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www.advancedge.com Editor-in-Chief Kamlesh Sajnani
How did you fare in the CAT? Did you do as well as you’d hoped? Or perhaps that admit to your dream B-school looks slightly farther than you planned?
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For those who belong in the first bracket, my congratulations. You’ve done well, your focus has been on clearing the GD-WAT-PI rounds, and you should be on your way. For everyone else, I have a difficult question to ask. Did you hedge your risk? Because that’s one of the first things a budding manager — indeed, anyone who aspires to become a leader of men — must do. As you know, keeping all your eggs in one basket is quite a big folly. There are a few steps you could have taken to ensure you wouldn’t be up the creek without a paddle. If you’ve already taken tests apart from the CAT, such as the XAT, NMAT, SNAP, etc, you can certainly have a definitive backup option. In case you didn’t, and if you’re still determined to start your MBA journey without losing a year, you do have some alternatives to consider. You will find out what they are in this issue of Advanc’edge MBA. The inimitable Shiv Khera too has a few words of advice for you, mostly drawn from his own vast experience. In an interview with Advanc’edge MBA, Mr Khera shares his thoughts on what success actually is, and how your actions and attitude affect the attainment of that success.
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Contributors Dr Suresh Srinivasan
Finally, this is the time that the Corporate World section of this magazine becomes vital from the GD-WAT-PI standpoint. You will surely have gone through the section in your previous issues of Advanc’edge MBA, but just in case you didn’t, do so now. Reading all the issues you’ve got till now will give you a good grip on current affairs, especially from the analytical point of view, which means you won’t be left faltering at the altar, so to speak. I wish you the very best.
Write to the editor at: editor@advancedge.com Websites: www.advancedge.com, www.imsindia.com www.facebook.com/advancedgeMBA
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Aditya Prakash Iengar Editor
CONTENTS 06 10
COVER STORY Alternatives to CAT 2016
MBA BUZZ Post CAT prep: Giving your best in the PI round
February 2017
CORPORATE WORLD
25 Budget forecast:
Populist or pro-investment?
A boon for 28 Demonetisation: financial technology Hits and misses:
31 Report after 3 years of NDA rule 12
COUNTDOWN Future-Proofing yourself: Top jobs that require upgrades
14
SUCCESS STREET
18
Top 10 words of advice for would-be entrepreneurs
20
SNIPPETS
Stay positive, and you will find success
STUDY HOUR
36 Test Q&As
Dose: 38 Word The making of an agnostic
40 Globescan 42 SuDoKu
News in brief
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Alternatives to CAT 2016 Now that the CAT results are out, many of you must be heart-broken for having failed to score as per your expectations. But don’t give up hope since all is not lost. In this article, we explore other options that you might want to look at. The Advanc’edge Team
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AT 2016 results are finally out! Well, time for many of you to rejoice if you have scored better than your expectations. You will also be happy if you have gotten what you had expected from the CAT result. And then there are many of you who have fared much lower than your expectation. In this article, we discuss the other options open for you in case you have failed to crack the CAT. So, in case you feel that your CAT scores are not that great and you might not get admission into your dream B-school, you can explore these three different paths.
Option 1: Retake the CAT
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The first and foremost option is the most obvious. Wait for another year, prepare again, plug all the gaps that you feel still remain, and take the CAT again in 2017.
If you think this doesn’t seem like the ideal option, think again. In this one year, you can actually increase your chances of getting an admission into your dream business school. For freshers, the best course of action is to start working somewhere, preferably in the field in which they would want to specialise. This means that when you’re taking the CAT next year, not only do you know more about your preferred choice of field and career, you’re more confident, and, of course, you have a year’s worth of work experience. This adds a lot of weight to your profile, as the selection process at all the institutes includes a weightage for work experience. For those already working, use this additional year to plug your gaps, as mentioned before, and do something that adds to your
One of the options you have in front of you is to retake the CAT, and try for a better performance next time. Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
profile. Get involved in community service, start a serious hobby that you can build into a passion, learn a language, get an additional certification. Think of this extra year as a gift you can use to make sure you crack the CAT next year.
Option 2: Other tests Then there are the other tests, of course. If you’ve already registered for and taken the SNAP, NMAT, TISS, XAT, etc, you have already covered your bases. A good score in any one of these tests will ensure that you are halfway to a good business school. Even if you hadn’t registered for these tests, there are lots more to do. To start off, take tests like the MH-CET. This test is the entrance exam to some top business schools in Maharashtra, including names like Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, etc. Similarly, the other state specific tests are TANCET (Tamil Nadu), ICET (Andhra Pradesh), PGCET or KMAT (Karnataka), etc. You can also choose to get enrolled in niche programmes like the Business Analytics programme at Praxis Business School, Kolkata. Given that Data Analytics is becoming one of the most important aspects of an organisation’s functioning, the demand for quality business
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analysts is growing, and Business Analytics programmes offer a highly successful career option.
Option 3: Explore international education
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Finally, the third option is to explore getting an MBA degree from an international university. Naturally, this has its own advantages and disadvantages, but it is certainly a viable option, especially if there are programmes that begin in 2016, which means that you don’t miss out on a year at all. To pursue an international MBA programme, you will need to write the GMAT. Reportedly, the GMAT is easier than the CAT, which is said to be the toughest MBA entrance exam. The advantage of GMAT is that it can be taken anytime during the year, which means you can prepare for it and take the test when you’re most confident. So you can always prepare for both the GMAT, as well as to retake the CAT in 2017. One of the best takeaways from studying at an international university is the kind of peers you get to meet. With a class that is comprised of students from 10 or 11 different countries and faculty from across the world, the learning experience is almost unparalleled when you consider the exposure you get. So, at global MBA programmes, since there are individuals of so many different nationalities in one class, students end up learning not only from their professors but also from their classmates.
One of the alternatives many aspirants don’t explore is international education, through the GMAT® or GRE®. Today, European universities top most of the lists, with European business schools having the seven highest 5-year MBA gains in the world. For instance, at IMD (Switzerland), students have earned US$2,11,000 five years out of school after arriving in Lausanne, Switzerland with a median salary of US$84,000. This equates to almost three times the pre-MBA salary! Moreover, graduating students are placed in companies across the world, which leads to even more exposure in terms of culture, markets and workforce. This also means that the students get access to a large network of alumni who are working in companies across the world. Another advantage of an international MBA is that except in the US, most programmes are a one-year or 15-month course. This means that students don’t have to invest two full years to get
There are many roads to success. You have to choose the one that fits your aspirations. Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
their MBA and get a career boost. In fact, one-year programmes are also slowly becoming popular in the US, as business schools look to offer an alternative to students who don’t want to be out of the workforce for two years. MiM programmes Finally, there are also Masters in Management (MiM) programmes offered in institutes across the world. MiM programmes are designed for people in the early stages of their career – right after their undergraduate degree or after about a year on the job. Most business schools do not even require or ask mandatorily for professional experience for their MiM programmes. The programme is mainly targeted at candidates with non-business related undergraduate degrees such as in Humanities, Science, Arts or Engineering, and at those with a background in business studies. The length of MiM programmes are also usually just a year, and include a compulsory internship. As for tuition fees, MiM programmes are cheaper than MBA programmes. While tuition fees at the most expensive full-time MBA programmes can reach as high as €70,000, the most expensive MiM programmes cost only around half of that. The primary disadvantage for most Indian students is the cost involved in getting an MBA from an international business school. However, that disadvantage too is slowly fading, as more and more institutes have started offering scholarships that can go as high as even the full course fees. Apart from this, getting loans for studying at an international institute is far easier today than ever before; this adds to the affordability of these international programmes. A
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Post CAT prep: Giving your best in the PI round Now that you’re done with the CAT, the next big challenge is certainly going to be the Personal Interview round. There are many ways in which you can ensure that you sail through this round with flying colours. Here are a few of them. The Advanc’edge Team
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thorough reading of the current economic and corporate scenario along with strong analytical skills can help you create the required good first impression to the interviewers at the Personal Interview round. As the saying goes; ‘you get a chance to make a first-impression only once’….and that should not be missed. The Personal Interview is a remarkable platform to create that sought-after ‘first impression’. To achieve this, one just can wish it happens that way. One has to work for it. This is absolutely possible if one systematically
works towards making the first impression perfectly immaculate. How can one be prepared for this? Proactive preparation ahead of the personal interview is the only solution.
