in eco. Toh basically jyada mehnat nahi karne
chahte.
Kaafi chill environment ban gya . All are laughing now. I sheepishly smile and I don’t defend
myself.
P3 then asked about Marginal utility.
Told.
P1 : I have a flat in Panchkula, should I sell it or hold it?
Me: Real Estate Market is not in good shape right now, Hold it.
P1: How can you be so sure?
Me: We also want to sell our house. Not finding good buyers.
P2 then comes in
P2: Ok, tell me will you become a good manager?
Me (after thinking for sometime): I don’t think so, sir.
P2, P1 and P3 starts laughing
P2: Kyu nahi ban sakte, kya cheez rok rhi?
Me: Sir I don’t think I have leadership qualities.
P2: kyu?
Narrated one incident during third year when I managed one event in college and how it got
fucked up.
Now comes the good part.
P2: “Yaar I personally like you, Kaafi plain aur simple ho. Tumhare gharwaalon ne tumhein
sikhaya nahi ki kaise manage karte aise sawaal.”
Me: Sir I want to get into research. If I don’t really get seat here, I am going to go for MA in
Eco at DSE
P2: I think you are fit for research. D School kyu jaa rhe ho, idhar aa jao. Aacha yeh sab
chodo yeh batao, since you are second last in the panel, Bahar aur students panel ke baare
mein kya bol rhe?
Me: Sir, Panel is great but the middle person is trying to trap you in a smooth manner. He
first asks your strength and when he realises you are good at it, He very subtly changes the
topic. So you have to be very careful with him
All the three panelists start laughing.
P2: Aacha, how much marks we should award you in this round out of 100?
Me (Idiocy ka limit cross kar dia, Confidence ki band bajj gyi thi): Sir, Below average kitna
dete?
P2: 45
Me: Sir toh 35 de dijiye.
P2: You underestimated yourself so much. Itna bura bhi nahi gya yaar tumhara interview.
Thank you and Have a nice day.
Extremely nice panel and kaafi chill.

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IIFT’18 Experience:

Date: 20th Feb’18 ; Place: IIFT Kolkata

Profile: 10/12–80+, B.Tech (NIT Rourkela) - 68.5; Work Ex-37 months in

Manufacturing. IIFT - 97.01%

WAT: Flipkart and Snapdeal Merger - A New Dimension in Indian E-Commerce.

Topic was good, and I had fair bit of statistics as well. Wrote about the prospects if
merger would have taken place, and current scenario, after the merger has fallen
apart.

Group Discussion: Mirror mirror on the wall, my Instagram is the fairest among all -
Social Media versus Real Life

Not much satisfied with my performance. Put few points in the initial phase before
the floor opened, and then just contributed 2 point in discussion.

PI: 3 Panelists (P1, P2, P3) - All Male, 4th to be interviewed in the group.

P1: Starts reading my profile from CV, you have this much work experience and
you did B.Tech from this college. What were you doing after you left the job. (I
left the job in July’17)

Me: Sir I wanted to prepare for MBA, and at that point I realized I needed a break to
focus better and get a good percentile.

P1: What is your CAT percentile?

Me: Sir 98%.

P1: So what other calls you have?

Me: Sir I am having calls from New IIMs.

P1: So which college will you join?

Me: Sir, I would like to join IIFT.

P1: Why IIFT?

Me: Sir, I like trade and international business.

I just opened a PANDORA’s box for them.

P1: What do you like about trade and international business, can you please
elaborate…?

Me: Sir, suppose I’d like to start an enterprise one day, the opportunities that I would
have would be immense.

P1: So how is it different from normal MBA?

Me: Suppose I open an enterprise, I would have an understanding of International

market. The scenarios like a) Cheap access to labor and commodities b) The cultural
differences c) Policies of the government d) International trade agreements etc. will
play a major role in shaping my decisions.

P2,P3: Nods (They were just sitting silent from the beginning).

P1: So do you have an understanding of WTO. Is it losing sheen?

Me: Yes Sir, it is definitely losing sheen. Spoke about the GATT, and how entry of
China in WTO affected position of other countries, and how developed economies
were dominating in WTO, leaving little room for smaller and emerging nations like
India and Brazil.

P1: So you must be knowing about Brexit. What should Britain do? (In context
to WTO).

Me: Sir, with Britain leaving the EU, they would have have to develop their own
supply chain infrastructure or if they wish to be a part of EU supply chain, their trade
would become costlier. So Britain can go for Bilateral trade agreement or Free Trade
pacts.

P1: So what is the difference between Bilateral and Free Trade agreement?

Me: Sir what I have understanding is, FTA’s generally gives a free hand to trade, with
no duties on any products. Whereas in bilateral trade agreements, there are certain
products that 2 countries agree upon, and here the duties are abolished.

P1 had some counter question on what I said, but it seemed to me that I was able to
answer him.

Finally P2 jumps in…

P2: So how does it impact India?

Me: Sir India has FTA’s with ASEAN, SAARC and few select countries like Malaysia
and Singapore. But there are countries who take advantage of FTAs and re-route
their products through partner countries with which India has FTA’s leading loss to
exchequer and harm to Indian industries.
P3: So how does it benefit Malaysia?

Me: Pondered but then said: Sorry Sir, I currently do not have an idea on this.

P2: Asks some question, which currently I am not able to recollect. However I
remember the discussion.

Me: Sir we had globalization so far. But we are moving to a de-globalization, with
Trump withdrawing from TPP and deliberations is being done upon NAFTA. Also
there is OBOR coming up from China.

P2: So what’s the alternative?

Me: There recently has been a news of India forming a Quad with Australia, USA,
Japan. Also with Chabahar Port becoming operational, India is getting a way into
Central Asia. Then we have the Kaladan project, spoke in detail, the route etc. (They
went deep into this, I messed up telling Mizoram has a sea port…however was quick
to apologize).

P2: What do you know about EV, and its impact on economy, as the cost for EVs
is currently high, what are the alternatives?

Me: Told about the current cost structure with statistics (I prepared this for WAT)

P2: So where does Lithium occur, meaning which country has greatest
resources?

Me: Sir, I am sorry, I do not have a concrete answer for this, but since China has the
highest share of EVs in the world, I would take a guess with China…!

P2: Yes, China it is.

P3 finally jumps in.

P3: Which company is leading producer of EVs?

Me: Don’t know what happened, all companies including Maruti, Honda was coming
in my mind. But finally i spit out TESLA. (Just the interview pressure)

P2: Yes.

P3: Suppose due to some issue, Lithium is unavailable to the world, what are
the alternatives?

Me: Sir, India is also working on different fuels like gasoline, methanol etc.

P2: Interrupts. Sir (P3) is asking for alternatives, as in other elements.

P3: Have you heard of Cobalt as an alternative? What is its property?

Me: Sir sorry to say, but I am not able to recollect the answer now.

Me to P2: Sir, if you could throw some light on this as I got an idea that P2 had some
thoughts on this and was sharing with P3.

P2: Spoke about a current research going on this field.

P2: What is the charge of Lithium?

Me: +3 (couldn’t recollect any compound to correlate the charge, it is +1).

We all started discussing, as no one was aware of the charge. Finally we came to
a conclusion that the charge is +1, Boron is +3, and +5… I told P2. Never
thought the discussion would go as deep as periodic table.

P2: I think that’s it, Thank you!

Me: Sir, can I take this paper? (I scribbled few points during the interview)

P2: Yes sure.

Me: Thank you Sir, and left the room.

Observations: P1, P3 was 50+. P2 was 35+ and smart. Had more of a discussion in the
second half of interview

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Background: CA, CS and CWA

IIFT percentile: 99.29 (2019)

DATE : 13 February 2019

Venue: IIP, Mumbai

Started with WAT :

Topic: Electric vehicles : Pollution vs Jobs.

We were given 20 minutes and maximum 300 words to right.

GD

I was in group 2 which had 12 members. As IIFT trend is, 1 minute is given to
everyone to share their views first and then the dias is open for further discussion for
approximately 15 minutes.

GD topic: SHOULD THE METRO CITIES IN INDIA BE DE- POPULATED?

Had a good GD as a Group. No fish market and everyone was very getting chance to
speak. I spoke for 4 times and was quite content. Panelist asked 4 people ( randomly)
to conclude the discussion.

PI

I was last in my panel. The 12th man. Was relaxed a bit. Going through my personal
form as feedback was received from other people that questions are asked from
form only.

( After almost 2 hours , the bell rang and I was in…)

3 Members- 2 Males and 1 Female. Let's call them M1, M2 and F1.

The moment I entered I greeted everyone and was about to sit when:

F1 threw an unexpected question: Kya Kar rahe ho tum yahaan?

( Perplexed and confused..I just smiled)

Me: sorry ma'am.

F1: CA ho CS ho… ita kuch Kar liya toh ab yahaan kya karoge?

Before I could answer…

M1: yes even I am curious why not got for a PHD or CFA?

Me (finally got a chance..was smiling continuously as this was expected)

Mam and sir, apart from CA and CS I also got a rank in inter examination of CWA.
However, if you check the dates of completion of CS and CWA, they were completed
before my CA. The goal was to clear CA examination in first attempt and these two
degrees helped me in clearing the CA in first attempt. So this is the story behind CS
and CWA. Plus sir CFA and PHD are technical fields and could be relevant if I wanted
to pursue a career in academia or wanted to be a professor in some institute. But I
don't want to make career there and hence giving interview here.

M1: but why you want to do an MBA after CA, your work experience is good of
almost 28 months, you have dealt with persons of DCIT ( Deputy commissioner of
Income tax) level.. ? It is said if you can work with people in government department,
you can work everywhere and learn.. ( all shared laugh on this )

Me: Sir , I have been working in the taxation field for almost 5 years and I decided
that the time is ripe for me to switch my career path. I have gained immense
technical skills in taxation. Now a career in MBA will broaden my career options. I will
be introduced to different domains such as marketing, finance , organisational
behaviour etc which will enable me to think holistically.

M2 came in action and asked: But lot of CAs are at top posts and M1 added yes in
banking industry, consultancy etc. So you can make career there..

Me: yes sir I agree with your point and in fact Deloitte India Chairman and CEO both
are CAs and they have reached the Pinnacle in professional world.

M1 interrupting… yes that is what I meant..

Me : yes sir but there is a beautiful saying- “ there are different means to achieve an
end”

M1: there can be many means to achieve the end…

Me: yes sir that is what..Deloitte Chairman and CEO ( Mr. P.R. Ramesh and Mr. N.
Venkatraman) have chosen the path of specialisation first and then reached the
highest level. They were both in audit department and then they rose thorough audit
only.

F1 cutting in.. so you want to go in for specialisaion..?

Me: No mam, I want to go for general understanding first. I want to learn different
nuances of marketing, finance , organisational behaviour etc. And given the CA
background, I may end up chosing Finance as specialisation.But since I have only
theoritical knowledge, I would want to learn about different subjects in first year and
then take a specialisation in second year.

F1: How much was your CAT score?

(This was pretty wired as generally this wud have been the last question.)

Me: Mam I got 98.27 percentile and I told my calls. ( A,L,K and S)

F1: Rate the colleges A,L and IIFT.

(Tough choice between L and IIFT , I was thinking).

Me.: Mam going by the ranking and feedbacks I would make the list as A, IIFT and
then L. Added that right now the focus is on converting each and every opportunity
that I have. Yes in case I am able to convert A, may be I will tantalised to join A. But
mam these things are very unpredictable. So I am giving my 100 percent for each
call. In case I get only selected by IIFT, I will join the college without a second
thought. Also added IIFT is one of best opportunities I have.

M1: Tell us about your experience with income tax department and about experience
in Deloitte.

