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Contributors Dr Suresh Srinivasan, Varuna Kamath, Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe
Are there really almost 2 lakh students who go abroad to study? Can the Indian urban middle class really afford those programmes in elite international institutions across the world? Isn’t it extremely difficult to get into these MBA programmes, what with the detailed application process, the recommendations required, the way the institutes dissect your profile, et al? There are many ineffable things happening in the world today that fill us with unbelieving scepticism, but none of the questions above should elicit even the slightest incredulity. Unfortunately, a perception has developed that seems to point to the apparent “unattainability” of an international education. “It’s too costly,” and “I won’t make it,” are just some of the unthinking responses we have to the thought of pursuing higher education in another country, at an international business school. All this is a myth. While the cost is high, it is certainly not unaffordable. It would require a huge investment, of course, coupled with loans, but there are enough and more scholarships available that will make up for much of the tuition fees. And the fact is that getting an admission to IIM-Ahmedabad is far more difficult than getting into Harvard and Stanford. All this stems from a lack of information. It really doesn’t do to be uninformed in today’s Information Age, does it? So in our cover story this month, we have busted a few myths regarding international education, so that you know that it is certainly an option. Every month, we shall also bring to you the experience of an MBA aspirant who has gone through the entire preparation grind and come out on top, be it for the CAT, XAT, CET, or otherwise. Their account of their preparation and strategy will help you understand how you should be moving forward as well. Finally, do keep yourself up to date on what’s happening in the business world by going through our Corporate World section. This time, we’ve discussed the Budget 2014-15, the agenda of the new NDA government, and the rise of the little known, but massive Internet giant that is Alibaba. Meanwhile, keep your nose to the grindstone, and your hopes in the clouds.
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contents July 2014
05 Cover Story International education: Fact vs fiction 10 MBA Buzz Should B-schools focus on Big Data & Analytics? 12 News in brief 13 Student Silhouette Varuna Kamath
IMS CET Topper
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22 Corporate World
The first 100 days: The Modi government’s agenda
25 Alibaba:
Rise of the emerging Internet giant
28 Budget 2014-15: India’s expectations 31 Must Reads The One Minute Manager
The Story of My Life The Da Vinci Code
32 Study Hour Test Q&As 34 Word Dose:
16 Countdown Top 10 movies every business
student must watch
Perils of cyber crime
36 Globescan 38 SuDoKu
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cover story
International education:
Fact vs fiction
It is a fact that there are far too many myths about studying abroad. From costs to the getting admission to lack of information, Indian students are still apprehensible about an international education. In this article, we expose a few of those “facts” as actual fiction. Aarti N Kukreja, Head, Study Abroad Consulting, IMS
T
he Indian education trend has seen a lot of mobility since the early 2000s. Back then, international education was a realistic option primarily for the uppermost segment of our consumer class, which comprises around 3 per cent of our population. However, in the mid-2000s, the upper-middle class too received the opportunity to consider an international education, mostly at a post-graduation level, due to the proliferation of personal and educational loans made available to them.
The international education industry was worth around `27,000 crore as of 2012, and with increasing costs of living abroad and tuition fees, this figure has gone up despite a small dip in the numbers thereafter. Table 1 shows the growth from 2006 to 2012 from 1,58,215 to 1,90,055 (without UK’s exact figures.) These figures include Indian candidates who do summer school or opt for short courses abroad. Table 1 shows that although the figure remained pretty much stagnant from 2009 to 2011, it
suffered a slight dip in 2012 and clawed its way back up again in 2013, only to gradually increase as we enter the 2014 Fall admissions. The reasons for this are said to be multi-fold — visa restrictions (especially from the UK), Indian students appearing to opt for less popular study destinations as their country of choice, such as China, Germany and others, many students choose to get an international education right here in India in some of our top league universities. GMAT & GRE tests takers in India each year number over 1,15,000
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Table - 1 Indian Higher Education Enrollments in top 7 Receiving Countries, 2005 - 2012 Year
USA
UK
Australia+
Canada
NZ
China
Germany
Total
2012
96,754
NA
12,629
28,929
11,349
10,237
5,745
1,90,055**
2011
100,270
29,900
15,395
23,601
12,301
9,370
4,825
228,774
2010
103,895
39,090
21,932
17,549
11,616
9,014
3,821
253,743
2009
104,897
38,500
28,020
9,561
9,252
8,468
3,236
247,631
2008
103,260
34,065
28,411
8,325
6,348
8,145
3,217
216,516
2007
94,563
25,905
27,078
7,304
3,855
7,190
3,431
205,852
2006
83,833
19,228*
25,497
6,927
2,599
3,245
3,583
158,215
2005
76,503
16,872*
22,529
6,688
NA
NA
3,807
NA www.advancedge.com
Sources: IIE Open Doors, UK Higher Education Statistics Agency, Australia Education International, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, New Zealand Ministry of Education, China Scholarship Council, DAAD/HIS (Germany). * Inferred from percentage of total international student body **Minus UK total for 2012 +Higher Education (University) enrollments only; no VET
Advanc’edge MBA July 2014
cover story in total (data for 2013), which inevitably shows that Indians prefer a postgraduate degree abroad in management or technical and functional specialisations. However, an estimated 20,000 Indians pursued an undergraduate degree abroad as well in 2013. This number
student’s life. This, along with the distance factor, brings in various other critical questions — choice of university without actually visiting it, capability of the student to get admission, adjustment to the new culture and environment, along with emotional sentiments of being
15 16 17 18
Table-2 - QS MBA - Elite Global Schools Average Salary Total Tuition fees % Employed 3 Months US$ US$ After Graduation North America Harvard Business School 120000 112350 74 Stanford Graduate School of Business 129692 119100 92 University of Pennsylvania: Wharton 120000 119472 83 University of Chicago: Booth 115079 117520 89 Northwestern University: Kellogg 120000 118170 86 Columbia Business School 103453 121440 94 UCLA Anderson School of Management 100000 75180 80 Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University 89848 75000 82 of Toronto MIT: Sloan 118406 61440 94 Duke University: Fuqua 112626 118000 80 University of California at Berkeley: Haas 97000 77096 80 University of Michigan, Ross School of Business 111047 116900 85 York University, Schulich School of Business 86587 55900 94 Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of 93078 78280 90 Western Ontario Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University 90000 80000 98 HEC Montreal 72776 14200 71 Yale School of Management 104147 114400 85 Queen's School of Business 62580 82000 80
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Insead - France London Business School IE Business School Oxford University, Said Business School IMD SDA Bocconi School of Management IESE Business School ESADE Business School Copenhagen Business School HEC Paris The St.Gallen MBA, University of St Gallen Trinity MBA,University of Dublin, Trinity College University of Cambridge: Judge
1 2
Insead - Singapore IIM, Ahmedabad
Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
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is expected to grow by 5,000 or so each year. Now, let’s be honest. From an average Indian family’s perspective, an international education entails a deep financial plunge into the pocket. It is probably the first real investment in that family and
School
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Europe 122900 113779 102500 99000 142412 95000 101990 90400 100031 109880 110000 100000 108736
59500 97000 59900 54000 63000 59000 93000 74100 57000 62400 67000 38350 57000
84 96 92 90 89 83 97 97 77 88 90 70 97
122900 66888
59500 36000
84 100
Asia Pacific
Advanc’edge MBA July 2014
cover story
country only charges tax for tuition fees to international students as well.
Cost and ROI As mentioned earlier, the biggest concern of studying abroad for a student is the cost, and this isn’t an independent factor. The cost of a programme depends on the brand of the institute (also known as rank), the reputation of the country the institute is in, the average salary received after graduating and the time taken to receive a suitable job. With these compelling factors in mind, let’s take a look at the most popular programme studied abroad by Indians: the MBA. Table 2 shows the programmes at top schools in various regions of the world with their tuition fees, average salary after graduation and percentage of students employed post their graduation within three months. As shown in Table 2, 89.45 per cent of graduates from the top 18 North American, top 13 European and top 2 Asia-Pacific business schools obtain recruitment within three months of graduation. The Return on Investment on most business schools is less than a year, according to Table 2, and the few that are over a year barely make up for it in a mere two months later. It is interesting to note that here, IIM Ahmedabad has the least average salary received in a graduating class overall, but the ROI is just a little over 6 months. IMD Switzerland, on the other hand, has the highest ROI across all business schools, since Switzerland as a
Scholarships Apart from the cost, we should also consider the opportunity of scholarships with international universities. Although the scholarship scale has been tightened in the last few years, millions of scholarships go unused each year due to lack of information about them, along with the believability factor of obtaining one. Scholarships can be of two types: i. Internal, provided directly by a university on merit or need basis, and ii. External, provided by various educational organisations for studying in particular countries or subjects, also based on needs and merit. Universities first open their deadlines for scholarships and the regular admission deadlines only afterward. This is to motivate candidates to apply early on for the scholarships, especially the merit or needs-based candidates, so university endowments can be correctly allocated. There are usually a few categories of scholarships; many universities have leadership, team player, women in empowerment and specialisations as core scholarship essay topics, along with the merits of the application. International universities also consider the actual application as a huge factor
while assessing the scholarship application. The CV, essays, statements of purpose, letters of recommendation and interview preparation all play a crucial part in obtaining any scholarship through the university directly, irrespective of the scholarship amount. The competition for scholarship is, however, unknown and usually extremely fierce. So far, the most useful Indian website for external scholarships is www.mhrd.gov.in, which has specific links to all international scholarships (country-wise) for Indians. There are also global external scholarship bodies such as UK Commonwealth and Fullbright that promote international student scholarships, and among which there are specific scholarships for Indians as well. A list of these bodies can be found at most universities’ scholarship sections under the “not restricted by region” section. Capability – Getting admission Just like the myths about getting into universities in India, Indian students harbour apprehensions about their “capability” of successfully getting admissions to international universities — also a myth! However, international universities are less score-centric compared to India. They usually look for holistic profiles — they would like unique individuals with various professional and personal backgrounds to increase the diversity of their
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away from home for a long while for the very first time. But for most, the biggest question is: What will happen after the degree? Let’s tackle some of the most crucial queries faced by Indian candidates while considering their study abroad options, and bust a few of those persistent myths of international education.