Introduction phase A typical ‘business school’ interview starts with a question, which can be something like… ‘tell us about yourself’. The panel expects a crisp ‘elevator pitch’ type of answer for 60 seconds, briefly touching upon one’s academic and other personal achievements and areas of interest. Such a question is a great
You must systematically work towards making the first impression a perfectly immaculate one. opportunity for the candidate as it serves as a tool to steer the interview panel towards an area where one is well prepared. Remember, the key words or the things the candidate uses or does during introduction, will have a major impact on how the interview shapes up over the next 15 minutes or so.
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Steering towards comfortable domain
Here are a few aspects that will help you deliver a powerful performance in your personal interview. Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
a
While responding to such a question, after providing some brief personal details (which anyway is available as a part of your CV with the panel) make a statement like “I regularly keep track of some of my favourite companies and the strategies
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If you make relevant, intelligent statements, you are likely to be in control of a large part of the conversation. Brushing up your business GK There is no better way than preparing on certain companies and industries that are your favourites. Pick up a few industries (telecom, FMCG, ITES, etc.) and choose at least one company in each of these industries. Read thoroughly about them, understand them, look up for the current major issues in these industries, how these companies are performing and how their competitors are reacting. Such preparation will place you well for the discussions you need to hold on to in the personal interview. Reading the ‘Business Section’ in Advanc’edge magazine will help
More often than not, you will face a panel of more than one interviewer. Remember to keep your cool.
you as a starting point which you can develop further through regular reading of a business daily, tracking such companies and industries until the date of the personal interview. Being familiar with emerging industries like e-Commerce and internet based aggregators (like Ola, Uber, etc.) will be useful. You will be considered to be keeping track of latest developments in emerging industries.
Demonstrating capability
analytical
Demonstrating analytical capability in the personal interview is another area that is extremely important. Say, five areas where you can focus are detailed below. These can be used along somewhere with many of the questions that come along in the personal interview: Familiarising with India’s population is important, for example India’s overall population is 1.2 crores. Then keep a note of the number of people who are above poverty line. Make yourself familiar with the literacy level of the nation along with the economic status and per capita income. It is also essential to know the household income and spending patterns of the Indians. National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) reports are very useful and will help you in this front. Additionally, make yourself familiar with areas of retail market in India: its size, players, growth potential, etc, telecom/ broadband/ mobile/ Internet penetration and India market capitalisation, top 30 Indian companies and many other such topics. These will help you in anchoring your conversation on solid analytical logic. All the very best! A
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they pursue…” This could be an open ended statement and in effect the candidate is steering the interviewer towards an area on which the candidate has clearly done a detailed work and is well-prepared and rehearsed. When you make relevant statements like these, it is highly probable that the members of the panel will dwell deeper into such statements and possibly move to the next question something like this…. “OK…tell us something about one of your favourite companies and what strategies you figured out that they have been following…?” So, if you have proactively prepared some detailed analysis on a company like say, ITC or Infosys, you are much better off for constructively holding on to at least 20% to 25% of the interview time by laying down a clear analysis with suitable examples. Of course there could be some dynamism and everything is not likely to be exactly like the way you planned; but, predominantly you are likely to be in control of a large part of the conversation that is likely to follow.
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STUDY HOUR ANDHRA SUCCESS PRADESH STREET
Stay positive, and you will find success ... feels SHIV KHERA. In a conversation with Alolika Banerjee, the world renowned author, business consultant and entrepreneur talks about the many times in life when our own negative attitude becomes the biggest problem and how to battle that biggest challenge. Q. You are an inspiration to millions. But if we were to ask you about any person who has had a lasting impact on you, who would that be? I’d name three persons who have had lasting impacts on my life. To begin with, it has to be my mother. She was a very loving person, as well as a strict disciplinarian. Early on in life, she made it very clear that we are responsible for our own behaviour and actions. We’ve heard many self-success stories, but have we ever heard of a selfmade failure? No! That’s because those who fail don’t accept responsibility. They always blame something or someone else. My mother taught me accepting responsibility is the first step towards progress. The second person who has had a major contribution in my life is Dr Norman Wisent Peale. After attending his programme, I started accepting the problems of life. I learnt that a problem is, after all, a sign of life. As long as we are alive, we shall have problems. The day we don’t have any, we’d be dead. Dr Peale said, “We cannot solve all our problems, but we can handle them.” Often, our own negative attitude becomes our biggest problem. Finally, the life histories of the ten Sikh Gurus have had a lasting impact on me. Each Guru was a role model of integrity. They taught that to live with dignity, integrity alone is not enough. One needs courage to stand up for integrity. Their message was very clear – oppressing others is evil, letting others oppress you is a bigger evil.
Q. You have had a varied life so far, from a car washer in Canada to a world-renowned writer. How has the journey been so far?
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Oh, the journey has been a rollercoaster ride! Every twist and turn was a learning experience. Every ‘up’ taught me gratitude; every ‘down’ was humbling.
Q. Shiv Khera to the world is a confident man, who has the solution to everyone’s every problem. But does anything bother him? Can we get a glimpse of the person who he really is? Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
First of all, let me set the record straight. Nobody has solutions to all problems. Everybody has problems, and all of us make mistakes. If you know someone who hasn’t made a mistake, that’s someone who has never actually achieved anything in life. There are a lot of things that bother me — not putting 200% of my effort in anything that I do, not keeping commitments, watching our country being destroyed by corrupt politicians, seeing evil and remaining silent — all of this bothers me, and more. But then I have learnt how to overcome them with four magic words, “This too shall pass.” Both success and failures are not permanent. Either way, they will soon be a thing of the past.
Q. What is the most important decision that you have taken so far in your life? Getting into a career of selling life insurance (though it wasn’t a conscious decision) was turned out to be one of the most important decisions of my life. Selling is a rejection business. It taught me that success is not measured by how high you go in life, but rather by how many times you bounce back when you fall down. The lesson I learnt most firmly was this: Don’t take rejections personally.
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GOLDEN WORDS FROM SHIV KHERA } Accepting responsibility is the first step
towards progress. } A person with a negative attitude can’t be helped. A person with a positive attitude can’t be stopped. } All of us make mistakes. If you’ve not made any, you’ve not achieved anything in life. } Success is measured by how many times you bounce back after you fail. } Selling is a rejection business. Don’t take rejection personally. } A good leader will have three skills: People skills, persuasion skills and prioritising skills. } Success means leaving the world a little better than you found it. } Success is not one single destination, but a journey of destinations.
Q. Why do you think today’s generation, despite multi-fold advancement in technology, is more vulnerable than previous generations and so much more in need of motivational leaders in life? Every generation has had a need for good motivational leaders. And I believe today’s generation doesn’t see many good role models in front of them. Unfortunately, with nuclear families and both parents working, children often don’t get proper guidance and are left to fend for themselves. That’s why the need for good leadership becomes stronger than ever. Another difference is that today’s generation is more focused on skill development, rather than self development.
Q. There is a saying that intelligent people fail to be truly happy. Do you believe this?
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Let’s understand. What is intelligence? It is a measure of how quickly one can learn, that’s all. Is intelligence a measure of judgement? Probably not! Somebody might be highly intelligent but have very poor judgement. And happiness is the result of our judgements and decisions in life. So being intelligent may not necessarily be a formula for happiness.
Q. What are the most important qualities that you feel every leader should possess? A good leader needs to have integrity. Along with that, they must also necessarily be responsible, courageous, with pleasing personality and superb communication
Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
skills. I feel a leader becomes a great one when they know how best to be a team bu ilder and team player. If I had to talk in terms of skills, then a leader must have three skill sets to shine in life: People skills, persuasion skills and prioritising skills.