Me: Sir I had a very smooth experience at income tax department. I had a cordial
relationship with the DCIT as well as his juniors. There is a perception that people in
government department do not want to work. But I do not feel so. It is all about
triggering at right moment and building trust. Right from day 1 in Deloitte, I invested
a lot of time in building relationships within the department. I used to solve their
technical queries and they trusted me as a reliable person. I reaped the benefits of
this as I was able to get some certificates in 2 weeks , which otherwise would have
taken 4 weeks.

With regards to Deloitte, I had a wonderful experience. In fact my partner and

manager were very supportive of my decision and told me to follow my heart and
take the plunge for MBA. Apart from technical skills, I became more responsible, as I
had to train a junior and report to a senior. I had a work life balance as I had average
11 to 12 hours of working.( M1 laughed when I mentioned 12 hours is average so I
told sir in corporate it is healthy only). I added that apart from work, I used to play
cricket and in a short span of time, I knew almost 200 people which build my network
and helped in work related things.

All nooded and M2 asked other panelist if anything they want to ask. No said
everyone and I was asked to leave.

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IIFT 2018

Date: 19-02-2019

Venue: IIFT Delhi

Profile:

X - 91 % (ICSE Board)

XII - 86.4 % (CBSE Board)

UG - 67.84 % (B.Tech (Mechanical) from Delhi Technological University (2012–16))

Work Experience - 22 Months at OTIS Elevator Company (India) Limited.

WAT Topic -

Is jobless growth of India causing social unrest in the society?

We were given 20 minutes to write on the topic.

I started with the quote, “An ideal mind is a devil’s workshop”. Mentioned about the
NSSO report claiming 6.1 % unemployment in 2017–18; Also wrote about how
demonetisation and GST implementation were not smooth and led to job losses
specially in the informal sector. Then went on to mention about SSC-CGL 2017 fiasco
and how that is leading to rising unemployment which is leading to protests by the
candidates and social unrest in the society. After that mentioned about how the
government is trying to solve the issue and government schemes like Start up India,
Digital India, Skill India, PM Kaushal Vikas Yojana. Also wrote about the Skill
Development Kendras imparting industry relevant vocational training under the
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE); gave a conclusion by
writing that government should continue to make relentless efforts to counter
unemployment and jobless people should also have patience and should not resort
to violent protests and social unrest. It was a satisfying performance.

GD Topic -

Music, sports or wine leads to perpetual peacefulness.

(It was a abstruse topic. I expected the GD Topic to be related to economy, society or
current affairs.)

We were divided into groups of 12 members each. Our group had 11 members as
one was absent.
There were two moderators - one male and one lady. The lady was Dr. Satinder
Bhatia ma’am who is a professor and chairperson of finance. They instructed us not
to make it a fish market GD and not to interrupt each other.

Everyone was given a minute to give their views individually and then the floor was
open for group discussion. In my initial pitch, I mentioned how music transcends all
boundaries and gives us immense peace, how after a exhausting session of playing
any sport we lose all restlessness of our body and how regulated quantity of wine
calms down our senses and we feel relaxed. Once the floor was open for group
discussion, I gave the examples of A.R Rehman and M.S Dhoni and how they are
legends in their field and maintain a calm demeanor. I would rate my performance as
average here.

(Frankly I was impressed with my co-panelists’ knowledge and arguments. Someone

quoted a dialogue from Dead Poets Society (movie) and some other mentioned
various reports and studies. But after sometime it became a fish market GD and it got
difficult to comprehend anyone as everyone started speaking together. Then the lady
moderator specially mentioned that listening is also a very important part in a GD.)

Interview -

All the GD members of my group were in Interview Panel No. 1. I was the ninth one to
be interviewed.

There were three panelists : one lady professor (F), one elderly male professor(M1)
and one middle aged male alumnus (M2). Got in and wished everybody a very good
afternoon.

M1 - So Tushar, tell me something about yourself?

Me - Gave a well prepared answer and told them about my birthplace, my secondary
and senior secondary schools and my graduation college - DTU. Also mentioned
about the highlight of my graduation which was my major project - Interactive Robot
For Asperger Syndrome. Then went on and told them about my work experience at
my firm.

F - What are your responsibilities at your firm?

Me - I directly started with the name of my company and description of my work.

F interrupted and asked about the background of the company and about the work
it does. Then I realised my mistake and told them in detail about my firm and my
work profile. During this discussion I mentioned somewhere about door sensors.

M2 - What are the parameters that determine the opening and closing of automatic
doors ?
Me - Told about how if a person is close to the door it senses his presence using
laser sensors and opens the door automatically.

Then the discussion went on to intelligent machines.

M2 - How will you define artificial intelligence?

Me - Artificial intelligence can defined as the possession of human like intelligence

and decision making capacity in machines.

M2 - What do you think about the impact of artificial intelligence in future? Is it a

boon or bane? I think it is a bane and will result into job losses. What are your
thoughts?

Me - Politely disagreed with his view point and went on to mention the benefits of
artificial intelligence like increase in efficiency and accuracy. Agreed that automation
may result into job losses in the short term like workers on the assembly line in
production jobs but in the long term will produce good quality jobs.

M2 - What would you like - launch your own start-up or work for an esteemed
organisation?

Me - Told him that my knowledge is a bit naive and I have never thought of
launching a start-up right now. So I would like to gain experience in an esteemed
organisation first and build my expertise in a field. Then after some years I could
think of launching my own start-up.

M1 - What are the two qualities in you that you think will help you sail through
MBA?

Me - Patience and Perseverance. Told about my GD experience where I was patiently

listening and about my major project in graduation where my team persevered our
way to complete a difficult goal.

M2 - What do you think about the questions that are being raised on EVM? Do you
think that elections in India are free and fairly conducted by the Election Commission
of India(ECI)?

Me - Told that the questions raised on EVM by political parties is just a political
propaganda. Also mentioned that I have full faith on ECI which is a constitutional
body (Article 324) and has long experience of conducting free and fair elections. Also
pointed out that when ECI called all political parties who were raising questions on
EVM to a challenge of hacking EVM, no one turned up.

They were impressed by this answer and told me that I was a good student.
M1 - Will you join us? What other calls do you have?

Me - Told him how I have not performed that well in CAT and IIFT is one of the best
calls that I have this year. So I will definitely join IIFT if given a chance.

Then the panelists said that they are done with my interview. I thanked them and left.

It was a very balanced and cordial interview. The panelists were very friendly and asked
general questions mostly related to current affairs. Overall a great experience. Btw later
I came to know that M1 was Rakesh Mohan Joshi sir who is a well known alumni and
professor at IIFT .

Verdict - Converted IIFT Delhi.

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Date: 20/02/18

Venue: IIFT Kolkata

Profile: IIFT'17 - 96.61, 10/12/Grad(B.A Eco) : 93.71/91.6/64.55

WAT : Flipkart and Snapdeal merger, changing dynamics in Indian E-commerce.

By far the best WAT I had written for any of my B-school processes, as I was well
versed with both Indian as well as global e-commerce scene. (Had mentioned it in
one of the IIFT CV answers as well)

GD : "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, my instagram page is the fairest of them all." Social
Media Perception vs real image?

We were given a minute each to speak according to our seating arrangement and
then the floor was open for discussion. GD group overall I felt was extremely docile
with points getting repetitive. I led the GD throughout, highlighting the need to
focus the discussion on areas of perception related to individuals, businesses and
geopolitics. People mostly followed my lead. I could sense most of my co-
interviewees were nervous as hell.

PI :

Three panelists P1, P2, P3 all male and all in 40s. I was 7th in my panel.

P1 : Are you nervous?

S: A little bit, sir. (Smile)

P1: It's okay. Please drink water. No need to be nervous.

S: It's okay sir, I'm fine. (Smile)

P1: What did you do after graduation in the past one year?

S: Apart from preparing for MBA Entrances which was my sole aim from the start, I
was involved in playing tennis and building content for my music channel in
YouTube.

P3: Oh interesting! So can we go and watch?

S: Yes sir. You are most welcome to go and watch. (Smile)

P1: Why MBA?

S: Reiterated what I wrote in my CV, that since I already knew how markets and
economies worked because of my discipline in graduation, MBA would be the
missing piece in understanding how businesses would work, thus enabling me to
pursue it and grow in it.

P1: What is the difference between teacher and a CEO?

S: A teacher is like a mentor, enabling students to get essential concepts to survive

and grow in the professional field. A CEO is someone who has clear vision of the
company’s objectives and knows how to efficiently use the workforce and other
assets. Both are leaders, but the context of leadership is different.

(This answer went down well with the panelists, from their expressions)

P1: Points to my CV Form. Here you have written about oil prices. Can you please
elaborate?

(Background: In the CV there was a question that which global/national event in

recent times do you thing will play an important role in business. I had written about
crude prices with Russia colluding with the OPEC nations in restricting supply thus
driving up prices. Also, US's role in shale oil production.)

S: Explained the entire scenario. Also, prices is something which is fundamental to

economics, so brought in the effects of fluctuating prices on the indian economy,
India importing 80% of it's crude. From there I went into inflation and how inflation
would be harmful for growth.

P2 enters at this point.

P2: Growth, you say. How?

S: I explained via monetary policy that if the RBI raises rates to counter inflation,
banks would raise rate of interest as well. And growth would be stifled with higher
rates as investors would be less likely to borrow.

P2 (Not convinced) Give an example.

S: Say bank borrows 100 ruppees from the rbi at 6% repo as against 10% repo, they
would have to return a higher interest (10 ruppees).

(I can sense P2 is not convinced. So I explain via money supply now.)

S: Overall money supply in the economy will fall. As investors borrow lesser money
from banks.

P2: Aha! Say that. I was not able to draw a parallel between growth and inflation
from your argument. What would the effect on ISLM diagram be?

S: Answered
(For anyone who is interested: LM curve will shift to the left. So higher rate of
interest, lower output)

P2 is convinced. Thank you.

S: Sir if there is anything else you might want to ask... (As interview had barely been
6–7 mins)

P3 jumps in now.

P3: Tell me something from your extracurriculars. What do you play?

S: Sir, mostly western music but I play eastern too.

P2: What is western music?

S: (Hesitating) Sir western can be anything from british music to blues to jazz...

P2: What bands do you play?

S: Sir Beatles...

P2 interrupts

P2: What genre is the Beatles?

S: Sir, Rock.

P2: What!?? Beatles is rock? Are you sure?

(At this point I could sense P2 was in grill mode)

S: Yes sir, arguably yes.

P2: What is "arguably"? Beatles is rock or not?

S: Sir, so suppose we have two genres blues and rock. There is always some
intersection between both the genres and you get something like blues rock. Same
thing applies to Beatles. Every artist is unique in their sound and it would be very
hard to place them in the context of a particular genre.

P2: What is the difference between blues and rock?

S: Sir blues will normally start with guitar licks and rock will mostly rely on distortion,
drums to drive up the tempo etc.

P2 : Okay, thank you.

I thank everyone.

P3 before leaving again asks, So can we go and listen to your music on YouTube?

S: Yes, sir please do. It would be an honour.

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xx
Date:
February 20th, 2018 (Morning Slot)

Venue:
IIFT Delhi

Personal Profile:
General | Male | 0–1 Experience (Investment Banking) | Non-Engineer

Academic Profile:
X - 8.6 CGPA | XII - 97.20% | BMS Finance (Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies,
University of Delhi) - 72.38%

IIFT 2018 Percentile:

99.74

Writing Skill Assessment -

Flipkart and Snapdeal Merger - A New Dimension in Indian E-Commerce

I did a decent job at the WAT. The catch was that the topic was a prospective scenario and
required us to expound on a what-if type of statement. I managed to write close to the
ideal limit of 300 words. Idk what made me write, “Ye Snapdeal bik gyi hai, ab iss Snapdeal
mei kuch ni bacha”, though.