Advanc’edge MBA July 2014
cover story Table 3: Work-permit laws post study Country USA
Course duration 2 years
UK
1 year
Australia / Canada
2 years
Netherlands / Spain / France / Sweden / Italy / Ireland Germany Singapore / UAE / Malaysia / Hong Kong
1 year
3 months to look for a job with a 9-month extension if employment obtained. Sponsorship from employer for H1B Visa thereafter No work permit post study unless there is employer sponsorship or if the student can prove he / she is a highly-skilled worker 3 years automatic work permit and Resident Visa thereafter 1 year search for a job permit
1 year 1 or 2 years
18 months search for a job permit Renewable tourist visas can be obtained to stay back to look for jobs
classroom. International schools are always looking to find the socalled “X-Factor” in profiles that cross their desks. Beyond academic excellence, aptitude scores and work experience (if applicable), they are interested in the core interests of the candidate outside the classroom and workspace. The highest rates of rejections in applications are from Harvard and Stanford, although this is because they receive the most number of applications across all universities. They have been known to reject candidates who are simply too academic and others who are overachievers and might not fit into the classroom on numerous occasions, but they do welcome candidates who might be less inclined towards academics, for instance, but have an instinctive understanding of entrepreneurship.
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Work permit rule
studying abroad, and usually they are as inaccurate as Indians still using elephant transport, locally. Lack of information as mentioned above is easily clouded by such lack of accurate information, and hence it is most important to go through proper channels to acquire information. Information for international education is very readily available online and backed with statistics, but if that is not enough, India is filled with counsellors, to handhold a candidate through the process of an international admission. Some of the top queries students have regarding their admissions are: i. Eligibility of programme ii. Country to pursue programme in
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Advanc’edge MBA July 2014
Furthermore, fresh engineering graduates with up to two years of work experience are eligible for: i. Masters of Engineering Management ii. Masters of Financial Engineering Any candidate with over three years of full-time work experience is usually eligible for an MBA anywhere internationally. Some schools even admit candidates with two years work experience. Lastly, anyone who would like to pursue a PhD has to go through the MS route in most cases with the exceptions of years of research and development experience. In terms of choice of country and their work permit laws, Table 3 clearly depicts the duration of courses along with the time given to obtain recruitment. Table 3 gives rise to the question of a 1-year course against a 2-year one in any specialisation. The school of thought for 2-year programmes has always contended that these programmes are more
Table 4: Specialisations and compensation Mid-career Projected employment increase median pay for common jobs associated (in USD) with this degree (in %) Electrical Engineering 124,000 18 Finance 119,000 18.60 Physics 117,000 22 Computer Science 114,000 21.30 Civil Engineering 102,000 19 Information Systems 101,000 30 Physician Assistant Studies 98,800 22 Nursing 88,600 26 Public Health 84,100 30.50 Occupational Therapy 81,000 33 Specialisation
Lack of information Despite the viral effect of virtuality, there are still two impediments, of sorts, amongst Indians: spoonfeeding and hearsay. India hits the pit of the worm-hole with hearsay, and this is a critical issue while seeking guidance for international education. Every Indian “knows someone who knows someone” who has had a certain type of experience while
iii. Work-permit after graduation iv. Jobs available after graduation As a thumb-rule, fresh graduates with up to two years of work experience are eligible for: i. Any MS programme with any specialisation of their choice ii. Masters of International Management Programme
cover story
Similarly, it can be seen from the chart above that candidates from various backgrounds who pursue an MBA abroad venture into the below industries pre-MBA to post-MBA. It can be seen that fresh MBAs mostly venture out into Consulting and/or professional services. Naturally, banking and the financial sector are the second largest, followed by HR, manufacturing, IT and FMCG. Therefore, there is a realistic scope to pursue a career in the industry of your choice, along with a reasonable ROI and salary/
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Table 5: A snapshot of the global R&D spend is provided below Global countries 2009 GERD PPP* Share of total global R&D spending billions on R&D billions, US$ spending America US Asia Japan China India Europe Rest of the world
437.1 383.5 386.9 144.6 142.5 24.1 280.2 39 1143.2
38.20% 33.60% 33.80% 12.60% 12.50% 2.10% 24.50% 3.40% 100% *PPP - Purchasing Power Parity GERD - Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D Source - Battelle, R&D Magazine
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intricate and inward learning with a probable opportunity to do an internship. On the other hand, the 1-year programme is generally considered to be an intense and advanced learning, whereby the student is expected to know the basics beforehand and brush up on them during the course of the programme. The crux of investing in an international degree usually is seeking better employment opportunities abroad after the degree, aside from the aforementioned salary packages. The most critical learning in an international education is global employability — executing business decisions across international markets and dealing with crosscultural environments. Given in Table 4 are the bestpaying Masters’ degree jobs with their mid-career median pay and projected employment increase for common jobs associated with the respective degrees. It is imperative to understand that the average course cost for a Masters degree in the below specialisations is US$50,000, proving that the ROI is less than 1 year in the first year of employment.
bonus package after pursuing an international education. Moreover, as far as research and development is concerned, the pragmatic opportunities available to an Indian student after his graduation in India are far and few between, primarily due to the lack of foreign direct investment in India and, consequently, the absence of R&D centres across India. Table 5 shows the R&D spend by the top countries around the world and India’s own R&D. This is in direct correlation to the nature of jobs and salaries available to students in India compared to ones abroad as discussed above. Finally, to sum up, pursuing an international education is certainly a strain on the finances of an average Indian family. One might feel the pinch of this investment and get bogged down with the myths of the apparently unobtainable admission to an international B-school, but the facts are far too real. At the end of the day, what it all boils down to is the upward impetus it gives to an individual’s career graph. A
Advanc’edge MBA July 2014
mba buzz
Should B-schools focus on Big Data & Analytics? Today, Big Data is fast becoming a much heard of term. Almost all businesses are looking to identify, analyse and interpret the enormous amounts of data that is readily available. Business schools too, therefore, should follow suit, and give high importance to Big Data Analytics. Prof Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool
W
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hy is everyone suddenly talking of Big Data and its role in modern commerce? Simply because it gives you a detailed overview and equips businesses with the know how to plan their moves. Big data analytics is now at the heart of the modern enterprise’s business strategy. And big data itself has the customer at its core. The beneficiary club spreads across sectors, taking under its span almost all of them, including retail, financial services, manufacturing, energy, advertising and public relations, research analysis, government, energy, media and communication and, above all, e-commerce. E-commerce draws its charisma from big data. E-businesses resort to big data to customise offerings in real time. Advertisers place their ads to their maximum advantage by doing their homework on TV programmes and their viewership, and then placing their ads accordingly. A judicious selection of the right marketing tactics at the micro-segment level brings in higher returns on advertising investments. And this is just a small part of the spectrum. Leaders worldwide have used big data to win their electoral campaigns over their
Advanc’edge MBA July 2014
rivals. Flashback: In the 2012 US presidential election, the Democrats used it to have an Orwellian knowledge of their electorates. Closer home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team cannot discount the use of social media and the entailing big data in their thumping victory in the May 2014 general elections. What exactly is Big Data? “Big data” refers to data sets whose volume and type make it impossible to process and analyse them with conventional database technologies. Therefore, we need tools that can structure the data, and intelligently present only what is relevant and contextual. It brings up underlying patterns in the vast sea of data. This keeps building up with activities like the page visits, login
and transactions one goes through, online behaviour, call records and a lot of other collected data. In the tech era of today, an unprecedented amount of information is available in digital form, rendering the volumes huge, the velocity at which it flows in great and the content diverse. The discipline This process of studying large amounts of data on diverse aspects to uncover underlying patterns, correlations and other business relevant information to make appropriate changes in the business and its operations is called Big Data Analytics. This provides a competitive edge, details of stakeholders’ behaviours, preferences and other playing patterns that would have otherwise
Talking in context of US Presidential Elections, 2012 An even more significant achievement was the collation of vast amounts of data used to motivate voters. “The biggest idea we brought to bear was integrating data and then acting on what it told us,” says Dan Wagner, who ran the analytics team (US Presidential Elections, 2012). “Through the single database we built, we could tie everything together and make an assessment based on all of somebody’s online activities, whether or not what we were doing was actually producing offline outcomes.” — Corporations want Obama’s Winning Formula, Bloomberg BusinessWeek
mba buzz escaped attention. This, in turn, gives business a better understanding of customer behaviour, as the ability to customise, streamline operations, boost performances, check on irregularities intentional or otherwise, research and innovate and a lot more. It helps companies in taking more pragmatic business decisions.
analytics will also to improve speed and reduce complexity.