Q. Looking back, do you regret taking any decision in life? Yes, I have taken a few wrong decisions, and if I could turn back time, I wouldn’t repeat them. But do I regret them? The answer is no, because regret is a negative word. It brings out guilt and resentment. The only thing one can do is learn from the past, prepare for the future and live in the present.
Q. How would you define success? To me, success is leaving the world a little better than you found it. Living a meaningful life amounts to success. Success is not a destination, it is a journey. You go along on that journey, from one destination to another, and then another and then another…. That’s success.
Q. You motivate the world. What motivates you? Historically, the greatest motivator anywhere in the world has always been ‘belief’. People will do a lot for money, they will do more for a good leader and they will do the most for belief. I am no different. I believe in what I do. That’s what motivates me.
Q. What is the most important or interesting project that you have been involved in so far? The most important mission that I got involved in was when I got involved politically with the sole objective of cleaning up the mess and creating a brighter future for the coming generation. My most interesting project is writing an international bestselling book.
Q. Why do you think management education is necessary in today’s times? I think the question is more about whether management education was ever unnecessary at all! When we don’t manage properly, by default, we mismanage! And the cost of mismanagement can be very high. Hence it is a lot smarter to learn management education by design and not by default.
Q. Your words of advice for the readers of this magazine... I’ll leave you with the three crucial lessons life has taught me, which I call the cardinal rules to success: There is no substitute to hard work. Integrity and values are not negotiable. And always remember to put in the extra effort even when it hurts. A
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News in brief
Here are some interesting titbits from over the last month
Maruti doubles its production in 2016 than that of its Japanese parent Maruti Suzuki will end the year producing almost double the number of vehicles in India (15.2-15.5 lakh passenger vehicles) than parent Suzuki Motor Corp in its home market of Japan (7.657.75 lakh). Maruti’s remarkable performance in India underlines the increasing importance of this country for Suzuki at a time when it is facing a sluggish market in Japan — its production at home shrank for 21 straight months. Investors have noticed the growing divergence in performance and driven up Maruti’s market value beyond that of the parent, which owns 56% of the Indian unit.
ONGC to pay over USD 1.2 billion for GSPC buy State-run ONGC will pay over USD 1.2 billion for buying debt-laden GSPC’s entire 80 per cent stake in KG-basin natural gas block, which is struggling to start commercial production despite trial outputs starting nearly two-and-half years back. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will pay USD 995.26 million for the three discoveries in the KGOSN-2001/3 block that are under trial production since August 2014. Another USD 200 million will be paid as advance consideration of six other discoveries, for which GSPC has been finalising an investment plan from bringing them to production.
HUL all set to launch its Ayurvedic personal care products Hindustan Unilever, India’s largest consumer goods company, is launching a raft of Ayurvedic personal care products that is aimed at the product portfolio of Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali. Patanjali has become a Rs 5,000-crore company within a decade. Although still small compared with HUL’s Rs 30,000 crore plus revenue, Baba Ramdev’s company has caught the attention of all fast-moving consumer goods giants. The yoga guru-turned-FMCG player has made quite many ambitious moves. In April this year, he had said Patanjali can beat multinational giants such as Unilever (HUL’s parent), Colgate and Nestle.
Nature’s Basket will cater to its NCR market through ecommerce platforms Godrej Nature’s Basket is all set to cater to its NCR market through ecommerce platforms such as Snapdeal and Amazon and as a result of which will be shutting all of its eight stores in the National Capital Region. Two stores in the region have already stopped operations, the other outlets will follow suit in the coming weeks. The premium food retail arm of the Godrej group had also acquired online grocery platform Ekstop-.com in early 2015 to tap the online demand for such products. It also has a mobile based app.
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India overtakes US in mobile developer courses search: Google
India has overtaken the US this year in terms of online search for courses preparing people for mobile app development, tech giant Google has announced. This finding has sure helped make India become the world’s largest base of developers. Search queries on mobile development courses from India saw 200 per cent y-o-y growth in the last two years with Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra leading with bulk of queries from India. Google had previously said that India, which has about one million people working on solutions for the Android mobile platform, is poised to become home to about 4 million developers by 2018.
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India to provide an additional 80MW power supply to Nepal
Irked by bad service at restaurants? Don’t pay service charge
From the beginning of this year, India will start an extra 80MW power supply to Nepal from January 1, 2017, through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said. Nepal currently imports 80MW of electricity through the transmission line and with the additional import, the quantum will reach 160MW, The Kathmandu Post reported. During his recent visit to India, Energy Minister Janardan Sharma had held discussions with Union Power Minster Piyush Goyal, requesting to arrange additional power to Nepal, the embassy’s statement said.
The Centre has reiterated on January 2 that customers who are not satisfied with service could choose not to pay the service charge levied by a hotel or restaurant. However, the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has issued a statement implying that customers were free not to eat at a restaurant if they did not wish to pay the service charge levied by it. The government had clarified earlier in Parliament that the authorities could act against those levying a service charge without the knowledge and consent of consumers on charges of indulging in ‘unfair trade practices’.
L&T chosen to convert Pune into a smart city
AirAsia comes under CBI scanner for fraudulent transaction scam
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has been chosen as the implementation partner to convert Pune into a smart city. The letter of intent (LoI) was handed over to representatives of L&T Construction’s Smart World and Communication business unit, which will be executing the project, by Municipal Commissioner of Pune, Kunal Kumar, the company said in a statement. The scope of work includes enabling Wi-Fi at 200 strategic locations across the city, setting up emergency call boxes and public address systems, environmental sensors, variable messaging displays, network connectivity and video analytics integration, the statement said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has started examining a case of foreign exchange violations against AirAsia India for fraudulent transactions of `22 crore involving non-existent entities in India and Singapore. Sources in the CBI said that they have not registered a preliminary enquiry or regular case (FIR) in the matter but they are looking into the matter to see if it calls for registering a criminal case. “We are scrutinising the AirAsia documents right now,” said the CBI officer. The issue was flagged by ousted chairman of Tata Sons Cyrus Mistry soon after he was replaced on October 24.
Death sentence for those defecating in the open in MP Meghnagar Nagar Panchayat in district Jhabua has threatened death for those found defecating in the open a week after sanitation workers hauled up a man and forced him to clean his shit with his own clothes in Ujjain. The hoarding read “agar karoge khulle mein shauch, to jaldi di jayegi maut” (If you defecate in the open, you will soon get death). The hoarding has Mahatma Gandhi’s photo holding a stick in his hand while the words ‘Swachh’ and ‘Bharat’ written in Hindi popping out from his spectacles that have been strategically placed above the death threat.
India’s largest bourse, the National Stock Exchange applied for its longawaited initial public offering on December 28th. However, on that very day, the NSE also stated that an independent agency had found potential instances that some brokers were given unfair access to its servers. The NSE said the agency had found certain employees may have been involved in providing that access, though it could not determine whether it constituted collusion. The exchange also said its trading systems may have been ‘prone to manipulation’, while noting that a lack of protocols on data retention meant that emails and information for some former employees were unavailable.
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NSE files for IPO, discloses potential trading violations
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December 2016 – Apple Cancer detection start-up Grail to raise $1 Store’s biggest sales billion in Series B funding month in history Early-stage cancer detection start-up Grail has said
Apple’s App Store had its biggest month of sales in the history of the store in December 2016, according to Phil Schiller, the company’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing. Schiller said that the App Store made $3 billion in revenue in December, from a combination of in-app purchases, paid downloads, and fees for subscriptions. He also said that the App Store, which was first launched in 2008, has ballooned to 2.2 million apps; and that app makers were paid out $20 billion dollars in 2016, up 40% from a year ago.
that it received indications from investors to raise a whopping $1billion in Series B funding. This puts Grail in the league of companies like Facebook, Uber and AirBnB. Grail intends to raise additional capital in the Series B financing and for this reason has engaged Goldman Sachs as a placement agent in connection with the contemplated additional financing. Started a year ago, Grail has been backed to the tune of $100 million by marquee investors like Bezos Expeditions, Bill Gates and others.