Group Discussion -
Mirror mirror on the wall, my Instagram is the fairest among all - Social Media versus
Real Life

This went pretty well. Not only did I addressed everyone by their application numbers
(instead of ‘my friend’ or ‘my buddy’), I recollected most of their pointers to incorporate my
own. Couldn’t add anything valuable to the discussion though, since everything which can
be labeled ‘relevant’ was already spoken within the very first five minutes.

Interview -
I was the sixth candidate to be interviewed in my panel. There were two female panelists
(P1 and P2) and one male panelist (P3). As I entered the room, we exchanged
pleasantries and seated myself.
P1: So Prakash, tell me something about yourself.
A: Before I proceed, can I put this file somewhere?
(thought of squeezing my interview file near the interviewer’s desk)

P3: You may put it on the desk behind.

A: (shit!) Sure.
(mentioned in the recited, albeit structured format - my schooling, finance specialization at
college, internships, academic projects, PORs, prior work experience, concluding
highlighting my long-term goal to be an investment actuary)

P2: So what’s this place you’ve worked with?

A: It’s an Investment startup ‘Anplify’ with an N, ma’am.

P2: And what did you work on there?

A: Right. So, I’ll talk of the various broad components on which I worked first. 50% of the
work was into investor presentations or the Confederation Information Memorandums
(CIMs), about 30% was towards the preparation of narrative reports or research notes,
left 20% was into Financial Modeling and other miscellaneous activities. (gulps) We
catered to about everyone from startups, corporations, research houses, to high net-
worth individuals. We had a targeted focus on US and Europe, but we did catered to a
few of the clients in the Australia as well. I’ll talk of a specialized investment bank for
which I majorly worked there. We prepared quarterly newsletters and investor reports in
technologically niche areas of Insurance Tech, Securities, Data & Analytics, IoT,
(stammers) Bank Tech, Financial Management Solutions, etc.

P3: So after completing your MBA, in which area do you wish to work?
A: Sir, Investment Banking only. I have checked IIFT’s placement reports and Goldman
Sachs and the likes would be the ones I’ll be aiming for.

P3: So why pursue Actuary then?

A: Good question, Sir. As mentioned earlier, I look forward to being a risk and
investment actuary. He is the one who manages the investments, either directly or
imparts his advice in mitigating risks in it. He works in the areas of investment
management, investment consulting, investment banking, and risk advisory.
(tried explaining how both the qualifications are related; interviewers seem to
be unaffected)

P3: (taking an interest) So how do you plan yourself for the next couple of years?
A: Right. So, I have planned my years ahead in a 5–10–15 years framework in my CV
form, similar to a model given by Jim Collins. I’ll work in IB for a couple of years until I
attain my CFA charter, post which I’ll go for my MSc in Actuarial Management at Cass
Business School, UK. I’ll then work towards my Actuarial Fellowship post its completion.

P3: Why MSc in Actuarial? Why not something else?

A: (saw this coming) Sir, the course grants exemptions in a few CT, CA, and ST subjects.
CT, CA, and ST stands for Core Technical, Core Application, and Specialist Technical.
Since I have already made some progress towards this qualification, this would expedite
my progress towards its completion.

P3: (getting extremely curious now) So MBA bhi, CFA bhi, MSc bhi. Matlab teen
alag alag cheezein.. samajh ni aaya.
A: (chuckles) But all these are directly related to what I intend to do later in life, Sir.

(I tried explaining how IIFT’s International Business-focused MBA could be of some help,
but P3 ignores and cuts in)

P3: (stares at me deeply as if he can see through my soul) Why did you choose such
a specialized field?

(at this point it did occurred to me that the interviewers lacked sufficient clarity regarding
this field.. boy was I on cloud nine)

A: Sir, I had decided to pursue Actuarial Sciences from college itself plus had a thing for
numbers from the very beginning. The subject is an amalgamation of five subjects of
Economics, Mathematics, Finance, Statistics, and Computer Science. I feel that it would
suit my interests in the long-term.

(P3 starts rapid-fire questioning)

P3: Do you invest?

A: No, Sir.

P3: Any plans for starting your own business?

A: No, Sir.

P3: What does your father do?

A: He operates a business..

P3: (cuts in) What kind of business?

A: Sir, trading of plastics.

P3: What kind of trading?

A: Sir, he frequently goes to Chennai, orders the products from there, and sells it..

P3: (cuts in) To whom?

A: To other traders here..

P3: (cuts in) What type of plastics? Products or raw materials?

A: Raw materials.

P3: Why not join family business then?

A: Sir, I do not have any interest towards joining the same. Besides, I have an elder
brother who already works with my father. As you can see from my CV form, my mother
and father are 10th Pass and 12th Pass respectively, plus my brother left his education
early, so my family is kind of banking on me towards attainment of my higher education.
My interest in service sector also stems from the fact that I am academically motivated.

(P3 looks satisfied)

P3: What is the name of the MSc institute you mentioned?

A: Cass Business School, Sir.

P3: Why this institute? Why not any other?

A: There are not too many business schools which provide an MSc degree in a
specialized field as Actuarial Science. UK, being the hub of this field, has a few, among
which Cass is the most renowned and is the leading one.

P3: Toh bahar hi settle hona matlab?

A: (what the flying fuck!) I haven’t really thought of this as of now, but the role that I am
looking for isn’t much in demand in our country. As of now, actuaries in India are hired
primarily in pensions or general insurance segments. So, can’t really commit on that.

P3: (pointing towards my forehead) Why have you put this teeka?
A: (shocked&awed) Oh, that. I actually went to a temple before my interview. Plus, I have
strong religious inclinations. I think I mentioned this in my CV form too.

P3: (cuts in) What do you think it is symbolic of?

A: Actually, the Panditji put it there. I think it’s supposed to be a token of good luck. Not
really sure what it’s symbolic of, though.

(P3, after pulling off an entire interview by himself, looks towards P1 and P2, making a
gesture if they have anything to add)

P1: Why not an MBA in Insurance or Risk Management?

A: (in a modest tone) That’s where the role of an Actuary is misunderstood, ma’am. The
role of an Actuary isn’t limited to Insurance industry. As mentioned earlier, I wish to work
in the Investments side of it. Plus, I feel an MBA inclined towards International Business
could of major help.

P2: Okay. That’d be all.

A: (helplessly smiling) Anything else you may want to ask?

(Don’t emulate this stunt ever. Unless they explicitly ask you, “Do you have any questions
for us?”, it’s better to stay mum and be done with the interview process. 8 days out of 10,
interviewers view this as mildly intrusive.)

All: No, that’d be it. You may leave.

I thanked the panel for their valuable time and left the room.

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Date - February 11, 2019 (Afternoon slot)
Venue - The Pride Hotel, Bangalore

Profile

X- 89.50%(Gujarat Board)

XII - 92.62% (Gujarat Board)

BTech (Mechanical) - 81.2% (NITK Surathkal)

IIFT Percentile - 99.737

General | Engineer | Male | Fresher

WAT - Freedom of Speech: Use or Abuse (I felt I’d done decently in WAT. Gave out
points for both sides and finally took a stand)

GD - Is Universal basic income feasible with Indian Economy?

Now IIFT GDs are structured which means everyone will be given a minute to speak
about the topic and then the floor would be thrown open for discussion. I didn’t
know a lot about the topic. This is where being last in my panel helped me. I listened
to everyone’s opening statements and noted down a few points. But being last also
meant that most of the points were covered before me. I had a couple of new points
which I spoke about in my opening minute.

After the floor was throw open, the discussion was quite peaceful since there were
only 6 candidates present out of 9. All of us had ample time to speak. I couldn’t
speak much in the first half of the discussion but ended up giving a couple of good
points in the latter part. A guy who did not participate much was asked to conclude
the GD.

PI - Since I was last in my panel, I had lots of time to chat around with everyone.
panel was taking extremely short interviews. So I knew I had to start well.

I entered the interview room.2 panelists- 1 old experienced professor(P1) and second
one was young, looked like an alumnus(P2).

Me: Good afternoon sirs.

P1: Please have a seat.

Me: Thank you.

P1: Praharsh, interesting name. What is the meaning of your name?

Me: Harsh means joy, Pra means extra. So Praharsh means extra happiness/joy.

P1: I’ve heard your surname somewhere. Was your family involved with Punjab
anyhow?(He mentioned some familiar name but I could not recall where I’d heard it)

Me: Sir, I have heard of him somewhere. Not sure if he was involved with
Punjab.(After my interview I called home and was told that my great grandfather or
someone from that generation was the governor of Punjab)

P1: So Praharsh, please introduce yourself.

Me: Gave the well rehearsed answer

P1: Why do you want to join IIFT?

Me: Spoke about how I was speaking to a senior of mine from IIFT K , it’s unique
program wherein all subjects are taught in view of both India and the world (eg. Indian
Trade and Foreign Trade).

P1 was convinced, He agreed with me and said that unlike IIMs , they do teach
everything from both India’s and world’s perspective. I nodded.

P1: Why MBA as a fresher?

Me: Gave my prepared answer

P2 was looking at my form throughout

P2: Which is this olympiad that you’ve mentioned?

Me: Sir, International Maths Olympiad.

P2: Oh, so did you visit their camp?

Me(surprised): Which camp,sir? This exam didn’t have any camp. There were 2 levels
and I cleared both of them.

P2: But my college friend went to this camp.

Me: Sir, there are many olympiads named IMO. That might have been conducted by
a different organization.

P2: Possible.

P1: You’ve defined critical thinking in your form. I didn’t understand it Please explain
me.
Me: Critical thinking is when you face a complex problem, you understand the
problem first, figure out the sub problems,come up with different solutions ad
choose the best one after analysis.

P1: What is your CAT percentile?

Me: 99.81

P1: Oh, you’ll definitely join top 6 colleges, why waste our time?

Me: Had to tell again why I might consider IIFT over IIMs.

P1: That’s it. You may go.

VERDICT - Converted IIFT Delhi

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IIFT INTERVIEW

Venue: Hotel Levana, Lucknow.

My first interview of the whole GD-PI season. I was very nervous.

WAT topic was a saakshaat-nightmare:

China's 'One Road, One Belt' policy and its effect on India.

I had no idea about this policy so I wrote as generic as possible. I tried my best not to
make any stupid assumptions so as to make my essay a laughter ride for the
evaluator. I wrote about India facing greater competition in terms of market, China
unveiling its rather aggressive trade policy and India's urgency to buckle up. A little
more about all of China's trade coming under a single mammoth channel of trade.
Phew!

GD topic was : Gender insensitivity is the most misunderstood concept in India.

Every one was given around a minute to speak in the beginning and then the GD
lasted for 12-15 minutes.

I was lucky that in the first 1 minute individual slots provided to people before me,
no one defined the word 'gender'. People kept talking about Male/Female. So when
the ball came to my court, I gave it a fresh start. Here are my words, exactly these:

'With my city Lucknow proudly holding the second 'Queer Pride Parade' yesterday on
the 11th of February (well, this is why a little knowledge never hurts), I'd like to draw
everyone's attention to what the word gender exactly means.

It's not just limited to Male or Female. There is the LGBTQ community that deserves the
equal amount of recognition. Even IRCTC gives the option of Transgender while
booking a ticket now, so I think we need to expand our horizon here.'

Well, as smooth as it might sound, the actual group discussion was a crass machli-
mandi. I tried talking about the Treadue 'Humankind' comment, in order to speak
about how if something is pressed to a extent so large, it becomes laughable. We
talked about the Economic Survey 2017-18 being pink, meta preference for sons etc.

A friend of mine later told me that I rolled my eyes in between this hullabaloo and
the panelist saw me and scribbled something. That really gave me a hole in my
stomach.

Now coming on to the interview. The same two panelists who were evaluating us in
the GD (One middle aged male, let's say professor M1 and one lady professor F1)
were present. In addition one more senior professor, let's call him M2 was also there.
He acted more like an observer and didn't ask any questions.