B schools – connecting the dots B-schools, as they raise talent catering to businesses, have to equip the young minds they train with the talent of deciphering huge amounts of data (big data), to winkle out relevant underlying patterns and to use the same to enhance business interests. The new information sources and new technologies in data handling and analytic software together provide immense capabilities for using information. With an ever shrinking globe and intense competition among the increasing number of players in any field, the businesses will require to keep themselves abreast of any changes in markets, strategies, customer behaviour or any other fluctuation that can be anticipated. And this can be pretty well prognosed with data analytics. And within the organisation, the IT department has to make sure how the process works swimmingly. The application and benefits spread across sectors, industries and geographies. Businesses are realising the importance of big data to identify business requirements and then design the infrastructure, data sources and analytics to support the business opportunity. So if you are in business of teaching business excellence, you have to train your constituents in the craft of connecting the dots amidst a sea of data. They have to be trained to dive in and come out with relevant underlying patterns and to use these appropriately. And this is what Data Analytics is all about. A
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Future of the data analysts Data Analytics will emerge as a core practice/discipline that will give invaluable insights into customers’ behaviour. The role of big data professionals deals with the identification, definition and shipping of specific data products aimed to Data pundits/ scientists solve critical business problems With the improved digitalised and maximise opportunities. It will mechanisms in place to collect, require product management and organise and analyse large sets of data experience, along with a deep data, big data scientists will have the understanding of data science, and crucial role in identifying the data that will become the norm as companies is most important to the business. recognise that they are in the business Organisations are keenly looking of data. New applications emerging for meaningful patterns deciphered on the scene will offer a wider range by data pundits to make necessary of analytics, including reporting, changes in their operations to stay dashboards and planning, predictive ahead in the competition. Efficient analytics, recommendations, and new data analytics platforms can boost cognitive capabilities for transactional, the sales, efficiency, and improve social, mobile, and other data types. operations, customer service and This will have a multiplier effect. risk management. It can open doors Data Analytics has a huge potential to customisation and personalisation to enhance the human experience, of customer experience. Most though it might often be difficult to important on the list are areas that collect, filter, analyse and interpret to focus on increasing efficiencies gain those cherished insights. And and optimising operations. Big data data scientists and the related big data gurus should be gainfully (and lucratively) employed for years to Zest (a fast growing financial come. The demand for technology company) and companies data analysts will rise like it claim that many people who and will be empowered have traditionally been denied credit through easy-to-use tools – either because they lack a record to leverage insights. of previous borrowing, or because As organisations that record is bad – will be validated improve internal by their broader approach to credit processes and systems to collect, organise and scoring. By using “big data” records analyse large sets of sourced from individuals’ social data, Big Data Analytics network and internet footprints, will continue to play typical credit scores can end up 40 an important role. per cent higher, Zest says. Data analysts will be empowered through — Big data lends new Zest to banks’ easy-to-use tool that credit judgments leverage the insights By Patrick Jenkins, Financial Times of data scientists, by
providing real-time forecasts and recommendations in their day-today business tools. Better analytics will make data analysis more effective, while automation frees up data scientists to focus on strategic initiatives and unlock further value in corporate data stores. Companies cutting across sectors are upgrading their traditional data sets to get a more detailed picture of their customers with more predictive models.
Advanc’edge MBA July 2014
mba buzz
News in brief Indian Americans star as commencement speakers at US colleges Several Indian Americans were on the list of commencement speakers at US colleges this year. US Attorney Preet Bharara and actresscomedian Vera Mindy Chokalingam, better known as Mindy Kaling, gave commencement speeches at Harvard Law School. Giving speeches at other colleges were the likes of Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga at NYU’s Stern School of Business, analyst Fareed Zakaria at Sarah Lawrence College, physician Atul Gawande at the University of North Carolina, and actor Kal Penn (Kalpen Mody) at DePauw University.
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ome H e re a re s i nt e re st i n g t it bit s f ro m st o ve r t h e l a m o nt h
Ivy League’s Brown University to start offering MBA degree Brown University has decided to offer a Master’s degree in Business Administration for the first time. Currently, the university offers an Executive MBA programme in collaboration with Madrid’s IE Business School, where students are awarded a degree from the latter. Now, students will receive degree from both universities. With this move, Brown University joins the likes of Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, et al in the Ivy League, whose students receive the prestigious Ivy League degrees. This leaves Princeton as the only Ivy League school not offering an MBA degree.
Delhi University set to introduce new MBA courses Students aspiring to do an MBA will soon have the option of enrolling themselves in Delhi University’s two new MBA courses, which will soon be introduced under Faculty of Commerce and Business in Delhi School of Economics (DSE). A proposal has been put forward to introduce two courses - MBA (International Business) and MBA (Human Resource and Organisational Development). To facilitate this, the DU is doing away with its Masters in International Business and Masters in Human Resource courses.
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Flipkart planning to recruit from Harvard, Wharton, Stanford Indian e-commerce giant Flikart will soon recruit management talent from the likes of Harvard, Stanford and Wharton’s batches of 2015. According to Flipkart, this is part of its plan to acquire management and technology talent from global campuses. Number of recruits and salaries offered are still to be revealed. Last year, Flipkart hired 63 management interns and made a total of 172 offers to the class of 2014 at IITs and B-schools. India gets first PGDM in Luxury Management Luxury Connect Business School (LCBS) has collaborated with international universities to provide a global perspective to its students. LCBS has introduced a Post Graduate Diploma in Luxury Management from August 2014 onwards. In affiliation with the ‘International University of Monaco’, the program is designed for students to understand not just the nuances of handling luxury in India, but also to achieve an international perspective.
Advanc’edge MBA July 2014
student silhouette
Deciding which test is as important as the prep With a 99.92 percentile in the CET, VARUNA KAMATH claimed the state’s 20th rank overall. Her score was a result of smart preparation, determined use of limited time, and probably most importantly, the correct assessment of which test to write. In this article, she shares her journey from the gates of Accenture to the gates of JBIMS.
M
y tryst with MBA entrance exams began in the final year of engineering. There were many students clear about their path ahead after graduation, but to tell you the truth, I wasn’t one of them. I simply wrote the CAT because at the time, most students had to opt between two choices – MS or MBA. I discarded MS as a choice simply because I wanted to stay in India. Also, to me, an MBA signalled a top job and a fat paycheck. However, I managed to get a 96.89 percentile in CAT, and no calls from IIM. Varuna Kamath
B.Tech, VJTI, 4.5 years with Accenture Services PVT Ltd, as Software Engineer IMS CET topper - 99.92 percentile
wanted to go. At this juncture, I felt quite demotivated, as if things were not going my way, and it appeared as if the MBA would be out of my reach.
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Mistakes in hindsight In hindsight, I can tell that my mindset wasn’t correct. In my final year of college, I wasn’t realistic about what an MBA course was or what it would actually impart to a student. Later, however, my work experience opened my eyes and helped me realise that an MBA might not always imply a top executive or Previous attempts managerial position in a multinational After I graduated, I started working, company, but can also make you an with the MBA always at the back of expert in a domain of your strength. my mind. Two years into my work, Then again, if you don’t want to I decided to try for an MBA again. remain in one particular domain, This time, I left no stone unturned. I the curriculum and internships will wrote all the entrance exams, took a expose you to different work patterns leave of absence from work for two and scenarios, to make you better months. But again, the results spelled equipped to handle various roles at out this – I missed getting a call from various levels across industries. one college by three marks, couldn’t The second blunder I had convert my interview with another, committed was writing all the and the one call from a college I did entrance exams. Now there are convert turned out to be not where I certainly brighter minds than mine for whom top scoring in all MBA entrance INITIALLY, THERE ARE exams would be BLUNDERS, BUT ONE GETS a piece of cake. Or perhaps there USED TO THE RHYTHM. are those who
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can use six months to a year of their lives and spend it only in coaching classes, their noses buried in books and newspapers. I realised that I wasn’t in either group. If I had to take another shot at this, I would have to narrow down the universities based on my preferences, judge the exam content and difficulty, and finally decide which exam I would most likely want to and be able to crack. At this point I realised my preferences were mainly the return on investment and location. I also realised that I could not realistically think of getting a 99.99 percentile in the CAT. So this left me with the CET, and aiming for JBIMS.