Freshers see 85% jump in `6 lakh-plus salary in 2016: Survey
Amazon.in’s seller base grew by 160% in 2016
The previous year saw a significant jump in pay package for freshers over 2015 and along with that the number of jobs, which offered with a salary package of over `6 lakh, also grew by 85%, says a survey. In a survey by job assessment firm Aspiring Minds, conducted by fresher jobs portal Myamcat. com, the range of salaries offered to the candidates (graduates with 0-2 years of experience) varied between `1-30 lakh per annum, while most number of salary offers were in the range of `2-3 lakh per annum.
Amazon.in’s seller base in 2016 grew by 160% from the previous year.Amazon.in till date has attracted over 1,40,000 sellers (160% year-onyear growth) across India to the marketplace, Amazon said in a statement. “2016 was a monumental year for Amazon India... Expansion of our seller services offerings and focus on seller enablement and seller capability building initiatives to enable more and more sellers to benefit from the digital economy and succeed online, was our core focus in 2016,” Gopal Pillai, Director & GM, Seller Services Amazon India said.
Around 2 million jobs for the telecom sector this year: Report The telecom sector is expected to create two million jobs this year, thanks to increased data penetration and entry of new service providers, according to a report compiled by Team Lease along with Telecom Sector Skill Council. The launch of new government initiatives like ‘Make in India’, the increasing thrust on mobile economy and the entry of new service providers will give this sector an added boost. “While the overall hiring will see a boost, the verticals that will drive the manpower requirement are handset makers (1.76 million) followed by the service providers (0.37 million),” said the report.
India’s employment scenario likely to take a beating between 2017 and 2018: Report India’s employment sector is likely to turn slightly bleaker this year, between 2017 and 2018, signalling stagnation in job creation in the country, according to a UN labour report. This UN report also finds economic growth trends lagging behind employment needs and predicts both rising unemployment and worsening social inequality throughout 2017. According to a similar report released by HR consultancy Manpower Group, more than a quarter of employers in India are expected to reduce their headcount on account of automation, which is expected to impact majority of companies worldwide.
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‘Beer yoga’ is slowing becoming a big thing lately ‘Beer yoga’ is becoming quite a popular thing these days. After being a hit with Berlin hipsters, it is now all set to impress the Australians for whom drinking beer is almost like a religion. Germany’s BierYoga on its website defines the art of beer yoga as the “marriage of two great loves – beer and yoga. Both are century-old therapies for mind, body and soul.” The beer yoga sessions will be help students to learn how to perform yoga poses while carrying out ‘beer salutations’ and even balancing beer bottles on one’s head.
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Budget forecast: Populist or pro-investment? Given the negativity surrounding the demonetisation drive, the government is expected to play it rather safe on February 1, 2017, when the finance minister presents the Budget for 2017-18. In this article, we work out what’s to expect. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
2017-18: What’s not to be Ideally, 2017-18 could have been an excellent year during which the government could have seen the positive impact of all their efforts fructify. It could have been a year where several reforms culminated in dramatic results, from foreign domestic investment and new aviation policies, to the enormous efforts that have gone into drafting the new land acquisition bill and the GST bill! It could have been a year for the government to have posted economic growth, job creation and superior investment inflow, all of which would have been certain indicators of a boost to the economy. Unfortunately, all of this will remain might-have-beens, since
the economic landscape has been negatively impacted due to the demonetisation effect.
The demonetisation effect That said, demonetisation, or the note ban, may be argued to have been an excellent initiative from an economic and social perspective. However, the move has proved to be a highly risky political move, and has suffered commensurate political blowback. So the government now has to bring in a number of compensatory initiatives that will mitigate the demonetisation effects and help it recover some political mileage! Hence, the drag on the government
due to the demonetisation factor and the subsequent recovery will certainly show up in the upcoming budget.
Budget 2017 This budget is also unique from a couple of other perspectives. The budget is expected to be presented on February 1, 2017, whereas the traditional practice has been to present the budget on the last working day of February. Another departure from traditional practice is to merge the Railway Budget with the Union Budget; the former used to be presented separately. There is unlikely to be any change in the process of preparing
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he first three years have seen the current NDA government and the prime minister flush with sloganeering and brand building, all of which have significantly boosted India’s visibility in the international community. Concepts like Make in India, Swatch Bharat, Start-up India, Skilling India have all had their share of positive impact on the international investor community. However, the time has come when we have to move on to actual execution and bring about changes on ground.
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the Railway Budget. The deficit or surplus from the Railway Budget traditionally used to close into the Union Budget; from this year on, it will very much be a part of the Union Budget. This eliminates the requirement of two separate bills and hence, saves the time of the bureaucracy.
Fall in economic growth The economy has slowed down significantly after the demonetisation drive. The impact of demonetisation has been huge on the small and medium sized organisations, which contribute close to half of India’s economic output. More importantly, these SMEs employ around 25% of the workforce. Many factories were closed for days following demonetisation. The gross domestic product (GDP) for 2016-17 is likely to drop below 7%, against the earlier forecast of 7.6%. This has to be recouped, and the government has to demonstrate a high growth in the year 2017-18. It needs to be seen how the government will manage this daunting task.
Consumption took a hit The drive virtually stalled the
economy, with consumer demand exhibiting a sharp dip. These include close to a 20% fall in automobile sales, more than 40% drop in real estate and housing, and lower fuel consumption. Massive layoffs were seen in the small and micro sector.
GDP comes from the service sector and substantial national revenue comes from corporate taxes, a poor IT sector performance can have a highly adverse impact on budget receipts for the year 2017-18.
Rough run for IT cos
Employment and job creation will now be the focus to recoup the situation. The economy has to revive from the adverse effects of demonetisation, and the voters’ lost confidence needs to be regained. Since the demonetisation drive has proved to be quite a massive pain point for the common man, the budget should orchestrate a commensurately significant delight!
The Indian IT sector has been going through a rough patch, one that started with Brexit and culminated in Donald Trump taking over as the new President of the United States, which spells bad news for H-1B visas. These are sure to impact the performance of IT companies significantly. And given that more than 50% of the Indian
Job creation
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Another consolidation move in auto component space Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd is proposing the acquisition of Finland’s PKC Group Plc (PKC), which is valued at `4,150 crore. PKC is a Finnish global auto component maker, and is famous for its wiring harness, a component extensively used in automobiles. MSSL is the flagship company of the Samvardhana Motherson Group, and was established in 1986 in joint partnership with Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Japan. This is yet another step towards the general trend of consolidation that the auto component industry has been exhibiting on a global scale.
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Apple wants 15-year import tax holiday for Make in India
Apple is all set to start making iPhones in India. However, the company has purportedly put out a long list of financial concessions and subsidies that it demands from the Indian government. This includes a 15-year tax holiday on the import of components and equipment. Whether Apple will have its way in terms of the concessions remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that the manufacture of iPhones in this country is an important initiative for the government in its effort to make ‘Make in India’ successful.
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So will the government be successful in putting more monies in the pockets of the common man? If so, how? And will these be genuine, or be ultimately relegated to being “populist dole outs”?
Infrastructure spend It is inevitable for the government to spend on infrastructure year over year. Around `30 to 35 lakh crore needs to be spent towards infrastructure year over year to keep the GDP growth at double digit levels. However, these are long term investments and will gain benefits only few years down the line, when the current government may or may not be in power. Naturally, this means there will always be a reluctance to spend more in this bracket. One way to bring in infrastructure investments that will provide short term benefits and at the same time be popular would be to initiate low cost housing projects. This will go a long way in regaining the lost confidence of the voters.
Relief likely for Indian Inc? Experts are still wondering what route the government will take to reduce the corporate tax from the current levels of around 35%. That the rates will be reduced is certain. Exemptions could be
abolished, and simplifying the tax computations and increasing transparency will lessen the burden on the corporates. Some analysts are even expecting a drastic cut of the corporate tax to around 20%, but these are more in the realm of wishful speculations.