For some strange reason, M1 laughed at me (read hysterically) at every answer that I
gave.

The moment I entered.

M1: Where will I get the best Roghan Gosht in Lucknow?

(Look at my misery. I'm a Non-Vegetarian who doesn't eat Non Veg from any place
outside except for Tundey Kebabi and BBQ. I don't even eat chicken from KFC. I had
no idea of the Non-Veg menu of even Dastarkhwan! )

Dastarkhwan Sir. It's very close to this Hotel.

M1: Arrre nahi! I don't like Dastarkhwan. Tell me some other place.

Umm, Sir I think you should try Tundey if you're interested in Non Veg. You won't get
Roghan Gosht but they have great Kebabs.

M1: No tell me the best place for Roghan Gosht, not Kebabs.

Sir I think Open Air Restaurant in Gomtinagar. It also has a branch nearby in
Hazratganj.

M1: You think a lot. You tell me the best place as per you. Don't think!

Sir Open Air Restaurant. You wouldn't be disappointed.

M1: Why not your home?

(Facepalm! I should've said that. He wanted me to say that)

Sir you are certainly most welcome!

M1: So Fatima Firdous. This is your surname? Firdous? Father's Sirname is Rizvi.
How come!

Sir my actual Sirname is Rizvi. I don't have it on my marksheets.

M1: I see your 10th and 12th percentage is great. But B.Tech percentage has
dipped. Why so?

Sir the university is not very gracious in giving marks.

M1: (Looking like I've had a faux pas)

Whaaaat?

Sir I mean they have a strict marking policy so percentages do not go very high.

M1: Oh, so you've done B.Tech from IT. What's the difference between
Information and Data?

Sir information is something which holds some value, it's of use. Data is a collection
of facts and figures.

Like the number of pebbles lying on the road outside will be data until it becomes
important.

M1: (laughed and laughed.) Well, this is something I've never heard in my last
___ years of teaching (He said something like this. I don't remember but I was like
'God! Was I so wrong!')

M1: So this is your name. Is it information or data?

If it's of some purpose to you then it's information, otherwise plain data.

M1: You know how information is transferred? How is voice transferred on

mobile network?

Sir in the form of waves. Analog and digital signals.

M1: Draw it.

I drew the representation.

M1: Is there a way of transferring signals in analog only? Or without converting

to digital?

(Laugh as much as you want but what came to my mind was the movie Funtoosh and
the prehistoric cup with thread arrangement of talking so I told about it)

Sir we can take paper cups and pin holes in them and add a thread. That ways the
signal will get transferred but the range will be less and also there'll be interference.

M1: Do you know about the Telegram?

Umm, No Sir

M1: Well I guess you must have been around 15 when it was done away with.

F1: No she must have been even younger.

(Turns out I was not!)

M1: Acha leave that, do you know about 4G?

Told a little about it.

M1: What's the main difference between 2G, 3G, 4G?

Sir the major difference is the speed at which data can be transferred on the channel.
The different names classify different generations of development in speed.

M1: No, where exactly does the difference come from, technically?

I think from the difference in the allocated bandwidth sir. I'm not sure.

F1 has been examining my poems and paintings all this while.

She shows this painting and asks me about it:

F1: This is a rather impressive piece of art. What does this signify to you?

Maam it signifies perspective. You turn a page and the birds are free and you put it
back they're caged.

F1: Why is globe incomplete? What's the meaning of this?

Umm, it just looked good like that. Besides this painting signifies my wish to travel
more.

F1: What do these quotes signify?

Maam a number of writings are my way of giving voice to my low and high moments
in life. I come from a conservative family...

M1, instantly interrupting

Your get up doesn't suggest so!

Sir it's more than the dressing. It goes deeper into the thoughts and actions.

I'm thankful for everything that I have and never can I say that I've been through the
worst. But I've had my own small set of struggles to deal with. Like when I was in my
class 12th, I was selected for Jenesys, a 10 day students exchange program between
India and Japan funded by the HRD Ministry, but I couldn't be a part of it because my
parents were not sure about sending me for an overseas stay. But my parents have
come to terms with the fact that I've missed upon opportunities in the past and are a
lot more supportive now.

F1: But even if my daughter had been selected, I wouldn't have sent her due to
my security concerns. Does that make me conservative?
Maam the main reason was that the 10 days of the program were syncing with the
10 important dates of a religious month in the year 2013. And I have no regrets, I
completely understand the underlying fears of safety with mothers.

F1: So what economic newspapers do you read?

Maam economic articles and editorials in TOI and The Hindu.

(Now comes the part that literally dug my grave and I happily went and laid down
there i.e. I chose to talk about Crypto Currencies and couldn't defend my stand well)

F1: So which economic news have you been following?

Maam I've been following the debate around cryptocurrency.

F1: What's your take on it?

I think it's a revolutionary idea, almost $779 billion are invested in Crypto Currency in
any form so whether it falls or survives, it'll lead to an impact. But I think it is a great
channel for businesses to enter into the market, specially for the third world
countries.

F1: What did Mr Arun Jaitly declare about it in the recent Budget Session? Do
you think in the Indian landscape, a phenomenon such a crypto can survive ?

Maam crypto currency is not a legal tender as declared in the session by the Finance
Minister. Nevertheless, we have so many people in India without an access to a bank
account, all they need to get into a transaction is internet connection and a
smartphone. In fact as per World Bank, 2 billion people in the world don't have an

access to a bank account. So it can be useful in remote locations, specially in the east.

M1: Tell me what is the stand of the world on cryptocurrencies?

In India the government has not yet taken a solid stand. A number of countries have
supported it like Canada, but some have outrightly banned it.

M1: Oh, tell me 10 countries which have banned it?

Sir China has boldly banned it. Ecuador has banned it. Sir I can't recollect more
names.

F1: Do you really think people in India who aren't well versed with using
technology can handle a concept as alien as cryptocurrency?

Maam it's difficult but I think not impossible. I do think it's a ray of hope for....
M1: (In a mocking tone) My dear two people have committed suicide in the
past week due to crypto falling prices and you call it a ray of hope!! Besides it's
not legal tender.

Sir I completely agree to what you're saying but even gold is not legal tender. I
believe if it's understood better than just making fast money it can be put to good
use.

F1: But whatever the Government has so far mentioned about these currencies,
isn't it for the benefit of the citizens. It has issued warnings against
cryptocurrencies and you're saying it's good. Justify that.

I agree the government does look towards the interest of the people and advises
them like a responsible adviser but using cryptocurrencies is not completely going
against the government because it hasn't banned it yet.

M1: Okay so tell me have you ever heard the name of G Subramania Iyer?

No Sir.

M1: (Laughing) And you said you read the Hindu!

(For those who don't know, including me at that time, G. Subramania Iyer was the
founder of The Hindu)

Okay Thankyou Fatima, you can leave!

Thankyou Sir.

VERDICT: IIFT Kolkata (62)

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14th Feb 2018, Mumbai

IIFT 99.89

Acads X/XII/B.Tech:10/89.4/7.95

I was in the first slot. My reporting time was 8.30 and the process was scheduled to
start at 8.50am. Around 9 am we were allowed entry into the building and escorted
into the waiting area. By 9.10am we were informed about our panels and the venue
for the first activity i.e. wat.

Within 2 minutes of entering the room we were seated on out assigned seats bearing
our roll nos. After putting our signature onto the attendance sheet the topic was
announced for WAT. The topic for my panel was: “The America First” policy of Donald
Trump. Time alloted was 20 min and word limit 300 approx. I knew a couple of things
wrote all that. Mentioned H1-B visa issues, his recent speech at Davos, his
administration attempt to deport child immigrants (forgot to mention DACA) and
ended with saying he should understand immigrants had made America great.

After that we were given 5 min break and the gd started with the same students with
whom we were seated for wat at the same venue and same panel(one male and a
female). The topic of the gd was somewhat on the line of : freedom of bollywood
artistic license vs social sensitivities. The panel asked everyone to speak for a
moment and then they floor was opened for the debate. Being second last on my
panel I didn’t get to add something new however I took the stand of absolute
freedom for artists. I said if they themselves have to think about right and wrong
then new work of arts wouldn’t come up. And if they do portray something which
hurts people feelings, we do have a censor board and then we have court of law.
Moreover when someone mentioned the recent Padmavat incident and brought up
Karni Sena. I added that if one searches wikipedia they’ll find them to have started as
a group of unemployed youths who shot to national fame with this recent events.
And I questioned my fellow at gd whether they consider karni sena as our
representative who took to violence even when the highest court has order the
movie to be released. At the same time I also said that we also need to keep in mind
that all these protest be that for historically significant movie such as Padmavat or
socially significant movie Udta punjab or upcoming movie Manikarnika , the groups
started protesting before even knowing the content of the movies. So we can safely
assume that they have their own motives rather than really caring for emotions of the
societies. At the end of gd the panel asked a girl to summarize as she was not taking
part in the discussion that much.

After that I had to wait for about two and a half hours for my pi. There were three
panelists. All males and not the same people from wat gd panel. The first question
was on the expected lines. Introduce yourself. They asked few questions here and
there and let me finish. After that they asked me why did I leave Ramakrishna
Mission after 10th and did 12th from my hometown. I said my school was
supposedly better for medical aspiring students as few students previously cleared
some medical exams however no one cleared any engineering entrance exams and
since I wanted to pursue engineering I chose to do my schooling from my hometown
itself. Then another asked about my work background. I told him that right now I
don’t have any project and that I am from big data domain. Then he asked what all I
learnt in big data and whether I can make a cluster( more than one computer
connected for parallel processing). I said yes and I have been in involved in building
one for last couple of weeks. He further probed. I continued saying we already have
installed the operating system required but we are having problem in connecting all
the computers in the cluster. He asked why. I said sir we don’t have all the
administrative rights hence it’s taking a bit longer. He then advised me to approach
my manager to which I said , we are a group of 5 people and we ourselves are trying
very hard to complete this. Don’t know whether he was convinced or not. He then
asked about capgemini’s( my company) competitors. I didn’t know. I said TCS he said
no. I said accenture he said you are getting close. Then I said sir amazon and
facebook use big data. He said have you heard about hortonworks. I said yes they
are the pioneers in big data. Then he says you knew they are pioneers in big data still
didn’t answer. I said I thought you wanted to know about companies in outsourcing
that have started working on big data as hortonworks is a technology solution
provider. Anyway I apologised. Then another panelist asks whether my district is
naxal affected. I replied in negative. Then he asked me to name which ones are. I said
champaran, lakhisarai, jamui and jhajha. He then enquired whether these are
adjoining areas. I said yes if you go by train you’ll encounter these areas one by one.
Then he asked me the reason as to why these areas are affected as compared to
madhubani. I said maybe coz of the geographical terrain which makes it hard for any
sort of anti-combing operations. Then the panelist himself says about tribals. I
latched onto that and said yes Sir. That’s also a major reason since the naxals mostly
comprise of tribals as they brainwash these people to pick up arms. And these areas
like Jhajha have significant tribal populations too. And as we move into Jharkhand
from Bihar the santhal pargana tribal belt starts. At this point I started feeling
confident again after the initial hiccups. Then the third panelist asks me, you have
written about gst. Can you tell us about it. I said sir it came into effect on July 1 2017.
It’s different from earlier vat in few aspects. VAT was like tax on tax. Gave an example.
GST is direct. Then VAT has no provision for Input Tax Claim but GST has. Again gave
a elaborate example. Then as I was proceeding to quote some nos they cut me in
between and asked whether I know how many taxes GST has subsumed. I said no. I
can name some but I don’t know the exact no of taxes that has been removed. Then
another panelist asks whether anything is outside the purview of GST. I said yes sir.
Petroleum products and liquor. Also said it is creating some problems as well since
various groups have criticized such implementation to keep these outside GST just so
that government can earn more tax. As liquor attract VAT of about 40% and the
highest GST slab is of 28% only. Then they asked the last question. Why people from
Bihar have more faith in services rather than businesses? I said it something to do
with the way we have been brought up. People in services are always valued more
that people in businesses. Say someone owns a big enterprise has valuation or
crores, has given employment to scores of people still a bank P.O. would be
considered better than him. Moreover the people of that region have seen high
unemployment rates and then consider business as a risky venture while services are
considered to be a stable source of income. After that they allowed me to leave.