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The beginning of preparation Fortunately for me, the CET was reintroduced in 2014. I started my preparation in January, as I had already taken the CET earlier and therefore only had to revise, not relearn the basics. The most important factor here was time. I needed to manage that properly, as I could not take long vacations at this time and had to work 10 hour shifts for five days a week. Most of what I say now can be considered as pointers by future aspirants, but please bear in mind that your preparation entirely depends on your intelligence, studying and improving capacity, and the time you have. For me, I decided to spend a
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month just on sharpening my Quant skills and focusing on bettering my speed, as in the CET, 200 questions need to be solved in just 150 minutes. I had always been strong in Verbal, so I wasn’t worried there. I would practice daily, for around two hours, late into the night as I’ve never been a morning person. If it got too tiring I would take a one-day break, but I made it a point not to leave off practising till the weekend. I felt having too long gaps between my study sessions wouldn’t help. As I practised quant, I also monitored my question solving speed, trying to keep my solving at less than one minute. Initially one makes blunders, but one gets used to the rhythm. Finally, I made sure not to get too fed up with any single area by switching to another every hour. For instance, after one hour of Geometry & Mensuration, I would switch to synonyms-antonyms (my “comfort zone” ) for another half hour and then take a break. After that, I would solve some logical puzzles for another 45 minutes to one hour (Logic for me lies between Verbal and Quant in difficulty.) The simulated tests begin In February, I started taking simulated (or mock) tests over the weekends, while continuing individual problem practice over the weekdays. I tried to adopt a different strategy for every
mock test, so in the end I would be able to identify the strategy that would be best suited for me. For example, I started leaving tough RCs for the end, and my approach to slightly simpler RCs was to not read it completely, but look at the question and skim through the paragraphs till I got my answer, as in simple RCs, the answer is direct. I also tried to give each mock test as if it were my last. Analysis of mock tests takes a lot of time, but it helps to identify weak areas, which I would then practice over the weekdays. In March, I could only take four days off from work before the exam. I took one mock test on each of those days, and spent the remaining time analysing a couple of previous mock tests. It helps to keep a relaxed attitude before and while going into the exam, and this applies not just to the CET, but to all others as well. Your instinct would tell you if you have done enough to deserve a good turnout, so just keep that thought in mind and don’t get stressed out. Success, and what follows I scored a 99.92 percentile in CET 2014 with a state rank of 20, and am waiting for the admission process to begin, though my heart tells me I shall finally manage to enter the hallowed campus of JBIMS as a student. At the same time, I still want to keep in mind that although the next two years will be dedicated entirely to the world of MBA, it would ultimately be for a job. So I would urge eager MBA aspirants to not disappear completely into their world of MBA preparations for so long that you become oblivious to everything else. I did it for around three months and I wouldn’t have for any longer than that. In addition, use your free time wisely, enjoy the time spent with family and friends, cultivate your hobbies and even join an NGO to spend time for a cause you believe in, and maintain this even if you get the college of your choice. I am still trying to. A
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The Insider - 1999
Top 10 movies
every busine ss student mus t watch Wall Street - 1987
Director: Oliver Stone Actors: Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Tamara Tunie Genre: Crime, Drama Synopsis: Bud Fox is a Wall Street stockbroker in early 1980's New York with a strong desire to get to the top. Working for his firm during the day, he spends his spare time working an on angle with the high-powered, extremely successful (but ruthless and greedy) broker Gordon Gekko. Taking the advice, “greed is good” and working closely with Gekko, Fox soon finds himself swept into a world of yuppies, shady business deals, the good life, fast money, and fast women; something which is at odds with his family, including his estranged father and the blue-collared way Fox was brought up. In MBA or business, we talk a lot about ethics. Are they always followed or often compromised? Greed, insider trading, and going to the top are just a few of the things Wall Street will show you. One of the best movies on business, stock market and ethics. Not to be missed for an MBA student!
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Director: Michael Mann Actors: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller Synopsis: Balls-out 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman sniffs a story when a former research biologist for Brown & Williamson, Jeff Wigand, won't talk to him. When the company leans hard on Wigand to honour a confidentiality agreement, he gets his back up. Trusting Bergman and despite a crumbling marriage, he goes on camera for a Mike Wallace interview and risks arrest for contempt of court. Westinghouse is negotiating to buy CBS, so CBS attorneys advise CBS News to shelve the interview and avoid a lawsuit. 60 Minutes and CBS News bosses cave, Wigand is hung out to dry, Bergman is compromised, and the CEOs of Big Tobacco may get away with perjury. The film is a story of an insider who takes on an entire company that is involved in wrongdoing. If you are an MBA student, The Insider is a must watch for ethics, integrity and the issues of a whistleblower.
countdown Citizen Kane - 1941 Director: Orson Welles Actors: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore Genre: Drama, Mystery Synopsis: A group of reporters are trying to decipher the last word ever spoke by Charles Foster Kane, the millionaire newspaper tycoon: “Rosebud”. The film begins with a news reel detailing Kane's life for the masses, and then from there, we are shown flashbacks from Kane's life. As the reporters investigate further, the viewers see a display of a fascinating man's rise to fame, and how he eventually fell off the “top of the world.” Citizen Kane is an all time classic for MBA students. The movie teaches students about the issues and challenges they might face in what they are doing, but that sticking to ethics is their choice.
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Office Space - 1999
Director: Mike Judge Actors: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, David Herman Genre: Comedy
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Synopsis: Office Space is a comedic tale of company workers who hate their jobs and decide to rebel against their greedy boss. This comedy is about an individual who one day decides he's fed up and won't put up with the everyday drone of the 9-to5 anymore. So, while everyone else is clocking in he's busy clocking out. This movie is an inside look at office politics at its finest. It is a case study in bad management and will give you an up, close and personal look at exactly what consultants do. As MBAs, at one time in our past or sometime in our future, we can all relate to this movie, and thus it's perfect to be included on this list.
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countdown Synopsis: The story begins as “Don” Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia family, oversees his daughter's wedding with his wife Carmela. His beloved son Michael has just come home from the war, but does not intend to become part of his father's business. The business chief of the Mafia is just like the head of the family, kind and benevolent to those who give respect, but given to ruthless violence whenever anything stands against the good of the family. An up and coming rival of the Corleone family wants to start selling drugs in New York, and needs the Don's influence to further his plan. The clash of the Don's fading old world values and the new ways will demand a terrible price, especially from Michael, all for the sake of the family. The movie is a lesson in adherence to personal values. In one of the most famous lines in the film, Michael's character says, “It's not personal, it's strictly business" while referring to a murder. Should we — can we — ever separate our professional lives from personal values?
The Godfather - 1972
Director: Francis Ford Coppola Actors: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan Genre: Crime, Drama
Something Ventured - 2011 Director: Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine Actors: Bill Bowes, Herbert Boyer, Po Bronson Genre: Documentary, Biography, History
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Synopsis: Behind some of the world's most revolutionary companies are a handful of men who (through timing, foresight, a keen ability to size up other people, and a lot of luck) saw opportunity where others did not: these are the original venture capitalists. All were backing and building companies before the term “venture capital” had even been coined, companies that led to the birth of biotechnology and the spectacular growth in microprocessors, personal computers and the web. Something Ventured uncovers the ups and downs of the building of some of the greatest companies of the twentieth century, and the hidden dramas behind some of the most famous names in business.
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Inside Job - 2010
Director: Charles Ferguson Actors: Matt Damon, William Ackman, Daniel Alpert Genre: Documentary, Crime Synopsis: Inside Job provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over US$20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China. The film is a shocking post mortem of the most significant global economic crisis in decades, pointing to shared culpability across many financial institutions, government organisations, and business leaders.
countdown Smartest Guys in the Room - 2005 Director: Alex Gibney Actors: John Beard, Tim Belden, Barbara Boxer Genre: Documentary Synopsis: Enron dives from the seventh largest US company to bankruptcy in less than a year in this tale told chronologically. The emphasis is on human drama, from suicide to 20,000 people sacked. Along the way, we watch Enron game California's deregulated electricity market, get a free pass from Arthur Andersen (which okays the dubious mark-to-market accounting), use greed to manipulate banks and brokerages (Merrill Lynch fires the analyst who questions Enron's rise), and hear from both Presidents Bush what great guys these are. The film is a real life lesson in business ethics. It makes you think and be cautious of things that appear too good to be true. This film is not only a good watch but is almost a class in itself, and even more important because it actually happened. It is a must watch for any MBA student; it will remain with you and cause you to really think about the difference between doing things right and doing the right things!
Mad Men (TV Series) - 2007 Creator: Matthew Weiner Actors: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser Synopsis: Mad Men is a drama series about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper. The agency is enjoying success, but the advertising game becomes more competitive as the industry develops. The agency must adapt to ensure its survival. Don Draper is a talented ad executive at the top of his game, but the secrets from his past and his present threaten to topple his work and family life. Despite being based in the 50's and 60's, Mad Men still exhibits many of the fundamentals of marketing that will never change.
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The Office (TV Series) - 2005
Synopsis: A remake of the hit 2001 BBC TV series The Office (2001), this is a mockumentary that documents the exploits of a paper supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Made up of head chief Michael Scott, a harmlessly deluded and ignorantly insensitive boss who cares about the welfare of his employees while trying to put his own spin on company policy. With an office including the likes of various peers who have their own hangups, The Office (2005) takes an interesting look at the lives of its co-workers.
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Creator: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant Actors: Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer
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The first 100 days:
The Modi government’s agenda It is with a strong mandate that the Narendra Modi government came to power, and there a whole host of issues that it now has to tackle in its 100-day agenda. From controlling inflation to creating an efficient bureaucracy, the government has a lot on its hands. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
U
ndoubtedly, it is an enormous responsibility for the Narendra Modi government to deliver, especially given the tall promises it has made during the course of its journey to power. Within days of taking charge, the Prime Minister “broadly” listed out his government’s high level priorities for the first 100 days. Modi prioritised the new government’s focus mentioning a few high level issues. His primary thrust was governance; he highlighted the importance of a robust bureaucracy and committed to empower them so that they would be able to play a crucial role in governance. Striking an instant rapport with the bureaucrats and getting them on board has been a laudable strategy.