For the common man Relief in terms of personal taxation slabs and increasing exemptions both seem very likely. These will certainly please the lower and middle class, who have borne the brunt of demonetisation. The increase of the basic exemption slab from `2.5 lakh to `3 lakh was expected in the last budget itself; while it didn’t happen, it is certainly expected this year. Tax rates also might be reduced, in addition to increasing the minimum exemption limit. The government has already provided service tax relief for electronic payments through cards less than `2,000. More such reliefs are likely to be announced, such as for encouraging digital payments towards insurance, electricity bills, fuel, train ticket bookings, etc. These should provide a feel-good factor to the common man, but also be instrumental in spearheading digital payments and moving towards a cashless economy.
General elections build-up The next general elections are slated for 2019, and the populist budget elements will start playing out. Moreover, many state elections are scheduled later this year and in 2018 as well. Unsustainable handouts will certainly start increasing. Since the common man has had more inconveniences than benefits in the demonetisation drive, he has to be made happy before the next general election; this will definitely be a key agenda for the government. For instance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the end of November 2016, had already announced the ‘Garib Kalyan’ scheme. Open till March 31, 2017, this scheme will allow taxpayers to deposit unaccounted monies into their bank accounts by paying a total tax of only 50% on the undisclosed amount, along with a number of immunity clauses against prosecution. Such deposits are committed to be used for welfare schemes. In this manner, the government is signalling that the poor’s suffering will be alleviated by funds generated from black money, which is in turn being unearthed by the demonetisation drive. To sum up, a cautious balance between populist dole-outs and investment push is likely to be the tone for Budget 2017. A
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Cash deposits over `2.5 lakh on I-T dept’s radar
H-1B visa restriction for best only? Under the new Trump administration, the fear of restrictions being placed on H-1B visas is gripping the IT industry. It is expected that the bill will ensure only the “best and brightest” students being educated in the US receive preference for an H-1B visa, over any visas issued to foreigners.
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Subsequent to the note ban and acceptance of deposits, the income tax department is now casting a careful eye on cash deposits that amount to more than `2.5 lakh. Such transactions are being watched, and the department is seeking details in a very detailed format to assess the source of income of such depositors. However, concerns have been raised that even in legitimate cases, there is a possibility of heavy handedness and harassment of the common man.
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Demonetisation: A boon for financial technology The note ban couldn’t have come at a better time for the various fintech companies. Almost overnight, digital economic transactions increased multifold, and the nation appears to have embraced, albeit cautiously, the idea of a cashless economy. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
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lobally, financial technology (or fintech, for short) communities and start-ups are striving hard to dis-intermediate the traditional banking, meaning cutting out the middleman. Financial services players are offering more convenient and simplified solutions, at a much lower cost. Payments, loans, trading solutions, crowd funding, peer to peer lending, etc, are gaining significant importance under the fintech umbrella. Technologies like Blockchain and crypto currencies like Bitcoin are no more strange and exotic, as once perceived. It is merely a question of time before these concepts become ubiquitous!
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Why fintech
The evolution of fintech in India is quite exciting, especially in the context of the shot in the arm it received as a result of the government’s demonetisation drive. Can the objective of India’s note ban, and its short term and long term impact, be viewed merely from the lens of eradicating black money and corruption? At a broad level, the answer might be yes.
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However, although they may be lessened, corruption, cash hoarding and tax evasion can never truly be eliminated, especially in an economy like India where demand far exceeds supply across sectors, be it education, healthcare, employment, etc. A solution that has the potential to move our economy positively in this direction is to increase cashless transactions. Although demonetisation can hardly make India less corrupt overnight, it has shown a
positive impact on hastening the growth of fintech communities. And these have the potential to move the country, albeit slowly and steadily, towards a digital economy, supporting cashless transactions!
The importance digitalisation
of
Until now, it had been assumed that financial inclusion could only be achieved by increasing banking penetration. However, it is now clear that such financial inclusion can be achieved through digitalisation. This is done by deploying emerging financial technologies that can hasten the process of moving a large part of the society, currently “unbanked”, into the banking purview, thanks to deepening mobile connectivity penetration. In emerging economies like India, fintech can facilitate financial inclusion, leapfrogging the growth in the traditional physical banking network, in the same way that mobile phones did for landline telephony. The importance of fintech activities are growing exponentially in the last few months, more so since the note
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ban. And this is happening in both highly visible and subtle ways. The former include arenas like digital banking, credit and debit card usage, payment wallets, etc. On the technology front, a number of start-up communities supporting the eco-system of digitalisation and financial technologies are emerging, not as easily and instantly seen as the former. These start-ups have both a banking/ financial service perspective as well as the understanding of the importance of ease of telecom connectivity.
The trigger Demonetisation has been an excellent trigger for the fintech sector, and forced the common man to realise the value of cashless transactions! The pain points that the note ban brought on almost overnight opened up avenues for the fintech companies. These companies started addressing the pain points, which in turn increased the excitement levels of funding agencies that were eying the Indian fintech sector.
Growth of fintech cos Payments and lending are the primary areas where fintech start-ups are active. More than half of the start-ups account for these. The rest are split mostly between Asset management and Trading accounts. Investors have been bullish on fintech start-up ventures. Close to `10,000 crore of investments have flown into these start-ups over the last two years, with 2016 alone having seen close to `7,000 crore. In addition to the nearomnipresence of Paytm, Freecharge and Mobikwik, other key start-ups like Citrus Pay, Mswipe, Electronics Payment and Services (EPS), which are primarily in the payments business, are rapidly growing. Digital lending and insurance platforms account for a large part as well, with BankBazaar, PolicyBazaar, Vistaar Finance, Capital Float and Lendingkart also getting a significant share of the financing. Payments is a major area where fintech is emerging, especially after the note ban. Companies like Paytm and Mobikwik have
posted steep increase in traffic in recent days. Customers are overcoming their reluctance and using debit / credit cards, internet banking, and experimenting with wallets, which almost became the only choice given the constraints. These fintech companies are slowly removing the taboo around e-payments, helped along by the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) apps of the banks and the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) app. E-payments at departmental and street corner stores are far from being a norm, but the push is almost inexorably — and somewhat pleasantly — happening in that direction!
Technology preparedness Given the demonetisation drive’s push towards cashless digital transactions, the technology and backend infrastructure need to be exponentially scaled up. Connectivity needs to be on high bandwidth levels and failsafe. With more and more people paying digitally, through credit and debit cards, wallets, through internet banking and payments through UPIs, the
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Hiring local workforce won’t affect margins: Infosys, Tech Mahindra In the middle of expectations that the number of H-1B visas will be restricted, Indian IT services major Infosys has said more local hiring in the US can lead to an improvement in customer centricity. The company feels that this will not necessarily hurt margins. However, skill shortage continues to remain an issue that needs to be overcome. Tech Mahindra’s Vice Chairman Vineet Nayyar echoed the same positivity on Friday, saying that he did not expect new US President Donald Trump’s possible restrictions on visas to be a big hiccup for Indian IT services companies.
Nokia recently conducted a flash sale in China for the Nokia 6 Android smartphone, which sold out in minutes. This is the first mobile device to carry the Nokia name since 2014, when Microsoft owned the brand. The current owner of the Nokia brand name is Finnish company HMD Global. The Nokia 6 is likely to be launched in 2017 in India, another key market for the smartphone industry. Given the hardware of the phone, the Nokia 6 is firmly in the mid-range market, and there are expectations of more products forthcoming, including a tablet.
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Demonetisation gave a huge boost for fintech companies. safety and security too need to be exponentially beefed up. In order to handle such large volumes, huge backend infrastructure needs to be created and maintained by the banks, the National Payment Corporation of India Ltd, as well as the private mobile app providers. Telecom infrastructure is also a critical component, and players like Vodafone, Airtel, MTNL and BSNL need to seamlessly connect to the back end infrastructure as well as to end users. Internet connectivity using data packs and Wi-fi needs to be reliable and speed needs to be consistent; the frequent dropping of 4G and 3G speeds to 2G speeds has to be
curbed. More importantly, the proportion of smartphones needs to increase (currently only 20% of the total mobile phone handsets are smartphones). Data security is another key area where focus is required for fintech to thrive and breed confidence in the users. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is the government nodal agency that deals with cyber security threats like hacking and phishing. CERT-In needs to substantially enhance the cyber security capability of the overall fintech network.