Edit 1: Direct convert

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Date-20th feb 2019

Venue-iift delhi

Iift percentile-99.135(38.25 out of 100)

Work ex-2 years gap graduated in 2017

Background-10/12/grad-9.2/93/58

Was an cat aspirant since final year of college

Cat 2016:-51 percentile

Cat 2017–88.89 percentile(was in a relationshit)

Iift 2017-51 percentile

Cat 2018-89.96 percentile(messed up the varc section bcoz of the expectation, best
section throught the mocks)

Why i have two years of gap

As i passed out of college my father passed away on 4th september 2017 well just
love your parent they may be wrong in suggesting you but their intention is always
good for you

My father was an ex service man worked in indian army and was a farmer after,so
after his death there was a 4 acres of ready to harvest crop which i had to take care
off.

So basically i was doing farming in these 2 years and preparing for mba entrances.

And,i had the dream to do mba from a premiere institute of our country in 2017 i
converted some tier 2 colleges but i decided not to join and give it a another shot.

In 2018 also with getting same percentile i decided not to apply for any college as i
have left them a year earlier so iift was my best and only call.

Interview day

Wat topic-should india export its natural resouces?

Performed above average wrote about that india is leading exporter of rice in the
world and exporting 1kg of rice equals 5000 liter of water export.

Same goes with sugar ,recommended the exports like textiles and apparel.
Gd:topic-1 trillion dollar export a dream or reality for india??

Gd was awesome entered 3 times

Gave reasons about how can it be done

Mariculture ,refinery,manufacturing,agriculture, horticulture

Problems faced:factors market reforms

Land labour capital independence

Cordinated with group went welland everybody had a fair chance to speak.

Pi

I was 6th in the panel.

Three panelists

X-40 yrs male(professor maybe)

Y-35 yrs female(definitely a professor)

Z-50yrs male(the saviour,always smiling)

Entered the room greeted them ask the permission to sit

As i settled down X went out to attend some phone call.

Y-tell us something about yourself

Me-started (interrupted in middle)

Y-why is fabrication industry weak in india

Me-(thinking i have heard this term for the first time in my life) i dont know mam

Y- you have done your graduation in electronics and you dont know this(graduation
was survival nothing else)

Y-ok some buisness news

Me -started with angel tax limits

Y-no buisness news

Me-jet airways fiasco, reliance communications problems

Y-explain jet airways problem

Me -explained (not upto level but yes)

Y-other carriers in indian market

Me-air india ,indigo,spicejet

Y-few time back something happend in indigo,can you tell what happend

Me -i have read about it but couldnot remember so i said sorry mam i dont know.

Y-ok tell about kiran majumdar

Me -how can i not know about her shit again i dont know mam

Z-(phew ,finally )something happened in e commerce globally can you tell.

Me -after few seconds i dont know sir (well it came into my mind as soon as i opened
the door to leave, it was about amazon setting headquarters in new york)

Z-what does your brother do?

Me-sir he is in indian army

Z-where is he posted

Me-jammu and kashmir poonch

Z-in which regiment

Me -sir 278 field regiment

Z-what core it is

Me-sir artillery

Z-have you not tried getting into defence forces

Me- sir as i am good in studies (z interrupted “ha dikhrha hai graduation ke marks
tumhare bta rhe hai kitne achhe ho"i said that i was good in 10th and 12th)so i tried
at officer level but was not able to clear entrance exam.

Z-who is your rolemodel

Me -mr sandeep manudhane he founded pt ias academy, i take free sessions on

youtube and the best thing about him is that he always says that one should become
an independent thinker, have your own opinion regarding something rather than
follow anything blindly.

Z-what certification are you doing

Me-sir as i have said that i love to exercise and pretty much conscious about food i
eat so i decided to do certification in nutrition.

X enters

X-what other calls you have

Me -sir i have no other calls

X-whats your cat percentile

Me-89.96

Ok you can go now send the peon

I greeted them and left .

Verdict: converted kolkata campus in first list

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MBA IB Interview 2019–21

Venue: Indian Institute of Packaging - Afternoon slot

Time: 2 PM

Iift percentile - 97.98

WAT: Failures - stepping stones or stumbling blocks.

GD: are US's days of dominance numbered?

GD went well, everyone spoke calmly but there was no conclusion that was reached. I
went for yes, they are numbered and explained China's candidature for the same
explaining the modern silk route they're building around South East Asia.

PI

2 Males - one in 40's (M1) and other in 50's (M 2).

1 Female (F) - early 30's

M2- so aman, tell me something about yourself

Me- spoke about my graduation in finance and at the same time jobs in marketing to
decide at an early age what I want to do by the time I graduate. Selected marketing
and took up a job at Saatchi. He stopped me here.

M2 - what was your role at Saatchi and Saatchi?

Me - Explained in detail my roles

M2- You've named everything. Is there something you didn't do?

Me - Sir, I didn't get an opportunity to work in the mainline team.

M1- how much does the sandwich outside kc college cost? (Since I have done my
graduation from KC)

Me - 40-55 rs depending on which sandwich you take sir.

M1 - but you graduated 3 years back. Are these rates from then or recent rates

Me - sir, the last time I visited the stall was a year back and these were the rates then.

M1 - so you haven't been there since then?

Me - No sir.
(remember this conversation)

M2 - what brands did you handle at Saatchi?

Me - told.

M2 - which were your favourite brands and why?

Me - told.

M2 - *Asked me for the names of the brand managers on the client side*

M2 - who are the competitors of Saatchi?

Me - watconsult, webchutney, dentsu, grey worldwide, ulka group

M2 - isn't mccan erickson a competitor too?

Me - sir it is. If we go to see like that there are many others like havas worldwide,
Lowe lintas, but it'll take a while for me to name all of them.

M2 - *looking at my CV* you

've done so many things. Why do you want to do an MBA. We think you'll do better
without wasting 2 years.

Me - spoke about how big an opportunity it would be to not just learn from the best
faculty but also be around 220 bright minds for the next 2 years.

M2 - But still all of this seems a lot. How do we believe you've done all of this.

Me- sir I've carried certificates along with me and if a certificate is missing, I have it
all on mail that I can present right now.

M2 - I am done, is there anything you want to ask him? *looking at M1*

M1 - what's the tagline of Aashirwaad atta? (it's one of the brands I handled)

Me - I don't know sir, I am sorry.

M1 - why is west bengal called west bengal?

Me - sir, because before Bangladesh got freedom, it was called east Pakistan and the
other side was called west bengal.

M1- then why is punjab in India not called East Punjab?

Me - sir, its probably because India and Pakistan both want to have a claim on
original punjab. If Pakistan names its punjab west punjab then India might follow
suit.

M2 - why is your salary at Saatchi so low? Is it the industry standards?

Me - sir the salary might seem low, but the jump I'd got from my previous job was
40%. So when we look at it from a percentage perspective, it's pretty decent.

M2 - Can you name some southern states?

Me - Named them.

M2 - But Andhra Pradesh doesn't exist anymore you know that right?

Me - sir, the state's just been divided into Telangana and AP. It still exists though.

M2 - What role do you want when you sit in placements?

Me - Sir marketing in a food related FMCG company. The likes of ITC and PepsiCo
excite me the most.

M2 - what if you get a role in sales?

Me - Sir, I'd happily take it since sales is a subset of marketing. The entire marketing
umbrella interests me. I also like public speaking. So that would also help me in sales.

Now the mam (F) steps in.

F- if we were to ask you something in finance, what would you select? *since I did my
graduation in finance*

Me - Ma'am, right after graduation I decided that I would not want to major in
finance since that was not my area of interest. I'd not practiced concepts after
passing out, just read headlines in the newspapers to stay updated on things
happening around me. But if you insist, I'd say ill be comfortable with answering
questions from macro economics.

F- what is india's fiscal deficit?

Me - 3.4

F - was that the planned fiscal deficit?

Me - No ma'am, the planned fiscal deficit was 3.3. But due to spendings in the
Ayushman Bharat scheme, they had to increase it to 3.4.

F - What is the relation between fiscal deficit and inflation.?

Me - they are directly proportional. More the govt spending, more money is
circulating in the economy, higher the inflation.

F - who is the commerce minister of India

Me - Suresh Prabhu.

*Here's where the sandwich conversation comes back in*

F - so the sandwich rates, you say, are the same since you passed out 3 years ago till
now. Didn't he undergo inflation?

Me - ma'am, I feel that when the sandwich guy increases his prices he keeps a
considerable buffer for a couple of years. This is because he is serving to college kids
who survive on pocket money. If he changes his prices often, he will lose the
students to their college canteens who serve really cheap food and a larger variety.
The sandwich stall runs on brand name, but he cannot tinker with it a lot since
college students are very price conscious. He might lose his customer base if he
increases prices too often.

F - who gains money during a farm loan waiver?

Me - In the short run, farmers, but in the long run, nobody. This is because, farmers
get the money which they have lost to failed crops. So they aren't really making
money, but just getting their cost price back. The banks get paid what they had lent.
The govt is the one paying. None of the parties involved make money here.

M2 - if you're so inclined towards public speaking, why don't you become a

politician?

Me - sir, everything has a certain time to do it. Right now I want to learn before I
change things. This is my time to study and gain as much knowledge as I can. If and
when the situation demands, later in life, I can take up politics. But I am very sure
about my next 15 years and what I want to do. Politics is not in my plans as of now.
And just like Mrs. Meera Sanyal got her degree from Harvard and entered politics
later in life, I can do that too.

M2 - Thank you, Aman. We are done.

Me - Thank you. Have a great evening.

Result: Converted Delhi

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IIFT 2017 Interview Experience

Date - 16.02.2017, Morning Slot

IIFT Percentile – 99.58%ile

Venue - IIFT Kolkata Campus

WAT Topic - By failing to prepare, we are preparing to fail.

Case Discussion - Impact of Reliance Jio as it is providing high end technology to

customers at free of cost.

Interview – I was second in panel and there were 3 panelists (P1, P2, and P3) all in
mid-50 & M for mere liye.

P1 - You did your graduation from Nalanda Open University?

M - Sir, I did Apprenticeship in TATASTEEL, Jamshedpur from October 2010 to

October 2012 after that I joined company on 1st July 2013 as Maintenance Assistant,
till then I am working there.

P1 - What is difference between Nalanda Open University and Nalanda

University?

M - Sir Nalanda Open University is the only Open University in Bihar for imparting
Distance education and It is situated in Patna District whereas Nalanda University is
the re-establishment of Old Nalanda Mahavira in Rajgir District.

P1 - You haven’t mentioned as you are working in TATA STEEL?

M – Sir, though I was working full time and only work ex after Graduation is
accounted, I decide to skip it as it was just 3-4 Months. But I mentioned it in the last
Question where it asked for any other information would you like to convey to the
panel.

P1 - Who is chairman of TATA Group?

M - Currently it’s Ratan TATA but on 21st Feb, Natarajan Chandrashekaran will take
charge.

P1 - Tell me something about TATA Mistry Fiasco?

M - The Tata Group surprised everyone when on October 24, 2016 the Tata Sons
board, the holding company for the conglomerate, approved a resolution to remove
Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata Sons. Went on to elaborate more on - Mistry’s lack
of performance, Disagreements over pruning the group, Tata-Docomo dispute,
Welspun Acquisition.