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Narendra Modi
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Spelling out priority areas for his government, Modi asked his cabinet ministers to set their own 100-day agenda. One of his first moves was to hand-pick and appoint Nripendra Misra, a seasoned bureaucrat who earlier headed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, as his Principal Secretary. He scrapped the forum of Group of Empowered Ministers, a decision-making machinery popularised by the UPA government. This abolition is a signal of the importance the Prime Minister’s office will henceforth have in coordination of inter-ministerial issues; the objective of doing away with the GoM is also purportedly to speed up decision making in a timebound manner. Modi has also promised transparency and committed to use e-auction in government procurement projects, wherever possible. Areas like education, healthcare, water, energy and roads have been mentioned as priority areas. Policy reforms will be focused on infrastructure creation and investments. These are very high level “vision” kind of statements, and cabinet ministers need to drill down further to create an actionable plan that can be monitored and managed. Over the first 30 days of governance,
the priority areas for the new government were further elaborated upon in various forums, including in the address of the President of India to both houses of Parliament. The inflation issue Controlling food inflation is one of the issues that are at the top of the Modi government’s agenda. In the first monetary policy review meeting after Narendra Modi’s swearing in as the new Prime Minister of India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left interest rates unchanged. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan indicated that further the RBI might not increase the interest rates any further if inflation continues to be under control. However, within days after the RBI’s decision to hold the interest rates, India’s wholesale price-based inflation scaled a five month high and touched 6.01 per cent, primarily driven by increased food item prices. Food inflation is now inching close to 10 per cent. Consumer inflation is still more than 8.6 per cent, compared to the targeted range of 8 per cent by January 2015 and 6 per cent by 2016. Moreover, with the ongoing turbulent geopolitical situation in Iraq, which has already started pushing up international crude oil
corporate world prices, and the threat of a potentially a weak monsoon looming on the horizon, further pressure on inflation is inevitable. Therefore, it does not look like the RBI will be in a position to decrease interest rates in the coming quarters. This in turn means that it might take more time for growth to kick-start, which is certainly not good news for the Modi government! Helping the farmer Nevertheless, the government has demonstrated that it has started working with the various state governments and farmer cooperatives on initiatives that will ease supply side constraints in the food value chain. The state governments have been asked to take effective steps to prevent hoarding and black marketing and the government is also looking at options as to how farmers can circumvent the middlemen. All of these issues could enhance the supply of food items to the market, thereby easing the high prices. In the longer term, of course, increased spending on roads, warehouse and cold-storage infrastructure will help achieve this objective much better. The farmer also needs to be released from the clutches of the middle men who currently finance the farmers; this needs to be addressed through institutional and grassroots financing that effectively reach such farmers.
Infosys – Change in leadership Infosys shares fell by more than 7 per cent following a series of senior management exits, including B.G. Srinivas, who was widely believed to become the company’s next CEO, and Prasad Thrikutam, who left to join Dell. Within weeks, Infosys swiftly announced the appointment of Vishal Sikka as its CEO, with Narayana Murthy resigning from the executive position. The market has viewed a young and illustrious leader’s taking guard as a positive development, which also gives the 1.7 lakh odd employees a great level of stability and comfort factor. Qatar Airways shows interest in IndiGo Qatar Airways, an aggressive Middle Eastbased airline that is expanding globally, has been showing keen interest in taking an equity stake in India’s successful airline IndiGo, which today enjoys the largest market share, ahead of Air India and Jet Airways. However, IndiGo has not responded to Qatar Airway’s statement. The Indian airline industry is going through a difficult situation, with losses mounting and debt piling up. IndiGo is reported to have weathered through the difficult cycle and seems to be making some profits. Opening up online retailing It is expected that the government is seriously considering formally allowing global online retailers like Amazon to operate in India. This will be a good decision, as it will spur manufacturing activity and consumption in the growing Indian economy, and make homegrown e-commerce companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal more efficient. This move could positively contribute in bringing back vibrancy to consumption and thereby uplift India’s sagging economic growth to above 5 per cent.
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Rupee weakens due to Iraq crisis The Indian rupee is showing signs of weakening with the ongoing civil war in Iraq. Crude oil imports are a substantial portion of India’s foreign currency demand, and with the Iraq crisis showing signs of turning into a civil war, it is bound to have a major impact on the global crude oil price. This in turn will reflect on India’s foreign currency demand, weakening the Indian rupee.
Business optimism improves The Purchasing Managers’ Index, which is considered to be a good indicator of optimism and business activity in the economy, showed positive improvement during May 2014, the first increase in the last 12 months. The factory activity also expanded at a slightly faster pace during May. The huge mandate provided to the Narendra Modi government and the expectation that growth will return to the economy has uplifted the business sentiments and optimism.
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Manufacturing and infrastructure Correctly recognising the importance of a vibrant manufacturing sector, Modi has spelt out initiatives for boosting this industry and creating more jobs. Importance is also being given to the various agro-based industries that will improve both growth and ease supply side issues with respect to food items. On the cards is a revival of employment exchanges and skills training with the mantra “skill, scale and speed”, and focus is being given on this. Using dedicated freight corridors in order to attract
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE
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corporate world international investment and creating much what Modi has indicated to globally competitive manufacturing be a priority. Having set a target of hubs have also been indicated as a shaping the country into a “digital priority for the government. India”, the government intends to use Clearance for infrastructure information technology and connect projects, especially road projects, the Centre right up to the level of need to be put on a fast track, and village Panchayats, to streamline all pending approvals need to be government processes and enhance addressed. Not more than 15 per delivery. cent of the road projects that were Fighting corruption and black targeted in 2013 were actually money has been spelt out as another awarded. The energy sector needs priority; in fact, a special investigation to complement India’s growth team has already been appointed The NDA government has to bring back the black money dreams. Underwater exploration promised to eradicate corruption lodged overseas. The government in the oil and gas sector, lack of coal feedstock for power message to Coal India to increase has also spelt out its intention to plants and a number of unsorted supply to power plants. modernise the legal system, clear the issues in terms of pricing (the gas mammoth backlog of pending cases pricing policy, for instance) are all a Fighting corruption and black money and make the legal system simpler, drag on India’s development story. For investments to kick in, and for quicker and more effective. The Modi It is a fact that power deficiency has growth and development to follow, government has also clearly signalled seriously dented the country’s growth a clean, efficient and corruption free a zero tolerance attitude towards prospects. As a beginning counter, the government focused on delivery terrorism and enhancing relationships energy minister has sent out a strong is a prerequisite, and this is pretty with India’s neighbours Pakistan and China. A number of regulatory issues needs to be addressed in key Cabinet Ministers of India sectors, all of which will impact the Name Portfolio country’s economic growth; telecom, Narendra Modi Prime Minister, Personnel, Public Grievances and banking and pulling out the aviation Pensions, Dept of Atomic Energy and Space sector from virtual bankruptcy have Rajnath Singh Home Affairs been indicated as issues that require Sushma Swaraj External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs immediate attention. Arun Jaitley Finance, Corporate Affairs, Defence
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M Venkaiah Naidu Nitin Gadkari
Urban Development, Parliamentary Affairs Transport, Shipping, Rural Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation D.V. Sadananda Gowda Railways Uma Bharati Water Resources, River Development Dr Najma A Heptulla Minority Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Kalraj Misra Micro and SMEs Maneka Gandhi Women and Child Development Ananth Kumar Chemical and Fertilizers Ravi Shankar Prasad Communications and IT, Law Ashok Gajapathi Raju Civil Aviation Anant Geete Heavy Industries, Public Enterprises Harsimrat Kaur Badal Food Processing Industries Narendra Singh Tomar Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment Jual Oram Tribal Affairs Radha Mohan Singh Agriculture Thaawar Gehlot Social Justice and Empowerment Smriti Irani Human Resource Development Harsh Vardhan Health and Family Welfare
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Summary As one would expect, these issues number up to quite a few, and resolving them requires serious time, effort and politicking. At the moment, there is no single concrete plan or a precise mode of prioritisation that would give a clear road map for execution and turning around India’s fortunes. Even if the government is just able to broach these issues, albeit merely on the surface, during the first 100 days, it would still be good enough. The government and its cabinet will need to sincerely approach these issues in a proactive manner in order to fulfil its poll promises. Given the strong mandate with which the government came to power, there would be really no excuse if the government fails. A
corporate world
- Rise of the emerging Internet giant Although little known outside China, Alibaba is a giant in that country’s e-commerce space, and is now gearing up for an historic IPO in the US. Whether it will succeed in overthrowing the stigma attached to Chinese e-commerce firms remains to be seen. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
A
libaba, the internet giant of China, is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States; what is special is that this would be the largest IPO ever made in US corporate history! The company has filed for an IPO for around $20 billion, much higher than Facebook’s historic $16 billion IPO a couple of years ago. The more astounding fact leaps out when one reads the profile of this company — Alibaba is valued at a range of US$170 billion to US$250 billion. To put this in perspective, given its top of the range valuation, Alibaba is likely to feature in the top five most valuable companies in the US, which includes global giants like Apple, Google, General Electric, Microsoft and Exxon Mobil. Its valuation will be much higher than US’s own e-commerce giant Amazon and social media company Facebook. But where did Alibaba come from and what is it? This is turning out to be the standard question in everybody’s mind, including in the US, given that anything coming from China comes shrouded in secrecy and taken, usually, with
a grain of salt, and more importantly, Alibaba being a predominantly Chinese internet company that is less than fifteen years old. Not much information about the company has globally percolated, not yet anyway.
Alibaba is gearing up for an historic IPO in the US 25
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The company in brief Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce company, promoted by schoolteacher Jack Ma, which transacts more than Amazon and eBay put together! Jack Ma owns about 9 per cent of Alibaba and controls the management of the company. Other major shareholders are SoftBank of Japan, which holds 35 per cent, and Yahoo!, with around 23 per cent. Alibaba.com commenced operations in 1999 as a businessto-business portal connecting international buyers to Chinese manufacturers. With China being an export hub with numerous aggressive small and medium sized manufacturers, the portal worked wonders in seamlessly providing an outlet for Chinese goods globally.
B2B – Taobao Its Taobao business operates a consumer-to-consumer business, similar to eBay. Taobao is a marketplace where it facilitates more than 50 lakh small and medium sized sellers to offer close to a hundred crore different products to around 25 crore active buyers across the country. What’s interesting about Taobao is that it is not like Amazon, i.e., it does not purchase products from manufacturers, store them in warehouses and deliver it to customer who order through the website. In contrast, on Taobao, sellers list themselves on the website, and when the buyers use Taobao’s search engine to look for specific products, the name of the relevant sellers appear on screen, connecting them to the buyers. Taobao does not charge specifically for the completed transaction, but the sellers advertise to ensure that their name pops up prominently when the relevant search
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corporate world is made. Taobao makes its income through such advertisement revenue. The beauty of Taobao’s business model is that it is “asset light”, unlike like that of Amazon — Taobao does not make a penny of investment in the merchandise! C2C – Tmall Alibaba also operates a second portal, Tmall, which is also a marketplace connecting top global brands and large global companies to consumers. Here, the companies make a deposit with Tmall and pay a fee for each concluded transaction between the seller and the buyer. Tmall’s revenue is, therefore, primarily through commission and transaction fees. More than half of China’s total shipments delivered are through Taobao and Tmall, and the total transaction value affected crossed more than US$240 billion last year. With such a magnitude, it is safe to conclude that it is nothing less than a phenomenon!
