editor from the
www.advancedge.com Editor-in-Chief Kamlesh Sajnani
Editor Aditya Prakash Iengar Sr. Correspondent: Alolika Banerjee
Design Uma Shirke, Satish Yadav Sylvester Moses
Advertising Shahid Malek / Rajashree Murthy Tel: 022-6668 0005 / 6617 0000
Head - Publications Anand Sutaria
Circulation / Subscription Ramesh More
Address for Correspondence Advanc’edge MBA, IMS Publications, A Division of IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd., E Block, 6th Floor, NCL Bandra Premises, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai - 400 051.
Contributors Dr Suresh Srinivasan
Do you believe in alternatives? In having a Plan B for your Plan A, a B for your C, and so on?
Let me tell you that most of you whom I have met believe they do. They believe in having a fallback option, something that will ensure that their plans don’t go awry. I’ll also state — somewhat contrarily, if I may say so — that this belief in having an alternative is not the same as actually having one. Now that you’re on the threshold of a brand new world, when you’re stepping out of the shadows of clean, unfettered youth into the gnarly, knotted world of mature adulthood, you’ll be faced with a lot of decisions. These will be miniscule and life-changing and everything between. And let’s face it — not all your decisions will be the right one. How do you ensure that you still manage to do the right thing if your first decision may not be the right one? Think of all the big names the whole world talks about. Steve Jobs dropped out of college (whatever his reasons might have been for doing so!), but he had a vision. That was his Plan B, which ultimately became Apple, the world’s most valuable brand today. Elon Musk became a household name with PayPal, then moved to making cars (Tesla), creating renewable energies for the common man (SolarCity) and then actually building a cheaper alternative to space launches (SpaceX). And now, he’s thinking of colonising Mars, as a home for the human race. Talk about having an alternative! As an individual, you’re on your way into the world of management, which includes everything from managing your work, business, people, friends and family to your own self! And always being flexible enough and keeping your options open will help you in the long run. Even now, as you’re preparing to take the CAT, you should be aware of all the avenues of management on offer for you, including the CAT route itself. In this issue of Advanc’edge MBA, we explore the GMAT, an alternative to the CAT. You may not take that route, but you should be aware that one exists! I know that for all of you, these words aren’t new. You’ve heard them from hundreds of well-wishers and advice mongers. But that doesn’t make them any less true.
Write to the editor at: editor@advancedge.com Websites: www.advancedge.com,
All the very best.
www.imsindia.com www.facebook.com/advancedgeMBA
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole and in part without written permission is prohibited. Printed and published by Kamlesh Sajnani, on behalf of, IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd., (CIN:U80220MH1999PTC121823) E Block, 6th Floor, NCL Bandra Premises, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai - 400 051. Printed at Uchitha Graphic Printers Pvt. Ltd., 65, Ideal Ind. Est., Mathuradas Mill Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 13 and published at Mumbai.
Aditya Prakash Iengar Editor
CONTENTS 05
COVER STORY Understanding the GMAT story
08
SUCCESS STREET PRIYA KUMAR, Motivational speaker, corporate trainer, columnist, radio jockey and author
10
MBA BUZZ How to evaluate your first SimCAT performance
13
MUST READS Managers Not MBAs The Sellout The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian
14
COUNTDOWN 10 Indian tech start-ups and their investors
July 2017
18
CORPORATE INTERVIEW PANKAJ RAHUL SINGH, Co-founder at TSD Corp.
20
NEWS SNIPPETS
23
CORPORATE WORLD US and climate change: Expecting the unexpected?
26
The big, fat telecom bailout: What’s at stake?
29
Change of guard at GE: A new era dawns
33
STUDY HOUR Test Q&As
35
Word Dose: Our marsh country
36
Globescan
38
SuDoKu
Disclaimer : The views expressed in the articles by contributors and others are not necessarily those of the Publishers, unless specifically stated therein. While no effort is spared in ensuring the accuracy of the information published herein, readers are advised to reconfirm the current facts before acting upon any such information. The Publishers regret their inability to accept responsibility for any inadvertent errors of commission or omission in this issue. Readers are recommended to make appropriate inquiries before incurring expenses or entering into commitments in relation to any advertisement appearing in this publication. The publishers do not vouch for any claims made by the advertisers of any products or services. The Publisher, Printers or Editor shall not be held liable for any consequences in the event of such claims not being honoured by the advertisers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without prior permission from the publisher.
Period 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years
New Subscription Rates Issues New Rate 12 Rs. 480/24 Rs. 840/36 Rs. 1080/-
Payment to be made by crossed Demand Draft/Cheque drawn in favor of “IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd.” For subscriptions and related enquiries write to: Advanc’edge MBA, IMS Publications, A division of IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd., E Block, 6th Floor, NCL Bandra Premises, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai - 400 051. For more queries e-mail: publications@imsindia.com
HSEDCOVER ARRUPOHARYSTORY HDDUNTAS
Understanding the GMAT story While the GMAT structure is quite well-known to most test-takers, there is much more to the test than meets the eye. Understanding the nature of the test will help you get the right perspective for your preparation and practise with the right purpose. The Advanc’edge Team
T
he GMAT is a statistically valid and universally understood measure of your aptitude (as defined by the GMAC, an association of business schools) for doing a business course. The scores and percentiles have barely changed over all of these years, since around 2.5 lakh people take the test every year. Moreover, your GMAT score will be valid for 5 years.