In summary… Nations
have
carried
out
demonetisation drives and note bans in the past, including Soviet Union, Ghana, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, etc. Many of them were unsuccessful and attracted public wrath. After three months though, India is still holding on quite well, although some inconveniences continue to exist. GDP growth in the current fiscal will suffer, for sure; even the Reserve Bank of India has lowered the forecast significantly. However, the overall direction towards a cashless economy is exciting, even though an eye has to be kept on all the loose ends that need to be tied up! India too has demonetised currencies in the past. But the recent note ban came slap bang in the middle of emerging technologies and skill sets, especially that of fintech which had reasonably gained critical mass in terms of funding, size and scale. If appropriately orchestrated, the economy can fire up digitalisation! It’s almost as if the note ban couldn’t have come at a better time! Or for that matter, can there be a better opportunity for the fintech community? A
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Aadhaar mandatory for I-T returns? The Government of India is currently planning to make Aadhaar number a mandatory requirement for filing of IT returns from the next financial year. This stems from the plan to link all bank accounts to the unique identity number by the end of this financial year. After the demonetisation drive, these are ostensibly part of a series of steps by the government to move towards a cashless economy.
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`9.2 lakh cr back in market, but numbers don’t match
Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel has told the parliamentary standing committee that new currency to the tune of `9.2 lakh crore has been issued so far. This has given rise to some consternation, since the total currency in circulation stood at `9.5 lakh crore as of January 13, 2017. The numbers, therefore, appear to be contradicting each other, and as such, require a more detailed explanation.
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Hits and misses: Report after 3 years of NDA rule Since coming to power in 2014, the NDA government has had its share of successes and failures. This article explores the major hits and misses of these last three years.
Dr Suresh Srinivasan
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he NDA government came to power in May 2014, after the BJP secured a landmark victory over the earlier UPA government. In the run up to the elections, the BJP had made a number of promises as part of their election campaign. This article will relook at some of the promises; understand the efforts taken by the government to bring about change and analyse which of the initiatives were successful and which fell short. The article will also analyse the composition of the national GDP and attempt to understand the underlying causes for a drop in the country’s GDP to around 7.0% during 2016-17, its lowest level in three years.
The BJP became aggressive and the party promised that monies would be retrieved, brought back into the country and huge sums running into lakhs would be deposited to individual bank accounts of every citizen in the country. After close to two years from coming to power, the Indian government signed an agreement with Switzerland. From September 2018 onwards, the details of Swiss bank
accounts of all Indians will be automatically shared with India. This information will be received from September 2019. Although this is a far reaching agreement, it actually hasn’t been achieved till date. And given the huge promise and high expectations generated towards bringing back black money, this outcome was received with lukewarm enthusiasm. September 2019 is a long time away, and critics argue that before September 2018,
The BJP’s promise to retrieve black money stashed in banks in other countries was one of its most important promises, and was extremely well received by the country’s voting public. This was in the backdrop of general public dissatisfaction with the then UPA government’s unsuccessful attempts at tackling the problem of black money.
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Promises made: Swiss banks & black money
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
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Demonetisation has been a pain point for the common man. account holders will have enough time to move their funds. Hence, it is very difficult to call this initiative a success.
Promises made: Demonetisation & black money The government has pitched the demonetisation drive as a parallel step towards unearthing black money. Although a number of medium to long term benefits are being projected, demonstrated and also perceived, the short term pain points have been immense, especially due to a number of execution flaws. Whether this is a success or a failure is still under question, and the answer is certainly not going to be easy. The 2019 general elections might possibly give the answer, and will depend upon how the aftermath and the follow up regarding the demonetisation initiative spans out over the next 12 to 18 months!
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Promises business
made:
Ease
of
Improving the ease of doing business, eliminating obstacles in regulations, administrative restructuring and policy reforms were some key promises made towards building the economy.
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India continues to remain at rank 130 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report. All these had substantially deteriorated during the earlier UPA government’s time, and provided an excellent platform for the BJP to promise. The BJP had, rather ambitiously, stated that it would move India from its then 131st position to within the top 50 ranks. Sadly, nothing has changed. The World Bank’s Doing Business report continues to rank India quite low when it comes to ease of doing business — at 130th in the world, a mere one spot improvement.
Promises made: Policy reforms The NDA government did make all the right noises and brought in a series of policy reforms. FDI in multi-brand retail is a winner, although a number of clauses like minimum local sourcing proved to be unacceptable to large global players entering the
country. A recently implemented, comprehensive insolvency and bankruptcy law enhances the government’s credibility to address the poor financial state of public sector banks and revive stalled projects. The new defence investment policy and national civil aviation policy can spearhead investments into the country. But the biggest bottleneck to do more has been the resistance the NDA has been facing in the Upper House of Parliament. FDI had grown by around 30% under the UPA government, thanks to the number of foreign road shows over the last three years across the globe promoting Make in India, Start-up India and other FDI promotional activities, branding with the international investor community and the ‘feel good factor’ these initiatives generated. The country has also seen a good build-up of foreign currency assets during the government’s tenure. No doubt these initiatives have raised the country’s stature; India’s demands for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group are now more likely to be a reality.
Has the economy improved? The question of whether the government’s promises were met or not leads directly to the country’s economic health. GDP forecast for the 2016-17 fiscal has been cut down from the initial 7.6% to 7.0%, the lowest in the last three years. Demonetisation will be to blame for the dip in growth forecast for the current fiscal. So to improve the overall economic performance, where could the government have performed better? Let’s understand the budget financials, i.e., the revenue expenditure and deficit in a deeper sense is important.
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India’s total revenue is around `14.5 lakh crore. This is made up of tax revenue of `10.6 lakh crore (after adjusting state government’s share) and non-tax revenue of around `3.9 lakh crore from interest and dividends. Total expenditure is `19.8 lakh crore, leading to a fiscal deficit of `5.3 lakh crore (which is around 5.3% of the GDP).
The issues The expenditure of `19.8 lakh crore is mostly inevitable, and the freebies and dole-outs will increase it. Only the revenue numbers could have been increased through improved tax collections (tax revenue constitutes close to 75% of the total revenue). This means that corporate performance needs to increase so that they have profits to pay more taxes. This is where the
government has been struggling, and the economic climate had failed to ignite an environment for such superior corporate performance. A number of global developments, including Europe, Japan and China slowdown, Brexit, late recovery of the US economy have all led to a tapering away of investment interest in India. The only relief has been the low crude oil price that has more or less remained low during the NDA tenure. Inflation has remained under control and forex has been preserved, as close to 70% of India’s crude oil needs are currently being imported.
In summary… It is extremely difficult to say whether the country and its economy today has improved under the three years of NDA rule.
The big question is whether the government can manage to gain some ground on its promises in the next two years to go. There are a lot of challenges on the global stage — Brexit, Donald Trump, H-iB visas, China slowdown — and a number of internal challenges — recovering political and economic stance from demonetisation, resistance to reforms in the parliamentary process, terrorism threats from across the border. The NDA government has to really buck up with its show, especially with the general election year drawing nearer. A Dr Suresh Srinivasan is a Chartered Accountant, has an MBA (Bradford UK) and a Doctorate in Strategy. He is a Professor of Strategy in Great Lakes Institute of Management and a management consultant.
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE New move in old Kingfisher recovery matter In a far reaching move, the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in Bengaluru has directed a consortium of banks, led by the State Bank of India, to begin the recovery of dues to the tune of `6,203 crore from Kingfisher. The recovery is to be made from Vijay Mallya through his other legal entities, designed specifically to pierce the corporate veil.
Banks not out of the woods yet With the end of the financial year almost here, CEOs of large banks are working hard to find a solution to the massive problem of non-performing assets (NPAs). With the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) scheme introduced by the Reserve Bank of India not really providing enough results, the option of deep restructuring and even management changes at some companies are also being contemplated.
Mahindra acquires Turkish farm equipment co
Ola ups game, adds features Cab aggregator Ola has expanded Ola Play, its connected car platform, to users of its Prime category cabs. Ola Play is powered by proprietary in-car and cloud technologies, bringing advance car controls, choice of personalised content and a fully connected interactive experience for users.