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Alibaba – other businesses Alibaba also supports the online payment from the buyer to the seller through Alipay, a financial services intermediary supporting the two internet portals Taobao and Tmall. Alipay also provides the seller an option to deposit his sale proceeds with Alipay’s “fund management” operations, where a core asset management team provides superior returns, much higher than what the banks usually offer, to the investors through investing such funds in money market operations. Alibaba also runs various related businesses like distributing health insurance products on the internet and cloud computing services. It recently entered the social networking business through acquisition. If one is amazed by the sheer size and scale of Alibaba, the company’s potential growth for the future is simply astounding! Internet
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Unitech divestment Unitech, the second largest real estate player in the country, has decided to sell a substantial part of its stake in the four IT Parks it is currently developing for Brookfield Property Partners for around Rs1,300 crore. It is well known that many real estate companies and developers are in the process of selling assets to secure higher liquidity that would help their companies in reducing high debt levels.
Google’s driverless car now a reality For the last five years, Google has been testing out its driverless car installed in models like the Toyota Prius. Such cars work on a number of radars and sensors linked to a central hub, providing seamless travel to the passengers who only need to enjoy the drive. The testing phase has been enormously successful and accident free. Regulatory approvals for plying driverless cars are also being secured, although cer tain countries and states in the US have shown reservation. Google is now targeting to produce more than 200 cars, to be made available in select cities across the world very soon. Push for implementing GST Finance minister Arun Jaitley has started working closely with the state governments to implement the Goods and Service Tax (GST), which has been delayed for a long time now. The basic issue that needs to be ironed out is how the state governments will be compensated for their lost revenue from sales tax and other indirect taxes, all of which will henceforth be replaced by the GST, and how much of the GST will go to the account of the Central government.
Apple marches forward in wearable devices It has been unofficially reported that Apple is ready to commence mass production of its smart watches; the production is likely to start at Taiwan’s Quanta Computers. Although Samsung already came up with a wearable phone, Apple’s smart watch has generated a lot of interest in the market. With the demise of Steve Jobs, the market had perceived that Apple had lost the innovation quotient and its new product introduction virtually stopped; Apple was coming out more and more with dressed up versions of its iPhones over the last three years. This resulted in a substantial loss in Apple’s market value of its shares over the last few years. This news, if true, could kick start a new chapter in Apple’s corporate story. Wearable devices are expected to have a far reaching impact on life style and personal healthcare.
A T A G L A N C E
corporate world
Jack Ma penetration in China is still somewhat modest — at less than 50 per cent — and there is a long way to go in the next few years. Moreover, mobile phone penetration is aggressively driving online sales, which have grown exponentially. Over the next five years, analysts project the Chinese e-commerce market to become bigger than the entire US and Europe markets put together! Venturing into international waters Hence, through this IPO, Alibaba is wisely raising funds to proactively create capabilities that will allow it to take advantage of these opportunities that are emerging. It has also started to test the waters with respect to international e-commerce; last week it set shop in US, setting up an upmarket portal named “11Main”, where more than a thousand niche up-market merchants offer premium
and luxury goods to selected wealthy consumers who join the portal by way of invitation. By carefully choosing such a niche market segment, 11Main has differentiated itself from Amazon, which caters to a cross section of consumers across all layers of the society. Again, the US is a good choice for Alibaba’s initial geographic diversification, as it is the world’s largest retail market, currently much bigger than China. More than anything else, Alibaba can be credited for the spirit of entrepreneurship it brings into the centrally controlled Chinese economy. Its private sector culture is helping the country to move away from an investmentheavy exportoriented closed model to an internal consumption-driven open model. This has been a major contribution in expanding and integrating China with the global economy. The implications are absolutely mind blowing! Today, the US, the largest consumer in the world, imports substantially from China, and its own American retail stores sell such products in the US, making money. Over the coming years, Alibaba has the potential to dis-intermediate and sell directly to the international buyers, grabbing a
The cons The stigma that is usually attached with Chinese companies, especially when it comes to a lack of transparency, could be a concern for Alibaba. It isn’t as if there is an issue with this particular company, but the lack of knowledge about Alibaba outside China will go against it when investors make up their mind. In the past, Chinese regulators have been quite harsh with some large foreign brands like Google, Facebook and Twitter. With such a baggage, it would be interesting to see how the American regulators actually approach Alibaba and its IPO. There are also concerns with respect to Jack Ma holding veto rights, along with sweeping management control. Although Indian e-commerce is still quite small compared to that of China, Indian e-retailers like Snapdeal are emulating Alibaba’s asset light model. In summary, one can safely say that Alibaba is a true inspiration to internet startup companies around the world. A
IDFC preparing to open a new bank IDFC, along with Bandhan, are the two successful companies that have competed with more than twenty other companies and won banking licenses that have been issued by the Reserve Bank of India. IDFC has announced that it is currently working in tandem with RBI regulations with respect to its shareholding structure, and will be able to start commercial operations of the new bank by October 2015.
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A T A G L A N C E
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Apple’s sneak preview of its future offering Given the kind of companies Apple is acquiring and the alliance partners it is working on, the market has sensed the future areas of innovation Apple could be working on. The two focus areas seem to be concepts like “connected health” and the “smart home”. Apple’s connected health trip will get a boost in such devices, automatically tracking and transmitting health or fitness statistics to a central repository in the cloud, alerting the family physician, along with supporting diagnostics; moving from disease therapy to disease prevention!
substantial part of the business that will no longer pass through such American retailers!
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corporate world
Budget 2014-15: India’s expectations The NDA government will be facing its first massive test soon – announcing the Budget for FY 2014-15. In this article, we discuss what needs to be done, what is expected, and how the budget will be a test of the government’s plans to bring the Indian economy back on track. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
T
he annual budget is generally not a high profile event in many countries, unlike here in India. Ideally there should be no surprises in the budget, if the government is consistently pursuing its economic agenda in a transparent manner. The government’s strategies, how it intends to address emergent international and domestic issues, etc, are generally not routed through the annual budgeting process. The budget is merely an account of how the government is
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intending to manage the finances of the country during the course of the following year. The Union Budget encompasses a set of documents that includes the Annual Financial Statement, Finance Bill, Receipts Budget and Expenditure Budget. A test of character The current budget is the first one that will be presented by the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, for whom the country has given an overwhelming and unprecedented mandate. This
Finance minister Arun Jaitley
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is why the Budget 2014-15 is very important for more than one reason. First of all, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a slew of initiatives to improve governance, control inflation, boost investments, improve diplomatic relations with strategic countries, etc, and a very high level 100-day agenda has been put in place. However, the country is yet to see a concrete plan as to how the government is intending to fulfil the promises it had made during its historic election campaign, which was centred on poverty elimination, economic inclusion and development through good governance. Hence, this budget will be the first concrete document that will test if the new government is in fact walking the talk! The Prime Minister has been dropping hints and warning of harsh decisions that could hurt in the short run, but has asked for the support of the people to ensure the restoring of the long term health of the Indian economy. On these lines, the railway passenger fare hike of 14 per cent was announced, and immediately attracted wide ranging criticism across the country. Ideally, the government should have taken responsibility for this hike and reiterated the
corporate world Prime Minister’s stand, but unfortunately, new railway minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda passed the buck to the earlier UPA government, highlighting that the hike was the UPA’s decision which he was merely implementing. This has been a bit disappointing, and will hopefully be merely a small blip.
A T A G L A N C E
Rumours on SBI merger with its associates Speculation has been rife about the State Bank of India (SBI) merging five of its associate banks with itself. SBI declined to confirm this, directly, merely saying that this has not been taken up formally at this point in time. However, the bank had confirmed that such plans arise, and have been in consideration on many occasions in the past given the benefits the “economies of scale” will play out when smaller banks are merged into a larger entity. This would eliminate many duplicate cost items, including staff, office space, overhead and support infrastructure, as well as the capability to crosssell across a larger volume of customers. On this news, the share price of SBI associate banks jumped by 8 - 14 per cent.
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Amazon showcases its first smartphone Amazon’s new Fire Phone is intended to place the retail store in your palms. Since its core business is online retailing and e-commerce, the Fire Phone is intended to grow its core business and with smartphones being the future, Amazon has intelligently linked this new gadget to shopping. The phone is reported to be capable of recognising the music playing or television shows that are being aired. It can also recognise more than 7 crore products just by photographing them; this could be useful if, for instance, you wanted to buy a shoe which your favourite star was wearing at a particular show. The phone can also recognise text from scanned posters, pages, and business cards. The initial response to the product/ technology has been very encouraging.
government. The current budget should address these issues. Privatising PSUs The government needs to move to the next gear and privatise public
sector units. This has a huge potential to generate substantial revenue, and these companies could also become more professional and market-driven, resulting in superior performance.