The GMAT structure The Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) measures your ability to
think critically and to communicate your ideas. During the AWA, you are asked to analyse the reasoning behind a given argument and write a critique of that argument. The Integrated Reasoning section measures your ability to
Table 1 Section
No of questions
Duration
Areas
Analytical writing assessment (AWA)
1 topic
30 minutes
Analysis of argument Multi-source reasoning
Indian GMAT-takers need to Graphics interpretation understand this precisely, since Integrated 12 30 minutes Reasoning (IR) unlike Indian tests like the CAT, the Two-part analysis GMAT is not a test of elimination Table analysis but a measure of your aptitude. Thus, while a 720 on the GMAT First optional break - 8 minutes means something precise, the same Data sufficiency cannot be said about a score on the Quantitative 37 75 minutes CAT — there is no standardised Problem solving score to percentile conversion. Second optional break - 8 minutes Also on the CAT since difficulty levels, question types and number Reading comprehension of questions vary drastically from Verbal 41 75 minutes Critical reasoning year to year, it cannot be statistically Sentence correction proven that people getting 99 percentiles in different years have Total test duration - 3 hours and 30 minutes the same aptitude. This is not a problem for the Indian schools since the CAT is not The above sections can be taken in the following order: intended to provide test- 1. Analytical Writing Assessment -> Integrated Reasoning -> Quantitative -> Verbal takers with a valid measure 2. Quantitative -> Verbal -> Integrated Reasoning -> Analytical Writing Assessment of their aptitude, it is for 3. Verbal -> Quantitative -> Integrated Reasoning -> Analytical Writing Assessment
www.advancedge.com
GMAT vis-à-vis CAT
institutes to eliminate a bulk of the approximately 2 lakh test-takers appearing for the CAT every year.
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
COVER STUDY STORY ANDHRA HOUR PRADESH
evaluate information presented in multiple formats from multiple sources — skills you need to succeed in our technologically advanced, data-driven world. The GMAT showcases all of your skills — not just math. The Verbal section measures your ability to read and understand written material, to evaluate arguments, and to correct written material to conform to standard written English.
Standardisation runs down to question-level
right
The GMAT is precisely defined not only at an area-level, but also at a question-type level. For example, within Critical Reasoning there are fixed question-types like Weaken, Strengthen, Conclusion, Assumption and Inference and so on with a fixed number coming from each type. The same is the case both with the errors tested on Sentence Correction and the topics tested on the Quantitative section.
A computer-adaptive test
A great test of competence The beauty of the GMAT is that despite the fact that everything is so transparent and so many actual old GMAT questions are available for practice, the test is not a cakewalk, with only 2% of the takers likely to score a 750 or above. Every question-type needs to be tackled with a precise strategy. For example, there is a foolproof test on how to solve the Assumption question type on Critical Reasoning. Once a test-taker understands this properly, there is only a certain amount of practice that he or she would need — not more than 20 questions to ensure that 9 out of 10 times you get an assumption question right. The specific content of the question then becomes just a wrapper once you have mastered the underlying algorithm. The same applies to all other question types on tested on the GMAT.
The GMAT score Verbal and Quant scores have a range from 0 to 60, but the actual range of scores that test-takers get is narrower. The actual range of scores is from 9 to 44 for the Verbal
www.advancedge.com
One of the unique things about the GMAT is that it is a computeradaptive test — a test where questions are calibrated to the level of the test-taker. So easy questions are not posed to a test-taker likely to get a high score, and tough ones are not posed to a test-taker who is not likely to do well on the test. Hence, everything hinges on the level of the test-taker, which the test’s algorithm predicts.
The test will thus start with a question of moderate difficulty. If the test-taker answers it correctly, the algorithm poses a question of slightly higher difficulty and if the test-taker answers it incorrectly then the algorithm poses an easier question.
section with 45+ being rare and 7 to 50 for the Quantitative section, with 51+ being rare. The sectional scores are calculated based on • The number of questions answered within the stipulated time • The number of questions answered correctly • The level of difficulty of the questions posed There is no negative marking in the test, but if you run out of time and leave questions unanswered, the penalty is very steep — 1 point for every unanswered question would be a rough estimate. If you’re running out of time, randomly guessing and choosing answers can be done, however inadvisable it may be under other circumstances!