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Mahindra & Mahindra has taken a controlling stake in Turkish farm equipment company Hisarlar. The deal is valued at around `129 crore. This acquisition will give M&M a 75% ownership in the company, with the rest of the shares being held by various financial institutions. The move also brings in a competitive advantage for M&M, with an entry into Europe.
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FMCG JOURNALS SUBSCRIBED
PARAMETERS NO. OF COMPUTERS
IT/ITES B-SCHOOL TYPE BROADBAND FACILITY
ADJUNCT FACULTY
INFRASTRUCTURE NO OF INTERNATIONAL OFFERS
HOSTEL FEES CORPORATES
RESIDENTIAL
dar ar
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ol with with over over 40 40 parameters. parameters.
|Percentile |Percentile&&Call CallPredictor Predictor| |Blog Blog Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH
Are you a Brainiac? In this section, we shall explore several different types of questions from the various areas of entrance exams like the CAT, CET, GMAT, etc, and how to best solve them.
Quant 1.
A square piece of cardboard of side ‘x’ inches is taken and four equal square pieces of side ‘y’ inches are removed at the corners. The sides are then folded up to form an open box. The volume of the box is: 1] x2y – 2xy2 + 4y3 2] (x – 2y) × y2 3] (x – 2y)2 y2 4] x2y + 4y3 – 4xy2
Ans:
1] 400 km,
kmph
2] 400 km,
kmph
3] 300 km,
kmph
4] 300 km,
kmph
Ans: Let the distance between Lonavala and Ahmednagar be ‘x’ km.
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Base of open box is (x – 2y) and height is y. \Volume = (x – 2y)2 × (y) = x2y + 4y3 – 4xy2. Hence, [4].
2. Ramesh goes on a drive from Mumbai to Ahmednagar. He reaches Lonavala which is, 100 km from Mumbai with an average speed of 50 kmph. He now realizes that the whole journey till Ahmednagar would have taken 1 hour less, if he would have driven at an average speed that is 20% more than his current average speed. What is the distance between Mumbai and Ahmednagar and what is the average speed throughout the journey, if he covers the remaining distance with the increased speed?
Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
Original speed = 50 kmph
Original time that would have taken =
New speed = 20% more of 50 kmph = 60 kmph
New time =
As new time taken is one hour less
\
–
hr.
hr =1
=1
x = 300 km
\ Distance between Mumbai and Ahmednagar
= 100 + 300 = 400 km. The average speed throughout the journey
=
Hence, [1].
=
=
km/hr.
HSEDAR STUDY RUPOHARYH HOUR DDUNTAS
Verbal
Q1. A. B. C. D. E.
Even more so in non-industrialized cultures than in modern Western societies, music is and was part of the fabric of everyday life. Some of the oldest physical artefacts found in human and proto-human excavation sites are musical instruments: bone flutes and animal skins stretched over tree stumps to make drums. Music is unusual among all human activities for both its antiquity and its ubiquity. Whenever humans come together for any reason, music is there: weddings, funerals, graduation from college, men marching off to war, stadium sporting events, a night on the town, prayer, a romantic dinner, mothers rocking their infants to sleep, and college students studying with music as a background. No known human culture now or anytime in the recorded past lacked music. 1] EBCAD 2] CDABE 3] ECBDA 4] CEBDA
Statement C is clearly the opening sentence, as it states the topic of the paragraph, i.e. how venerable and all-pervasive music is. E is a supporting argument for it. B expands on the first point made in the first sentence, i.e. the antiquity of music, and follows from the second half of E. D and A expand on the second point, i.e. the ubiquity of music. So the correct order is CEBDA. Hence, [4].
Q2. A. Only much later, in order to distinguish painting, sculpture and architecture from what we would now call crafts, did we conceive of the notion of Fine Arts. B. While certain modern esthetic theories recognize only the beauty of art, thus underestimating the beauty of nature, in other historical periods the reverse was the case. C. Yet histories of beauty tend to be documented solely through works of art, because over the centuries it was artists, poets and novelists who told us about the things that they considered beautiful, and they were the ones who left us examples.
D. The close relationship forged in the modern age between beauty and art is not as obvious as we think. E. Beauty was considered a quality that could be possessed by natural things (such as moonlight, a fine fruit, a beautiful colour), while art was a term applied even-handedly to the work of painters, sculptors, boat builders, carpenters and barbers alike. 1] BEADC 2] BDECA 3] DCBEA 4] DBEAC
D makes a better opening sentence than B, as it is more general. B follows from D, explaining why the relationship between beauty and art is not obvious (note that though C may seem to fit after D, as in [3], it breaks the link between D and B). E, which describes the ‘reverse’ case mentioned in B, follows immediately after it. A continues this line of thought. C is the conclusion that explains why histories of beauty focus only on art. Therefore the correct sequence is DBEAC. Hence, [4].
DIRECTIONS for question 3: In the following question, there are sentences that form a paragraph. Identify the sentence(s) or part(s) of sentence(s) that is/are correct in terms of grammar and usage (including spelling, punctuation and logical consistency). Then, choose the most appropriate option. Q3. A. It was not so long ago that we got around by using maps that folded. B. Occasionally, if we wanted a truly global picture of our place in the world, C. we would have pulled shoulder-dislocating atlases from shelves. D. The world was bigger back then. Experience and cheaper travel have rendered it small, E. but nothing has shrinked the world more than digital mapping. 1] A, B & D 2] A, B & C 3] B, D & E 4] C, D & E
There is a tense error in statement C: the correct form should be ‘would pull’ not ‘would have pulled’ (if B had been in the past perfect instead of the simple past, ‘would have pulled’ would have been correct). Statement E is also incorrect: the past participle of ‘shrink’ is ‘shrunk’ not ‘shrinked’. The other three statements are correct. Hence, [1].
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DIRECTIONS for questions 1 and 2: The sentences given in each question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences, from among the given choices, to construct a coherent paragraph.
ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH
WORD DOSE
The making of an agnostic But in his second year there he had drifted into a bad set and ended up, one foggy night in London, in carnal possession of a naked girl. He rushed from her plump Cockney arms into those of the Church, horrifying his father one day shortly afterwards by announcing that he wished to take Holy Orders. There was only one answer to a crisis of this magnitude: the wicked youth was dispatched to Paris. There his tarnished virginity was soon blackened out of recognition; but so, as his father had hoped, was his intended marriage with the Church. Charles saw what stood behind the seductive appeal of the Oxford Movement — Roman Catholicism propria terra. He declined to fritter his negative but comfortable English soul— one part irony to one part convention—on incense and papal infallibility. When he returned to London he fingered and skimmed his way through a dozen religious theories of the time, but emerged in the clear a healthy agnostic. Excerpt from John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman
MAT CH T HE W OR D S W IT H T H E IR M EA NING S 1. Drifted – drift-ed (v) 2. Foggy – fog-ee (adj) 3. Carnal – kahr-nl (adj) 4. Cockney – kok-nee (adj) 5. Magnitude – mag-ni-tyood (n) 6. Dispatched – dih-spach-d (v) 7. Tarnished – tahr-nish-d (adj) 8. Blackened – blak-uh nd (v) 9. Seductive – si-duhk-tiv (adj) 10. Oxford Movement 11. Propria terra 12. Fritter – frit-er-d (v) 13. Incense – in-sens (n) www.advancedge.com
14. Papal – pey-puh l (adj)
15. Infallibility – in-fal-uh-bil-i-tee (n) 16. Skimmed – skim-d (v) 17. Agnostic – ag-nos-tik (n)
Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
a. Waste time or energy. b. Typical characteristic of a cockney, a person who is a native of East London, traditionally one born within hearing of Bow Bells.
l.