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Taxation structure The country’s taxation structure is a crucial area that can have a high impact on revenue enhancement. Taxation revenue from corporate houses is a substantial portion of the country’s receipts; a higher tax rate and confusing tax provisions will encourage tax evasion. The tax rate should be moderate, simple and transparent so that disputes are few and collections are greater and efficient. The overall idea should be to encourage voluntary payment, but entail harsh penalty for evaders. There is substantial scope and opportunity for the new government to address this issue of simplification of the tax structure. In the past, there has been a lot of confusion and loss of trust with foreign and domestic investors with respect to retrospective tax amendments, which greatly increased the risk of doing business in India, and thereby slowed investments down. Furthermore, the prolonged delay of implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is one of the biggest blunders of the UPA government. The new government should not let go of the opportunity to develop concrete measures to address the GST. New finance minister Arun Jaitley is already holding talks with the state governments, without whose support GST cannot be implemented. These have a potential to boost investment, increase voluntary compliance, reduce the cost of tax administration and enhance receipts for the
Rajat Gupta starts serving prison term Former Mckinsey Consultants head and former director of Goldman Sachs Group Rajat Gupta lost his challenge and began serving a two-year prison sentence. He was convicted in 2012 for providing confidential information that he was privy to, being part of the Goldman Sachs board meetings, to his friend Raj Rajaratnam, who made financial profits out of the information provided by Gupta. Although it was proved beyond doubt that Gupta did not make any monetary benefit for himself by passing such insider information, such an act had negatively impacted other shareholders of Goldman Sachs.
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corporate world The privatisation of public sector banks by further diluting the government equity and passing on the operational control to private players, with of course stringent covenants, not only increases government revenue, but also streamlines the financial engine of the economy by bringing in efficient management with greater strategic depth, which is essential for the well being of the currently debt-ridden corporates. It is expected to see a thrust on these lines, in the current budget. For a budgetary surplus and enhanced receipts, more importantly tax receipts, the corporates need a big push in terms of incentives to invest; the manufacturing sector, in particular, needs to be encouraged to invest more. This will also boost the employment rate. A more aggressive tax incentive regime, along with attractive investment allowance, accelerated depreciation, initial tax holidays and reduced excise duty, will be required. Complicated and cumbersome provisions like minimum alternate tax (MAT), which has created a number of pain points for the industry, should be seriously reviewed.
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Personal tax On the personal taxation front, the tax exemption limit, which is currently at `2 lakh could be increased. Especially given the hardships being faced by the middle class in terms of high inflation, it is perceived that this is a very likely possibility and could come as a relief. It is also widely expected that the deduction
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under Section 80C needs to be increased from the current
formation”, such allocation will go towards constructing roads, bridges, power plants, airports and sea ports, all of which will support the country’s GDP to grow. Over the short to medium term, the government should move towards allocating 10 to 12 per cent of the GDP in the annual budget towards Gross Capital Formation, which is currently around 8 per cent. We need to see a glimpse of this in this budget.
Managing the deficits Reviewing the subsidies to ensure that they are sharp and focused, but at the same time reducing their quantum, will be very important for managing the current deficit levels. cap of `1 lakh to twice that Analysts argue that the current level amount or maybe even more. of fiscal deficit would, in reality, be This will go towards increasing much more than the 4.6 per cent that savings in the economy, and such the UPA government had declared. savings can then be appropriately The government should come up channelled towards investments in with a revised target and show a road infrastructure and healthcare. map as to how it will achieve such targets. And the budget is a good Building infrastructure opportunity to spell out its budgetary The biggest test for the NDA deficit targets and its strategy to government would be to achieve these goals. To come out demonstrate a high allocation with flying colours in this issue is towards infrastructure spending. certainly going to be a challenge. The Termed as “gross capital Iraq crisis looming overhead could easily push up the global crude oil price, and given that India imports more than 70 per cent of its crude oil requirement, this will again exert enormous pressure on our current account deficit. With the kind of mandate the people of India have provided to the BJP, it is sincerely hoped that the Prime Minister will take this opportunity to signal an economic trajectory that The government needs to allocate a large the country would be proud of. A share towards building infrastructure
must reads Since you’re planning on doing your MBA, you need to be well read, and not just on current affairs. In this section, we offer you some choices of books that will broaden your perspective, and you will find that you will never be at a loss in a discussion!
F
irst published in 1981, The One Minute Manager took the corporate world by storm with the simple techniques it taught to increase productivity, job satisfaction and personal prosperity. The book is a concise, easily read story about a young man searching for an effective manager. His search takes across the world, but he finds only Autocratic Managers and Democratic Managers, both of whom focus either on results or on people. Finally, he comes across an Effective Manager, who manages themselves and the people so that both the organisation and its employees benefit from their presence. The One Minute Manager is a perfectly straightforward book, simple and easy to read, but propounding profound ideas in three steps: Goal Setting, Praising and Reprimanding. An absolute must read for all future managers. er Title: The One Minute Manag , ard nch Bla Author: Kenneth H. Spencer Johnson Publisher: Harper Collins Price: `78 logy Genre: Management psycho
A
lthough it is the writing of a young woman in her 20s, The Story of My Life is a passionate reading experience that describes the life of a woman whose hearing and sight are impaired. The book goes on to describe the hardships that she had to go through because of her disabilities, and her achievements, which then seem even more monumental. Hardly unsurprisingly, there is not a trace of self-pity throughout the book, although Keller does confess to the occasional bout of frustration. The Story of My Life is a brilliant book written quite eloquently by one of the most famous women in history, someone who changed the world for the better through her life and work. Future managers will no doubt get a lot of food for thought while reading the book. Title: The Story of My Life Author: Helen Keller er Publisher: Simon & Schust 2 Price: `10 Genre: Autobiography
A
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lthough not Dan Brown’s first thriller, or even the first book featuring fictional Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, The Da Vinci Code remains by far the most famous of the author’s works across the world. The book revolves around the ultra-secret society of the Priory of Sion, which guards one of the world’s biggest secret – the location of the Holy Grail – and the attempts of the Church of Christianity to find and destroy it. In one night, the Priory’s top members are killed, and it falls to Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu to decipher the secret and protect it from the wrong hands. The most important feature of The Da Vinci Code is that it builds the story around actual, historical facts, dating back to the time of the Knights Templars. The book is gripping from page one, and takes the reader through a whirlwind rush to the startling ending. Definitely a must read. Title: The Da Vinci Code Author: Dan Brown Stephen J Dubner Publisher: Random House Price: `223 Genre: Thriller, Mystery
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study hour
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 DIRECTIONS for questions 1: Choose the correct alternative. 4. A lecturer uses a microphone while teaching. The 4.8 m x 7.2 m classroom has speakers mounted at the four corners. Whenever the lecturer ventures within 3 m distance of the corners, there is a disturbance on the speakers. What is the maximum distance that he can walk in a single direction, parallel to the longer sides of the room, without any disturbance?
1] 6 m
2] 4.2 m
3] 3.6 m
4] 1.2 m
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AB = 2.4 m. OA = 3 m. So, OP2 = (3)2 – (2.4)2.
AP =
So, OP = 1.8 m. So the maximum distance he can walk in the same direction = OQ = 7.2 – 2 (OP) = 3.6 m.
Hence, [3].
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7. Ankit and Arpit started a cycle race from A to reach B. Arpit cycled at th of Ankit’s speed. Ankit broke some rules of the race and as a penalty had to go back to A after covering half the distance and then resumed the race. How long did Arpit take to finish the race if he won by 10 minutes?
1] 20 minutes
Let time taken by Ankit to travel from A to B be ‘t’ minutes. Since, he travelled twice the distance from A to B, he took ‘2t’ minutes. Since Arpit travels at times Ankit’s speed, he took t minutes to travel from A to B.
2t –
t = 10
2] 25 minutes
3] 45 minutes
4] 80 minutes
t = 15
t = 20 minutes. Time taken by Arpit to finish the race = 20 minutes.
Advanc’edge MBA July 2014
Hence, [1].
study hour 8. The minimum value that the polynomial p(x) = x2 – 7x + c can take is: 1] always 3]
, when c > 13
p(x) = x2 – 7x + c
p(x) =
(on completing the square)
=
Now,
2]
, only when c > 0
4]
always
+
+
0 and attains the minimum value ‘0’ at x =
Minimum value of p(x) is always
,
Hence, [4].
Verbal 33
DIRECTIONS: The sentences given below, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of the sentences, from among the given choices, to construct a coherent paragraph. A. Chronic worriers operate under the misperception that their over-thinking and attempts at controlling every situation allow them to problem-solve and plan for the future. B. Psychologists believe that worry, defined as a person’s negative thoughts about a future event, evolved as a constructive problem-solving behaviour. C. The hyper-vigilance that is the result can lead to cardiovascular problems, ultimately rendering the body unable to cope properly with stress. D. Instead their thought pattern hinders cognitive processing and also causes overstimulation of emotion- and fearprocessing areas in the brain. E. But excessive fretting does more harm than good.
1] ADBEC 2] AEDBC 3] BEADC 4] BAEDC
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Explanation The paragraph is about the fallout of chronic worrying. B starts the paragraph since it defines worry and its use. Since it introduces the idea about how excessive worrying is not good, E has to immediately follow B. A elaborates on what chronic worriers do; D extends the argument and C outlines the health problems it can cause. Thus, BEADC is the correct sequence. Hence, [3].