P1 - Who is the Managing Director of TATA STEEL?

M - Sir, T.V.Narendran

P2 - Do you think Demonetization was implemented properly? What’s your

opinion on it?

M – Sir, Demonetisation was implemented for the benefit of the people but it was
done in haste due to which some people lost their life, Sectors depending heavily on
cash has to suffer a lot, common people faced lots of problems. I think it can be
implemented with proper planning but then its motive of fight against black money
might not be fulfilled. To know more about its impact we have to wait for some time.

P2 - Date when it was implemented?

M - Sir announced on 8th Nov 2016 with effect date from 9th Nov 2018.

P2 - Why MBA?

M – Elaborated more on my profile, Work ex and learning from it, and how an MBA
can help me in future.

P3 - You studied Economics in Graduation, tell me a subject from where I can

ask you Questions..??

M – Sir, Microeconomics

P3 – What is GDP?

M – Sir, full form of GDP is Gross Domestic product. GDP is the total sum of goods
and services produced in an economy in a financial year.

P3 - How it is calculated?

M – Sir, for GDP calculation we generally use 3 approaches –

1. Income Approach

2. Expenditure Approach

3. Production Approach

Explained each one of them properly and he seems satisfied.

P3 - How bank determines interest rates?

M – Sir it depends upon the availability of cash with bank for lending purpose which
is determined by CRR and SLR set by RBI (I answered all questions till now but in this
question I was able to answer only one point, but they insist for some more points.)

P2 - In MBA, Which Branch you like to go for?

M - Sir, Operations

P2 - Thank you AMAN, we are done you can go now.

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Date: 23.02.18

Slot: 2 p.m. (Afternoon).

Venue: IIFT, Delhi.

The staff of IIFT is quite punctual. The process started at the mentioned time, so
don’t even think about getting late.

WAT topic- India's preparedness against cyber attacks.

GD topic- The world is a dangerous place to live not because of the evil people in it
but because of the people who don't do ANYTHING about it.

The group comprised of 11 boys and 1 girl. We were given strict instructions by the
panel to not interrupt someone, to not shout or get aggressive.

We were given approximately 120 seconds to think and 75–90 seconds to speak. I
was the first speaker.

Due to prior instructions the gd went off peacefully. 2 candidates, who didn’t speak
much, were asked to speak at the end by the panelist.

THE INTERVIEW

3 panelists, 2 female F1 and F2 and a male M1.

F1: A brief introduction about yourself.

Me: Spoke a bit about my under-graduation, basketball achievements, BAJA and a

bit about my hobbies.

F1: What do you think about driver-less cars?

Me: If I speak about India then this concept is very difficult to implement because
here ……cuts me in between……

F1: Don't speak just about India, here it is just a dream.

Me: Told them about how it will help in better navigation of traffic, reduce
congestion and accidents. People tend to drink and drive or not pay attention on the
road which leads to accidents but nothing of that sort would happen with this
technology.

F1 gives a brief nod to F2

F2: Did you get placed?

Me: Yes, mam, Told them the company.

F2: So why don’t you take work-ex and come back?

Me: I'd like to study first and then take a plunge into the corporate world rather than
work, study and then work again.

F2: What advantage do you have over people with work-ex?

Me: Being a fresher you can mould me in any way you like (THANK YOU QUORA)
unlike the people with work-ex as they are rigid and can only think in a particular
direction. I can adapt to any type of pedagogy.

F2 nods at M1

M1: What is critical thinking?

Me: Told them whatever I had written in the online CV.

M1: So you think logical decisions are better than emotional decision?

Me: It depends on the circumstances and but in most of the cases logical decisions
are better.

M1: What is the difference between decisions taken by engineers and non-engineers
in your opinion?

Me: Sir engineers tend to analyse a situation analytically and mathematically and
take logical decisions while non engineers might take slightly less logical decisions.

F2: There is a lot of emphasis on the emotional decisions and there is subject called
emotional decision making, have you heard of it?

Me: Sorry mam I haven't. (Be very honest in your interviews).

F2: Did you give some other exams?

Me: Told them about it.

F2: What calls do you have?

Me: Told them.

F2: What books do you read?

Me: I'm not in a habit of reading books. I read a biography a few days back but
didn’t ponder over it much.
F2: How did you prepare for the interview?

Me: Told them about the coaching institute and that I read newspapers.

F2: Which newspapers?

Me: The Hindu and The Economic Times. ET has a lot of economic jargon which I find
difficult to understand and so I prefer the Hindu

F1: What have you read recently?

Me: Told them about some national and international affairs. (At IIFT one should try
to speak about international affairs.)

F1: 2-3 key-points of budget.

Me: Explained N.H.P.S, Petrol cess and road cess, that there is nothing much for the
salaried class and that the budget has been described as poor and farmer friendly.

F1: Why is the budget farmer friendly?

Me: The Minimum Support Price has been raised to twice the production value. Last
year it was somewhere about 1.2 or 1.5 times but this year it has been increased.
(This is wrong, MSP has been raised to 1.5 times the production value) However they
simply nodded.

F1 nods at F2 and M1.

Okay Sahil we are done.

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Date: 13th February, 2019.

Place: Hotel Golconda, Hyderabad.

Time: Morning slot

10th/12th/B.Tech: 88/94/87

Work Ex : Assistant Engineer (18 months)

IIFT 2018 percentile: (98.90 percentile)

WAT : There were 11 people in my group. The topic for WAT was "Electric Cars :
Jobs VS Pollution". 20 minutes to think and write. Two sides of an A4 sheet. Word
Limit was 300 words (Invigilator stressed this sentence).

After WAT, GD Process began. The topic for GD was "Should Metropolitan Cities
be depopulated?" Everyone was given a minute or two for their opening statements
and then the discussion began. The whole process lasted for about 30 minutes.

Thereafter, Interviews began. I was 5th in my panel. There were a total of three
persons in the panel, one female(p1), two male(p2, p3).

P1: Kaveti Hruday Kiran! What a weird name?

I just gave a smile, after this P1 was just observing me.

P2: tell me about yourself?

Gave a well prepared answer. P2 interrupted in between and asked me to speak

louder. P1 also interrupted in between and asked me about football( as I played
nationals). Overall I felt satisfied with my answer as they let me finish my prepared
answer.

P2: Why did you take up civil engineering?

Gave a honest answer. Sir I grew up watching my dad excell at his work as a civil
engineer. That kind of inspired me to take up civil engineering.

P2: Few question regarding my fathers occupation

Told them.

P3: Tell me about IL & FS Fiasco ?

Told them about how company defaulted on a few short term payments and
currently sitting on INR 90000 cr bad loans. Also talked about how major institutions
like sbi and lic got massive exposure to the company as they both have combined
stake of 30 % in the company. Talked about how poor corporate governance and
asset liability mismatch put company in the mess.

P3: what do you mean by poor corporate governance?

Told them about how taking decisions in the intrests of shareholders will benefit the
company which did not happen in the case of IL & FS. As the company took short
term debt for financing long term projects. ( P3 looked not satisfied with the answer)

P3: Asked me about assets and liability?

Told. ( Again P3 looked not satisfied)

P3: So what do you think the way forward for the company?

Sir Govt has removed the old board members and appointed new board with Mr
Uday kotak as chairman, who is trying his level best to steady the ship. Company is
selling most of the projects in order to meet its obligations.

P2: I think we are done. Looking at other panelists.

Thanked them and left.

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Date:19/02/2019

%ile:99.134. (84/78/82)GEM with 4 months experience

Venue:IIFT,KOLKATA(2PM)

WAT: Jobless growth in India:Reason for a brewing social unrest.

GD: Music,Sports and Wine; Impact on perceived peacefulness.

PI: There were 3 panellists;all of them Male.(seemed to be aged and experienced)

The transcript is as under:

1.Are you nervous? (I was the first one to be interviewed,so)

Told.

2.Don't be.Tell me a little bit on yourself.

Told .

3.What do your parents do?

Elaborated.

3.You have this gap of a few months?Why so?

Told him of the reason.Cited that I did NGO work post that ,and an internship. No
cross questioning involved.

4.Asked me an Export import based question ;If suppose I export goods to a foreign
country,what are the limitations and disadvantages I would face?

Told him 3 limitations but it was not what he was probably looking for.

5.Was asked a flurry of questions on Geographical locations of countries and

continents where they are located.

Answered a few and oblivious to the rest.

6.Briefly explain the US China trade war and a few cross questioning on the same.

dodged all to the best of my capability.

7.Questions on Brexit and the names of a few EU countries and some cross
questioning.
Explained Brexit and expanded it but was suddenly blank on the EU countries.(Under
pressure a bit,named two and stopped)

8.National emergency declared by Trump.

Mentioned as to why it was declared and reactions to it by other nations.

9. Name any two Indian grandmasters

Told.

Okay.That had be all.You may go.

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Profile: 10th, 12th, B.Tech (IIT(ISM) Dhanbad): 93, 91, 7.58 (70.8 after conversion),
IIFT: 99.96 percentile.

Date: 15 Feb, 2017.

Venue: IIFT Kolkata.

I had had just three hours of sleep the previous night, so I was sleeping until
someone started announcing general information about the WAT.

WAT topic was “India’s Role in South-Asia: The Way Forward.” I took too much
time to think, was halfway through the concluding line when an invigilator took the
sheet away. Overall a satisfactory performance.

GD was on the Mistry-Tata tussle. We were divided into groups of 11 each, one
student was absent in our group. During the one minute time given, I spoke for
about 40 seconds. At least three people spoke wonderfully with facts, figures and
logical arguments.

When the floor was open for discussion, I was perhaps sixth or seventh to speak. The
discussion was interesting and quite peaceful. I could, however, speak only twice. The
surprise came when the moderators announced that the GD was over. I couldn’t keep
track of time and thought that we were only 5-10 minutes into it. It was my first GD
ever and I didn’t even feel that I was attending one. No stress. No nervousness. It was
like a friendly conversation.

Personal Interview: There were three professors. All perhaps 50 plus. I said good-
evening after entering but they probably didn’t notice as they were going through
some documents.

P: Please take a seat.

Me: Thank you Sir.

P (All of them were smiling): Nitesh, right? So Nitesh, you are from an IIT.

Me: Yes Sir.

P: So how does it feel like to be an IITian? Me: Great Sir.

P: Why great? What difference does it make from ISM? ISM is also an established
name.

Me: There is a major difference Sir. IIT is a brand name. ISM was made an IIT only last
year. Before then when I told people, mainly my neighbours or relatives that I study
in ISM, they had no clue what it was.
P (quite shocked): What? A 100-year old institution and they didn’t know about it?

Me: Yes Sir. Nobody knew.

P: But the same problem will be there when you come to IIFT. Some people will say
that it is Indian Institute of Fashion Technology. How would you deal with them?

Me: Yes Sir. They say that even now. Whenever I tell anyone that I am appearing for
IIFT exam or interview, they are like, “why do you want to study fashion technology
after engineering?” But the main thing is that the people who need to know, people
who matter, they know what it is.

P: But how will you convince your locality about IIFT?

Me: I don’t need to. People who matter, they know; and those who don’t know, they
don’t matter.

P: So you are proud of being an IITian?

Me: Yes Sir, a little bit.

P: A little bit … Okay, so let’s discuss your marks. They are falling at an increasing
rate. Come here. *hands me a notebook* Draw the graph of your 10th, 12th, and
graduation marks. Graph which has an increasing rate of decrease.

Me: Sir, it will be an exponential graph like this. *Drew it within a second of taking the
notebook*

P: Okay, and how will the graph of something having constant rate of decrease look
like?

Me: *Drew a straight line with negative slope immediately*

P: Now draw the graph of a rectangular hyperbola:

Me: *Drawn*. It will be something like that.