A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.
c. Send off to a destination or for m. Of great importance or a purpose. consequence, huge. d. Tempting and attractive; n. A gum, spice, or other enticing. substance that is burned for e. To pass or glide lightly over or the sweet smell it produces. near a surface – explored. (Pompous rituals.) f. Relating to physical, especially o. Being carried away slowly, sexual, needs and activities. because of an influence. g. A movement of pompous p. Roman Catholic Church’s own religious rituals of Roman territory, pomp, show and Catholic Church. rituals. h. Full of or characterised by fog. q. (In the Roman Catholic i. To damage or destroy – wiped Church) the doctrine that in out. specified circumstances the j. Of or relating to the pope or Pope is incapable of error. the papacy or Roman Catholic Church k. When purity gets diminished or stained.
HSEDAR STUDY RUPOHARYH HOUR DDUNTAS
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ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH
A quiz to boost your General Knowledge 1. Name the bank that has launched the mobile-based application for merchants EazyPay. a. Bank of Baroda b. State Bank of India c. ICICI Bank d. HDFC Bank 2. The Good Governance Day (GGD) is observed every year in India to mark the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. When is the day observed? a. December 25 b. January 30 c. February 4 d. September 5 3. Who is the author of the book India-US Relations in the Age of Uncertainty? a. Pratap Bhanu Mehta b. TV Paul c. BM Jain d. Ian Hall
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4. A state government will be launching a new malaria control programme “Durgama Anchalare Malaria Nirakaran (DAMAN)” for 5 years with a total spending of `120 crore. Which state government will be launching this? a. Karnataka b. Odisha c. Andhra Pradesh d. Kerala
5. Name the Bollywood actor who has been conferred an honorary doctorate by the Maulana Azad National Urdu University.
Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
a. b. c. d.
Salman Khan Shah Rukh Khan Aamir Khan Nawazuddin Siddiqui
6. Vera Rubin was a very famous astronomer, who pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates. Recently, she passed away at the age of 88. What was her nationality? a. French b. Sri Lankan c. Spanish d. American 7. Nedumkayam has become India’s first cashless and digital tribal colony. The people of this colony are all set for total digital transactions. In which state of India is this colony located? a. Tamil Nadu b. Kerala c. Andhra Pradesh d. Karnataka 8. Sunderlal Patwa, who passed away recently at the age of 92, was the former chief minister of which state of India? a. Rajasthan b. Himachal Pradesh c. Madhya Pradesh d. Assam 9. Name the Indian state that will be hosting the 2022 National Games. a. Meghalaya b. Manipur c. Maharashtra d. Madhya Pradesh
10. In the book, I Am A Troll, the author targets the trolling affair of ruling government in the social media. Name the author of the book. a. Pritam Dubey b. Swati Chaturvedi c. Vir Sanghvi d. Chetan Bhagat 11. Name the city that hosted the 2017 Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit. a. Ahmedabad b. Rajkot c. Gandhinagar d. Surat 12. This state government will set up a pilot corridor for an innovative concept of ‘Caterpillar Train (or C-Train)’ that will fly over city’s traffic. The C-train includes a citywide network of lightweight, elevated train coaches running at about 100 kmph on a track supported by poles bent into arches. Which state government is bringing in this caterpillar train concept? a. Himachal Pradesh b. Karnataka c. West Bengal d. Haryana 13. The World Bank has recently approved a credit amount for the Bihar Rural Roads Project to improve and effectively manage rural road network of the state. How much loan amount was granted by the World Bank? a. $230 million b. $235 million
HSEDAR STUDY RUPOHARYH HOUR DDUNTAS c. $240 million d. $245 million
14. Who is the author of the book That Thing Called Love? a. Vikram Seth b. Chetan Bhagat c. Tuhin Sinha d. Aravind Adiga 15. In which country of the world will you find the world’s highest bridge, which soars 565 metres (1,854 feet) above a river and connects two mountainous provinces? a. United States of America b. Japan c. Germany d. China 16. In which state is India’s first centre for digital investigation and training set up? a. Maharashtra b. Haryana c. Madhya Pradesh d. Uttar Pradesh 17. “BHIM” mobile app has been launched by Union Government to make digital payments easier. What does “BHIM” stand for? a. Bi-aural Interface for Money b. Build Interface for Money c. Built-up Interface for Money d. Bharat Interface for Money 18. Kush Bhagat is associated with which sports? a. Chess b. Badminton c. Kabaddi d. Kho Kho 19. This state came up with India’s first transgender school “Sahaj International”. The purpose of this school is to provide transgenders security, salvation and sustainability. The new learning centre will help them continue their education and
appear for Class X and XII examinations. This alternative learning centre works in collaboration with National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). Name the state that came up with this school. a. Maharashtra b. Delhi c. Kerala d. Tamil Nadu 20. What is India’s rank in the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Inclusive Development Index (IDI) for 2017? a. 55th b. 58th c. 60th d. 62 th 21. Name the author of the book Kalkatta. a. Dominique Lapierre b. Kunal Basu c. Amitav Ghosh d. Arundhati Roy 22. What is India’s rank in the latest passport index? a. 75th b. 76th c. 77th d. 78th 23. The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is an international non-profit organisation, devoted to developing and introducing new and improved vaccine to protect the people, especially children, against deadly infectious diseases. Where is IVI headquartered? a. Sri Lanka b. South Korea c. Ghana d. Egypt 24. Name the state that has become India’s first to launch “Aanandam” programme to help needy persons.
a. Madhya Pradesh b. Andhra Pradesh c. West Bengal d. Maharashtra
25. This 1979-batch IPS officer has been selected as the new chief of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by the 3-member committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The post of CBI director was lying vacant since the retirement of Anil Sinha on December 2, 2016. Name him. a. RK Dutta b. Satish Mathur c. JS Khehar d. Alok Kumar Verma 26. Jacob Polley has won the 2016 TS Eliot Prize for poetry and won the coveted £20,000 award for his collection Jackself. What’s his nationality? a. South African b. American c. English d. Australian 27. Name the cricket team that has won the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy tournament. a. Gujarat b. Maharashtra c. Tamil Nadu d. Bengal 28. The first-ever Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) International Dance festival was recently held in January. Nearly 100 performers from 9 countries showcased their traditional and contemporary dance forms. Countries including Maldives, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Philippines, Fiji, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Malaysia and India took part in the festival. Name the Indian state where
Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
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ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH
it had been organised. a. Mumbai b. Hyderabad c. New Delhi d. Bengaluru
a. Priyanka Chopra b. Gul Panag
c. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan d. Sushmita Sen
29. Name the country that has become the world’s first to cease FM radio broadcasting. a. Norway b. Denmark c. Switzerland d. Finland 30. What is India’s predicted GDP growth rate in FY 17, as per World Bank’s latest report? a. 7.0% b. 7.1% c. 7.2% d. 7.3% 31. On which day is The World Hindi Day observed to promote Hindi across the world? a. January 9 b. January 10 c. January 11 d. January 12 32. Name the Indian personality who has been honoured by the US Embassy for Tuberculosis (TB) awareness. a. Sachin Tendulkar b. Narendra Modi c. Amitabh Bachchan d. Rahul Gandhi
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33. Which of the following has become India’s first-ever warship to have ATM on board? a. INS Viraat b. INS Vikramaditya c. INS Arihant d. INS Sindhughosh
34. Which former beauty contestant will become one of the judges in the 2017 Miss Universe pageant?
Advanc’edge MBA February 2017
How to Play Fill in the grid so that every horizontal row, every vertical column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9, without repeating the numbers in the same row, column or box. You can’t change the digits already given in the grid. Every puzzle has one solution. Hint: Don’t fill in numbers at random. While filling a particular square, write numbers 1-9 on a pad and start eliminating those numbers that already appear in the same row, column or 3x3 box.
ANSWERS SuDoKu
GLOBESCAN
1. c
2. a
3. c
4. b
5. b
6. d
7. b
8. c
9. a
10. b
11. c
12. d
13. b
14. c
15. d
16. b
17. d
18. a
19. c
20. c
21. b
22. d
23. b
24. a
25.d
26. c
27. a
28. b
29. a
30. a
31. b
32. c
33. b
34. d
WORD DOSE
For more similar puzzles, visit: www.sudoku.com
1. o 6. c 11. p 16. e
2. h 7. k 12. a 17. l
3. f 8. i 13. n
4. b 9. d 14. j
5. m 10. g 15. q