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study hour
Perils of cyber crime Case was twenty-four. At twenty-two, he’d been a cowboy rustler, one of the best in the Sprawl. He’d been trained by the best, by McCoy Pauley and Bobby Quine, legends in the biz. He’d operated on an almost permanent adrenaline high, a byproduct of youth and proficiency, jacked into a custom cyberspace deck that projected his disembodied consciousness into the consensual hallucination that was the matrix. A thief, he’d worked for other, wealthier thieves, employers who provided the exotic software required to penetrate the bright walls of corporate systems, opening windows into rich fields of data. He’d made the classic mistake, the one he’d sworn he’d never make. He stole from his employers. He kept something for himself and tried to move it through a fence in Amsterdam. He still wasn’t sure how he’d been discovered, not that it mattered now. He’d expected to die, then, but they only smiled. Of course he
WORD DOSE
was welcome, they told him, welcome to the money. And he was going to need it. Because — still smiling —
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they were going to make sure he never worked again. They damaged his nervous system with a wartime Russian mycotoxin. Strapped to a bed in a Memphis hotel, his talent burning out micron by micron, he hallucinated for thirty hours. The damage was minute, subtle, and utterly effective. Excerpt from William Gibson’s Neuromancer
MAT CH T HE W O R D S W IT H T H E IR M EA NING S 1. Rustler – (ruhs-ler) (n) 2. Sprawl – (sprawl) (n) 3. High – (hahy) (adj) 4. Proficiency – (pruh-fish-uh n-see) (n) 5. Jacked – (jakt) (v) 6. Cyberspace – a. – A high degree of skill; expertise b. – An experience involving the apparent perception of something that is not present
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c. – The notional environment in which communication over computer networks occurs d. – A unit of length equal to one millionth of a metre e. – A person who deals in stolen goods
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(sahy-ber-speys) (n)
10. Exotic – (eg-zot-ik) (adj)
7. Disembodied – (dis-em-bod-eed) (adj)
11. Fence – (fens) (n) - A person who deals in stolen goods
8. Consensual – (kuh n-sen-shoo-uh l) (adj)
12. Strapped – (strapt) (v)
9. Hallucination – (huh-loo-suh-ney-shuh n) (n)
f.
– The disorganized and unattractive expansion of an urban or industrial area into the adjoining countryside
g. – Not usually encountered; out of the ordinary h. – an energetic or vigorous person i.
j.
– so delicate or precise as to be difficult to analyse or describe – Relating to or involving
13. Micron – (mahy-kron) (n) 14. Subtle – (suht-l) (adj)
consent or consensus, something that is agreed upon k. – connected to, usually via wire l.
– Feeling euphoric, especially from the effects of drugs or alcohol
m. – Held down or fastened with the help of tethers n. – Separated from or existing without the body
study hour
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study hour
A quiz to boost your General Knowledge
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1. Which of the following is the world’s least peaceful nation, as declared by the Global Peace Index? a. Syria b. Lybia c. Afghanistan d. Iraq
6. The City of Potosi has been recently included in the list of the world’s heritage sites in danger. Where is it located? a. Japan b. China c. Bolivia d. Vietnam
2. Which of the following cities, also called the second city of Iraq, was taken over by extremist militant group ISIS in June 2014? a. Baghdad b. Mosul c. Karbala d. Basra
7. Which of the following athletes is the wealthiest footballer to be playing the FIFA World Cup 2014? a. Lionel Messi b. Neymar c. Gianluigi Buffon d. Christiano Ronaldo
3. Asia’s oldest newspaper, the Bombay Samachar, publishes in which of the following languages? a. Hindi and English b. Hindi and Gujarati c. Hindi and Marathi d. Gujarati and English
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4. Which of the following countries recently published the world’s first Modern Slavery Bill? a. US b. France c. Britain d. Switzerland 5. Name the world’s oldest operating nuclear power plant, working since 1969. a. Obninsk nuclear station b. Beznau nuclear station c. Akkuyu nuclear station d. Kolskaya nuclear station
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8. The Yudh Abhyas is a joint military exercise for counter terrorism conducted between India and which of the following countries? a. Germany b. Sri Lanka c. US d. Saudi Arabia 9. Known for its famous full moon party, Phangan Island is located in which of the following countries? a. Thailand b. Malaysia c. China d. Korea 10. Which of the following countries became the first in Asia to inaugurate a solar-wind power system? a. India b. China c. Bhutan d. Nepal
11. Khagen Mahanta, who died recently, was a/an ____________ music composer and singer. a. Assamese b. Bengali c. Odishi d. Manipuri 12. In the news recently was the Baiji oil refinery, the largest refinery in which of the following countries? a. China b. Iraq c. Iran d. Saudi Arabia 13. Who has been recently named the CEO of Infosys? a. Narayana Murthy b. S.D. Shibulal c. Ashok Arora d. Vishal Sikka 14. Using images provided by cultural organisations around the world, the Street Art Project is a database of street art like murals and road drawings. Which of the following companies started the Street Art Project? a. IBM b. WWF c. Google d. Microsoft 15. The critically acclaimed awardwinning Grave of the Fireflies was a Japanese animated film about what? a. An individual’s coming of age b. Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki c. The Holocaust d. Second World War
study hour 16. Which of the following countries is slated to adopt the Euro currency from January 2015? a. Slovenia b. Lithuania c. Britain d. Romania 17. Name the world’s largest coconut producing country. a. Sri Lanka b. Malaysia c. India d. Philippines 18. The Mossad is the national intelligence agency of which of the following countries? a. Iraq b. Israel c. Iran d. Saudi Arabia 19. Which of the following is known as the “garden of south India”? a. Cauvery Delta b. Nilgiri hills c. Western Ghats d. Kerala 20. Which of the following cricketers was named the Ceat International Cricketer of the year 2013-14? a. MS Dhoni b. Dale Steyn c. Virat Kohli d. Shane Watson
c. France d. China
23. The Disaster Management Act, 2005 has been implemented in all states and Union Territories of India except one. Which of the following is it? a. Tamil Nadu b. West Bengal c. Gujarat d. Chandigarh 24. INS Vikramaditya was originally part of the Soviet Navy, and India purchased it in 2004. INS VIkramaditya has recently been formally inducted into the Indian Navy. What was its previous name? a. Gorbachov b. Baku c. Kiev d. Gorky 25. The Asiatic Lion is currently only found in Gujarat’s Gir National Park. Soon, Kuno Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary is expected to become the lion’s second home. Where is this sanctuary located? a. Rajasthan b. Gujarat c. Madhya Pradesh d. Uttar Pradesh
22. Which of the following countries has decided that it will, for the first time, impose an absolute limit on carbon emission? a. USA b. Russia
27. What was India’s economic growth as of June 2014? a. 4.7% b. 4% c. 5% d. 3.8%
29. Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary has recently launched a “vulture restaurant” to protect the endangered bird. Where is this restaurant located? a. Maharashtra b. Madhya Pradesh c. Gujarat d. Rajasthan 30. Which of the following personalities recently became the first Indian ever to receive the Harvard Medal? a. Ratan Tata b. Anand Mahindra c. Mukesh Ambani d. APJ Abdul Kalam
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31. Who has been named the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha? a. Sumitra Mahajan b. Sushma Swaraj c. Anant Geete d. M Thambidurai 32. Which of the following countries recently inaugurated the world’s highest cable railway system? a. Malaysia b. China c. Slovakia d. Bolivia 33. An Egyptian court recently found three journalists guilty on charges of aiding the Muslim Brotherhood and reporting false news. Which network do the journalists belong to? a. BBC b. CNN c. Al Jazeera d. Fox
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21. Which of the following diseases is also known as the “polio of agriculture”? a. Citrus Canker b. Wheat Rust c. Leaf Blight d. None of the above
26. Recently, technology firm Softbank unveiled a robot named Peeper, which is purported to be able to read human emotions. Softbank is a ___________ company. a. Japanese b. American c. Korean d. German
28. Which of the following telecom providers recently launched 4G services in Kolkata, after launching in Bengaluru and Chandigarh? a. Idea b. Reliance c. Airtel d. Vodafone
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study hour 34. Manmoon Hussain is the current president of which of the following countries? a. Pakistan b. Saudi Arabia c. Afghanistan d. Ghana
40. Gro Harlem Brundtland, who was awarded with the first Tang Prize in sustainable development, is a former Prime Minister of ___?
a. Brazil b. Chile c. Norway d. Netherland
35. Which of the following countries recently declared that it would launch an antiterrorism partnership fund, which will be used to train forces of other countries to counter terrorism? a. UK b. USA c. Germany d. Israel 36. In which year were the National Archives of India established? a. 1920 b. 1905 c. 1891 d. 1945
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37. Who among the following has won the prestigious Pen Pinter Prize-2014? a. Salman Rushdie b. Ronald Clipp c. Arundathi Roy d. J K Rowling
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38. Which among the following is developing the “Project Loon” for providing Internet access to rural and remote areas? a. Facebook b. Microsoft c. Google d. Yahoo! 39. Who among the following has won the Austrian F1 Grand Prix title for 2014? a. Lewis Hamilton b. Valteri Bottas c. Nico Rosberg d. Sergio Perez
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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.A 2.B 3.D 4.C 5.B 6.C 7.D 8.C 9.A 10.D 11.A 12.B 13.D 14.C 15.D 16.B 17.C 18.B 19.A 20.C 21.B 22.D 23.C 24.B 25.C 26.A 27.A 28.C 29.A 30.B 31.A 32.D 33.C 34.A 35.B 36.C 37.A 38.C 39.C 40.C
WORD DOSE
Solution, tips and computer programme at www.sudoku.com
1.h
2.f
3.l
4.a
6.c
7.n 8.j 9.b 10.g
11.e 12.m 13.d 14.i
5.k
Registered with Registrar of Newspapers under RNI No. MAHENG / 03 / 11493 Postal Registration No.: MCN/271/2014-16 , Published on 28th of every previous month Posted at Patrika Channel Sorting office, Mumbai-400 001. Posting date : 1st and 2nd of every month.
CE • T A C •
RE G • T A T •GM
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