P: Your graph is correct. Can you tell the equation? (I don’t know how, but they
somehow seemed to know that I’ve been placed as a Maths faculty)

Me: I don’t remember exactly. I remember faintly from my JEE preparation days, there
were two variables a and b, so it was some relation between them.

P (trying to make remember): y square equal to ….

Me: Sir I can’t remember.

P: Okay my final question, why should IIFT take you? (I had done zero preparation for
the interviews, here the fun begins)

Me (with an innocent face): Sir I will try to bring the best out of me during my stay
here.

P (They had perhaps never heard such a simple reply): No! you need to sell yourself.
Tell us how would IIFT benefit if you get a seat here.

Me: Sir I have worked hard for the entrance exam. And I will strive to perform at my
best during my stay here.

P: See, it’s not about the entrance exam. Everybody here has worked hard for the
entrance exam. You are a fresher with no work experience. So why should we take
you and not others? On one hand, there is IBM and on the other hand there is *some
company*, so why is one better and not the other? You have one minute to answer.

Me (just looking at their faces, thinking nothing): *silence for five seconds*

P: Okay, have you made any friends here, when you were waiting? Tell me a name.

Me: Yes Sir, Sumonto Mukherjee (the guy whose interview was just before mine).

P: Good, so why should we take you and not him?

Me: Sir he has some work experience, so he is better than me in this area. He may be
better than me in other areas too. I haven’t evaluated him… Only you have assessed
both of us on different parameters. You have much more knowledge and experience
than me, so you know this better than I do... I cannot compare myself with him. I can
only speak for myself and I promise that I will perform to the best of my abilities.

P: Very good, you have mentioned in the form that you like discussions related to
psychology and economics.

Me: Yes sir, I mainly like behavioural psychology. I am interested in fallacies and
cognitive errors. I read books and blogs related to these areas. For example, books
like Thinking Fast and Slow, The Art of Thinking Clearly etc.

P: And economics…

Me: In economics too, I am interested in choices and mistakes people make. I like
things which might appear weird and irrelevant at the surface but are important
economically, for example incidents mentioned in the book Freakonomics…

P: So why do you want to enter finance (Had mentioned this in the form)
Me: Sir, frankly I don’t have deep knowledge about finance. I became interested in it
only during the last year or so.

P (interrupting me): So why do you want to pursue finance specifically?

Me: Sir I am fascinated by finance. I like how money works. Money rules our lives. It is
also the most important part of a business.

P: Why not B.Com or CA then?

Me: *mentioned I am taking CFA this year*

P: From B.Tech to CFA

Another P: And CFA to MBA.

P: “Donald Trump’s rise to the President of USA…” Is this sentence correct? (Had
mentioned this in the form). He was elected by people, how did he rise?

Me: I meant the rise of protectionism in USA along with him. Also, Trump started
from bottom, he had no experience in politics *gestured with hand how here to here*

P: But he is still a businessman.

Me: Yes sir he is still a businessman.

P: Do you support Trump?

Me: Sir from the Indian, or the world’s point of view…

P: No from Trump’s point of view, is he doing the right thing?

Me: From that point of view, I completely support. He is an elected representative

and he is merely fulfilling what he promised. He is acting in his nation’s best interests
and I think there’s nothing wrong with it.

P: What will happen to the economy?

Me: The world economy will have a negative effect. It will spiral downwards.

P: So now he is banning immigrants, what will happen to the US economy? Will price
of things increase or decrease there?

Me (thought for a couple of seconds): Sir, prices will go down.

P: Prices will go down?

Me: Yes sir, in my opinion American Companies have to pay more to the immigrants.
An average Chinese or Indian immigrant is more skilled than an average American.
So they have to pay more to the immigrant workers to compensate for their skill. So,
if they are forced to hire the local talent, cost of companies will reduce.

*No indication of whether it was right or wrong*

P: Okay, So Nitesh you are from Haryana

Me: Yes sir,

P: And you have travelled all the way to Kolkata, So what are the rivers that you had
to cross?

Me: Sir I actually stay in Dhanbad

P: I mean kabhi to aaye hoge Haryana se Dhanbad tak

Me: Yes sir, Ganga and Yamuna

P: So do Ganga and Jamuna meet at some point?

Me: Yes sir, somewhere in UP

P: City?

Me: *trying to remember* Lucknow perhaps.

P: And where does Ganga originate from?

M: From Uttrakhand, Badrinath perhaps (I don’t know how I forgot these two trivial
things, remembered as soon as I came out of the room)

P: And where does it terminate?

Me: Bay of Bengal.

P: Can you name any river which terminates in Arbian Sea?

Me: Tapti, Narmada, Kaveri….

P: Thank you. That will be all.

All the three professors were very friendly, they were smiling most of the time. Even
though I coudn't answer some questions, I came out of the venue with a pleasant
feeling.

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IIFT Interview Experience, 19th Feb, Afternoon slot.

Venue- IIFT Kolkata Campus

WAT- Jobless Growth in India : Reason for a brewing social unrest

(Pathetic at writing but included data, facts and figures, like 6th economy, expected
GDP 7.5% but huge unemployment wrote about mob lynching, strikes, protests
(Karni Sena etc.), how some political and communal parties start these activities but is
carried on by mostly unemployed people that too young, what Govt. should do.)

Ok type satisfaction.

GD- Music or Sports or Wine : A way for perceived peacefulness.

Great GD. Best thing was that the point which I pitched in was accepted by everyone
and then it went on to be the conclusion too. Added recent examples and events
from all the three segments around the world. Most people were not supporting or
referring to wine but I went on to say it's benefits, culture wise importance.

Satisfied with the GD.

PI- 3 Males (M1, M2, M3). Me.

M3- So working in TCS, so tell me what work you have done?

Me- Started with my role and my work but was interrupted on the sentence
'Provided solutions to the Customer'.

M3- Tell me about it, explain it.

Me- Which one Sir?

M3- The last one.

Me- Told them that as am working for UK client and as GDPR is being implemented
in UK so worked with a team to provide solution so that the applications and the
organization should be compliant with GDPR. Told them about the fine for non-
compliance and how important User consent is and litle bit more about GDPR.

All looked satisfied.

M1- So as you are a CSE, so tell me what is Cache?

Me- Told.

M1- From today's process within the campus, tell me which process you felt like is
similar to how Cache works.
Me- Told. (Before being interviewed, I was called from the sitting hall, was asked to
sit and wait outside before meeting the interview panel, so that's how I believe Cache
works with data.)

M1- Perfect. No questions from my side.

M2- What are your hobbies?

Me- Teaching, Watching and following football, Travelling new places.

M2- So what have you done for your hobbies ? You said you like teaching so did you
teach anyone?

Me- Told them why I started it, why I like it and also taught in NGO to reach out to
children for the purpose of teaching.

M2- Which age group you used to teach and why so?

Me- Told.

M3- So you want to be a Business educator?

Me- Told them and concluded by explaining why teaching is my personal choice and
MBA a professional one. Which I would prefer on weekends rather than on weekdays.

M3- So you just want a hike in your salary?

Me- Told why MBA. Told them that hike in salary can be achieved by switching but
hike in knowledge, skills network etc can be achieved by an MBA. How my manager
and I are different when it comes to management.

M3- So the task of a manager is to just generate the revenue?

Me- Told them how it's just one of the aspect and what are the varied roles and task
of a manager.

M3- So which one you will prefer Revenue or Profit maximization. Gave me a
scenario where Revenue is increasing but as Cost is high so profit remains same on
the other hand, Revenue is low Cost is low so Profit is high. So what I being a
manager will choose?

Me- Told.

M3- (Looks satisfied with my view) Okay, no questions from my side now. Anyone
else?
M1- Mention one economic or latest happening on which you are having keen
interest one?

Me- Asked for re-clarification and was explained by them. In my CV form I wrote
about e-commerce FDI bill but speaking on the same would show that I am telling a
mugged up topic so instead told about the rise of Chinese power and growth-
OBOR, String Of Pearls, Polar Road, Greenland issue, Mercantile Policy, how China
wants to displace the US Dollar from the most traded currency, Debt Trap policy and
how Trade war is just one aspect of this tension between two powers, US and China.

M3- So what is tariff?

Me- Told about the charges on import and export (Export was a slip of tongue in the
flow, Shit.)

M3- Exports too?

Me- No Sir, being US if I am implying tariff then it will be on US imports or we can

say Chinese exports.

M3- Done.

All- Thank You.

Me- Wished them.

Verdict- Converted IIFT K.

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x
ate: 12.02.2019, Afternoon Slot

Centre: Mumbai

Background: Assam Board 10th: 85%; 12th: 86.8%; Btech in Mechanical from NIT
Silchar, CGPA: 8.14; IIFT: 99.55 percentile (GEM)

Workex: 3.5 years in BPCL

They divided us in 5 groups of 12 each. The group will be for all the process i.e. WAT,
GD, PI. The sequence in the group will be the sequence in PI.

First was WAT for 20 minutes

Topic: Failures- stepping stone or stumbling block

After 10 minutes break, GD in the same room

Topic: Are days of US dominance over?

1 min was given to each to speak briefly about the topic, after that the floor was
open for 15 minutes. One in the group spoke less and so he was asked to summarize
the discussion.

Personal Interview: most of the PIs went for 10 - 15 minutes max.

The panel was chilled as replied by others who came out of interview. 2 Males (M1
asked most of the questions and M2 was soft spoken) and 1 Female (F1)

As i entered the room, was asked to sign in the sheet with list of names of
interviewee infront as it was for attendance purpose.

M1: Introduce yourself.

me: (well prepared answer along with my achievements, i also mentioned that i was
state topper in statistics in class 12)

M1: So, your are comfortably placed in BPCL?

me: (didnt quite understand what he exactly meant by comfortably but i nodded my
head) Yes.

M1: What is the usual promotion tenure in BPCL?

me: 3–5 years and sometimes more than 5 even.

M1: So why do you want to do MBA? You want to work in private sector?
me: Yes, not an issue.

M1: Ok, so you want to climb up the corporate ladder as quickly as possible.

me: (didn’t understand that if he was answering why MBA on my behalf) Yes,
obviously. (i was a bit confused if i should add any extra sentences but kept quiet)

M2: So you know right, India is moving from Euro 4 to Euro 6? Is it wise to skip
Euro 5 and directly go to Euro 6?

me: (answered well and mentioned that India was already lagging behind most of the
developed countries in terms of implementation and yes it is a very good step to
directly move to BS 6, BPCL has already introduced BS 6 fuels in Delhi-NCR region
but also now the auto manufacturers has to come up with BS 6 fitted engines)

M2: So you worked in sales and marketing, So SPEED fuel is BPCL product?

me: Yes

M2: What are its benefits? If i am a customer how will you sell SPEED to me?

me: (i was in the sales and marketing of Lubricants and not Retail, but still started
talking about mileage)

M2: I don’t understand those, i am a layman, tell in layman’s terms.

me: (tried telling how it will increase the mileage and to use speed for at least a
month and top up with speed only and how he will understand the difference, he
didn’t seem fully impressed but somewhat convinced)

M1: What is the difference between BS 4 and BS 6 fuels?

me: Told about the lowering of Sulfur from 50ppm to 10ppm.

M1: What are the types of particulate matters that comes out through exhaust?

me: (was confused as i read about NOx, HCs, CO and Particulate matters but not in
detail about particulate matter)

M1: (He started answering) methane, PM2, PM5, PM20.

me: (i added) NOx and CO.

M1: What is methane chemical formula?

me: CH4

M1: Other name of methane?

me: (confused) i didn’t know

M1: Methane Gas.

M1: what do you mean by cc in vehicle.

me: i told them the volume of cylinder and how more cc means more power.

M1: What is the minimum cc for SUV vehicles?

me: (confused) i don’t exactly know the limit.

M1: 2000cc and above, we call SUV.

me: ok, but in India, we even call the newly introduced 1600cc vehicles also SUV.

M1: But the limit is 2000.

me: ok

F1: So, you know Quality Assurance?

me: i read in engineering but now not familiar with the theories.

F1: (so she asked me about some more subjects name which i haven’t studied in
engineering)

me: no ma’am, didn’t study those during my engineering.

F1: ok, so what is the difference between Mean deviation(MD) and standard
deviation(SD)?

me: i told them the formula to calculate both and how SD was more precise in
calculating deviation the MD.

F1: (didnt seem convinced with my answer) So if SD is 1.5, what will be the MD?

me: it can be any number, not sure what? (as there was no direct relation of MD and
SD)

F1: I asked all these as you mentioned that you achieved state highest marks.

me: (confused, as i read that 8 years ago)

F1: what do understand by 6 sigma?

me: (told them)

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Date: 12 Feb 2019

Venue: Chennai

X - 91.2%(CBSE)

XII - 87%(MP Board)

UG - 88.4% B.Tech.(Mechanical), IIT Gandhinagar

Work Experience - 18 Months, Digital Analytics, Cognizant Technology Services

WAT Topic:

Don’t exactly remember, but it was an abstract topic related to happiness.

GD Topic:

Is US still the world superpower or China overtook it?

A good topic for the candidates. A panel of 8 were given 1 minute each to put their
introductory points and the table was open for next 12 minutes for discussion. 2 of
the panel members were grabbing every minute of discussion and were also
interrupting others in between (too annoying, almost made a fish market situation). I
got chance to jump in 3 times and put my points. A girl who spoke the least was
given the chance to conclude.

Interview:

PI (3 Panel members, M1 M2 & M3. M1 an M2 were professors and M3 was an

alumnus)

Me - Good Afternoon greets.

M1 - So tell me about yourself, Shubham.

Me - (Well versed and rehearsed answer.)

M1 - What is digital analytics?

Me - Gave well prepared answer.

M1 - So you work in the field of digital analytics, do you know about analog
analytics?

Me- (I haven’t heard of this term all my life) Sir, I work in this field for almost 2 years,
I never worked or heard about this term in these years. Maybe this is some budding
technology or name of some company. (Later turned out that it was just a company’s
name. (Haash))

M1 -(Chuckled). What is the difference between Data analytics and the work you do?

Me - Gave well prepared answer.

M1 - Tell me the difference between Adwords and Adsense.

Me - (I knew the definitions and what they were used for, I was just not sure which
one is what i. e. Confusion in names). Gave the answer and admitted that I am
confused with the terms.

M2 - You said something about stand up comedy in your intro. What is stand up
comedy?

Me- Sir, It is a comic style in which comedian performs in front of live audiences. In
the last 5–6 years, this industry saw a huge rise and now it is very popular in
metropolitan and tier-1 cities. I myself did open mics for 4–5 months in Chennai
circuit and it was a great experience. Style of comedy is really changed in these years
and it is no more just about funny acting or mimicry. Comedians now are more
focused on engaging people with them and doing sets based on experiences that
they can link with the audiences. (Gave some example of laughter challenge and
current comedy sets, explained how this changed happened, why laughter challenge
2 was a failure).

M2 - Why you don’t want to continue your journey in stand up comedy?

Me - Sir, I basically come from Hindi native and doing comedy in English was not
easy for me. Chennai audience have very less appeal for Hindi sets and I was facing
some difficulties in open mics. Response from fellow comics were good , they were
really encouraging me to keep trying but in stand up comedy, your result is sitting in
front of you, your audiences. I can see from their reactions that I am not doing very
well in Chennai circuit. Nevertheless, the best part of stand up comedy is that there is
no age restrictions. You will find a 20 years old comic performing next to a 50 year
old guy.

( I was expecting a why MBA question, but they didn’t ask)

M2 - Who are your favorite comedians?

Me- Trevor Noah, Zakir Khan and Biswa Kalyan Rath. Moreover their content, there is
magic in their expressions and acting which just makes the set awesome.

M3 - Name five upcoming technologies that can changed the world.

Me - Told them about IoT, Blockchain, Nano solar cells, VR and Industry 4.0. with
examples and applications.

M3 - Tell me something about SEO?

Me - (I haven’t worked on this but knew a bit about search engine optimization). I
told them whatever I knew and M3 even helped me to get to the points.

M3 - Ok, we are done. You may go now!!

Me - Thank you Sir, It was a very good experience interacting with you!!

(Interview lasted only for 9-10 minutes and it was expected since I was the 3rd last
candidate for the day)

I was very nervous because I haven’t prepared much for the acad related questions
and Venezuela crisis was the hot topic for that day ( I just prepared that at the last
moment, so was not very confident). Hopefully, nothing was asked from acads and
general awareness. I was not very confident, since panel didn’t ask any question
related to MBA or about the general awareness. A decent WAT and GD were my only
hopes.

Verdict: Converted :)

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IIFT Interview -2018

Venue: IIFT – Kolkata Campus

Date: 20th February, 2018

The process consisted of a Written Ability Test, Group Discussion and finally, a
personal interview.

WAT Topic: Snapdeap and Flipkart merger: What it holds for the Indian Ecommerce
industry ( something on this line)

We were given 15–20 minutes to write on the topic. Mostly wrote on how both have
separate target customer base. The merger would help addressing both the
segments. The combined resources would also help tackling their most formidable
competitor Amazon. etc.

Group Discussion:

A group of around 12 students were seated in a large room.

2 Panelists. They informed us about the topic and the rules. Each candidate got 1 min
to talk about the topic and then the floor was thrown open for discussion.

Topic: Mirror, mirror on the wall, my Instagram is the fairest of them all.

I was the first one to start. Spoke for 1 min. Once everyone was done, and the panel
signaled the floor is open, 2/3 people started on top of their voices. That was it, the
rest was a fish market GD, with a few talking among themselves and a few
maintaining absolute silence. The discussion mostly revolved around the positive and
negative effects of social media, digressing from the given topic. Once the GD was
over the panelists asked them to comment. It took around 30 minutes for the
process.

Personal Interview:

I was the first person for my group to go for the interview.

The interview panel consisted of 3 male panellists.

M1 – Indifferent face, M2 – a face with a broad mile, M3 - Interested face

M1: Good Morning Tirtha, can you tell us something about yourself?

Me: I had prepared a two minute answer covering my education, work, hobbies and
interests. Told them that. ( I suggest you do one too, right at the beginning of the GD PI
process of all institutes, would really come handy prior to every interview you attend. )
M1: Tell us about your work

Me: told them.

M2: So, three organizations in 5 years ( yes you read that right), why?

Me: Answered

M1: So why do you want to do an MBA now?

Me: told them.

M2: So how are these organizations different from each other? And post MBA which
one would you like to work for among the three?

Me: told them.

[Background before the next question: there was a question in the form- Describe
any national/ global event in the last 6 months that you think is going to have a long
term impact in the world of business. I mentioned recapitalisation of nationalised
banks and its positive effect. To my dismay, the Nirav Modi scam happened just 2
days prior to my interview, totally nullifying my answer.]

M3 : ( after going through my interview form) So you have mentioned that

recapitalization of banks would have a positive effect. What would you say now?

Me: I had to say how that decision was bad and what all should actually be done to
solve the problem of bad loans ( I am no finance genius, just my take from the little
understanding I had).

M2: So you mentioned Big Data ( I mentioned in one of my answers). How can we
use that to solve the problem?

Me: Explained how financial transactions are very large in number and the existing
systems are not equipped enough to handle the large volume, leave alone integrate it
into one centralized system. How big data can help study patterns, learn about
defaulters, credit scores across financial institutions and help banks make a more
informed decision prior to lending.

M1: I guess that will be all. Thank you Tirtha. All the best!

I thanked them and left.

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IIFT interview experience - 2018

Date: 23-Feb-2018

Time: 8:50am (Morning slot)

Venue: IIFT Campus, New Delhi

The entire process was divided into three parts- Written Ability Test (WAT), Group
Discussion (GD) and then, Personal Interview (PI). All these three parts are conducted
on the same day.

Part A: WAT

Topic: When leaders fail to listen, they are surrounded by people who have nothing
to say.

Time: 20 minutes

Word limit: 300words

Part B: GD

Topic: Is India becoming a refugee hub?

GD Process: 12 members in each group. Each of us was given about a minute to

express our individual views, post which the house was open for a GD. The total time
for the process was 20-25 minutes, so effectively, 12-15 minutes for the GD.

The group discussed refugees vs immigrants, Rohingya problem, refugees becoming

vote banks by getting fake ids, whether they are a threat to our security, whether
they are fostering terrorism were the key highlights.

Part C: PI

Experience
(I was third in my group. Half an hour after the GD, I was called for the interview. The
bell rang from inside the room, which was my indication to go in.)

I went inside, after taking permission. Greeted them on entering.

Panel Description: 4 people on my panel- 3 males(M1,M2,M3) & 1 female(F1). All

four were the professors, middle-aged.

M1: Tell us something about yourself.

(Told about my college, school, internship, co-curriculars and extra-curriculars.)

M1: So, you have won medals in swimming as well. How long did you practice? What
about the diet a swimmer takes? Which stroke in swimming? (Answered)

M2: Practising swimming must have taken a toll on your academics?

Me: No sir. It is all about time management and a personal choice on how well you
manage time. I used to utilise the evening remedial class time & time just after dinner
for my self-studies. Morning swimming practie and an hour in the evening sufficed.
Along with that, I had a well-planned schedule, which helped me balance both-
swimming & academics, without impacting any of them.

M2: Okay. Were you offered a job in campus placement?

Me: Yes sir. In Deloitte - cyber risk advisory profile. And I am currently undergoing
internship there as a part of my last semester training.

M2: But then, you should join Deloitte and not do MBA now, as you will get experience.

Me: Sir, they were offering us job from June. I insisted my HR to offer us internship in
my last semester. This way, I knew , I would have a good 4-5 months of experience and
a glimpse of corporate world, that would benefit me if I go for my MBA this year.

M2: What are your views on digitalization? How is it impacting you?

(Talked about efficiency in process, bureaucracy in India problem, also talked about
the recent UP Investors meet held in Lucknow, concluded yesterday- CM Yogi
mentioned that UP became the first state to clear all business procedures &
documents through digital media.)

M2: Why is there a buzz about automation? Why does digitalization and automation
go hand in hand?

Me: Sir, digitalization and automation are two different process and they do not go
hand in hand always.
M2: (interrupts) Kindly elaborate.

Me: Some 2 centuries ago, with the onset of Industrial Revolution, machines were
responsible for automating tasks & processes. That did not involve digitalization.

In this digital world, AI has become the talk of the town. This involves automation of
process by simulating human intelligence and augmenting our abilities. Since it works
on softwares & algorithms like Machine learning - in a digital medium, it incorporates
digitalization and automation as well.

M1: Any news that you read on AI.

Me: In the budget 2018, revenues have been allocated for the first time to create a
roadmap for National Program for AI, proposed by Niti Aayog. This will help open up
research institutes and would a step to incorporate AI in the public sector as well.

F1: Did you also appear for the CAT? Which calls do you have? (Told) Okay, what was
your percentile in IIFT? (Told)

M1: That's all for the day. Thankyou.

Me: Thankyou sir. Thankyou ma'am. (And then, I left).

NOTE:

• The duration of my interview was about 15 minutes.

• The panelist M3 did not ask anything.
• Each of the panelists had the long questionnaire with our answers we had
filled during the part-2 of form filling.
• The panelists were calm and seemed friendly.
• The response to "Tell me about yourself" guided the entire course of the
interview. No questions from unknown territory were asked.

VERDICT: Converted IIFT-Delhi