It’s not just about the GMAT Given the fact that in India, fates are decided based on test scores, be it 12th boards or JEE or AIEEE, Indian GMAT-takers tend to place an inordinate amount of importance on the GMAT score. They book a date for the test just a few weeks before the application deadline, giving themselves enough time and more time to crack the test. While the GMAT score is an important component of your application, an equally important component is the quality your application essays. A great GMAT score, even a 780 out of 800, does not guarantee an admission. Apart from the GMAT score, institutes look for academic accomplishments, quality and diversity of work experience and personal profile, extra-curricular accomplishments. All these can be captured in a resume format. The institutes also evaluate your
GMAT is the stepping stone to fulfil your dream of studying abroad. Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
HSEDCOVER ARRUPOHARYSTORY HDDUNTAS
vision or life-goals, your leadership qualities, your attitude towards life, your approach to adversity, etc, all of these things are measured through your application essays.
an MBA should be:
date — from a minimum of 8 to a maximum of 17. The second goal of your testing phase is to work between tests to gain the maximum score increase possible between your first and your last mock. This means that you will need to • Spend time analysing your test with a fine-toothed comb and precisely identify problem areas. • Work on those areas so that when you take the next test you make fewer mistakes from those areas. If you take a minimum of 8 tests, then the least time you’ll require to make a meaningful improvement from your first mock score to the last is 30 days. In some cases you might need more than that.
Preparing for the GMAT In terms of preparation, quality of practice becomes much more important than its quantity. A lot of test-takers preparing for the GMAT erroneously believe that just solving more and more questions will bump up their score. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The GMAT is a test that demands very limited but intense and precisely targeted preparation rather than an extended prep involving endless practice.
Start prep with a test date in mind
Up to 3 months in prep phase
Optimum time for GMAT prep The short answer is — a minimum of 2.5 months and a maximum of 4 months. The optimum time needed depends on the test-taker but the prep phase for any test has two components — the prep-phase and the testing-phase. A 30-45 day testing-phase is a must The GMAT is a long test with the test duration totalling up to 4 hours, including the 8 minute breaks. So, in a sense it is as much a test of mental stamina as it is of quantitative and verbal aptitude. You might be used to working long hours, but 4 hours of intense, sustained test-taking effort is something that is qualitatively different from the effort required at work. So the first goal of your testing phase is to develop testtaking stamina, by ensuring that you take a certain number of mock tests before your actual test
The duration of the prep phase purely depends on the test-taker’s ability, and the following table provides a classification of test takers (and the time they’ll need) on the scaled scores that they can secure without any prep. Quant Score 45 42 40
Verbal Score 30 25 20
Pre-Phase Duration 45 days 75 days 90 days
Whether you take classroom prep or prepare on your own, your prep-phase if done diligently and with regularity should not last more than 3 months in most cases. The only exceptions are test-takers with a lot of work experience or those are really weak in one of the two areas, Quant and Verbal. In such cases the prep-phase can be stretched up to 6 months. So the optimum time to prepare for the GMAT would be 4 months — 3 months of prepping and 1 month of testing. A
www.advancedge.com
The application deadlines of schools start towards the end of the year (around September). Now, the GMAT can be taken all the year round, but test-slots are not available with equal ease all year round — test-slots are easy to get during the first six months of the year, but as the year draws to a close it is almost impossible to get a slot of your choice! This is because either you want to give maximum time for your preparation and push closer to the deadline, and the queue gets crowded, or the CAT is out of the bag, in terms of all results being declared, only by the end of May. This is when the GMAT — the usual plan B — starts rearing its head and prep starts in June after a recuperation period of a few weeks! Plan a test date keeping the application essays in mind. Given the importance of your application essays in the selection process, it makes sense to arrive at a test-date with at least a 30-day window before your first application deadline. The ideal sequence for planning
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
SUCCESS STUDY HOUR ANDHRA PRADESH STREET
Try and become life’s best student Says PRIYA KUMAR, motivational speaker, corporate trainer, columnist, radio jockey and author. Kumar has been awarded the Woman Leader in India, writer’s category. A tête-à-tête with Alolika Banerjee.
Q. You motivate the entire world. What or who motivates you? Well, I am the kind of person who’s usually motivated all the time. And in this respect I feel my work is my biggest motivator and helps me to grow as a person. I am very passionate about the work that I do. It keeps me in the state where I keep upgrading myself with new learning every day. This is my motivation, this is my source of sustenance. And, trust me, I am so motivated that I don’t have any sense of getting bored or wasted even for a single moment of my life. My work is a daily adventure. I feel people lose their sense of
motivation when they run away from challenges for that gnawing fear of failure and choose to remain in their comfort zones.
Q. How do you spend your leisure hours when you are not working? When I am not working, I am planning my work. I am a workaholic. There is a saying, “an author is working even when she is looking out of the window.” So in a way I never take a break from my commitments. But, my favourite indulgences are studying and reading. I love reading biographies and being inspired by the lives of others. I like to study on business and management so that I can become better at them.
Q. You play multiple roles with perfect ease, be it an author, motivational speaker, corporate trainer, columnist and even a radio jockey. What is that one role, which you enjoy playing the most and why? Well, I enjoy writing the most. It helps me analyse, understand and accept my life better. And while doing so, I have a better understanding of other people and their world. Writing gives me a sense of freedom. I feel liberated. Often I write on subjects that have troubled me the most, the challenges that I face every day and in writing on them, I find answers that I need to know the most. This helps me to sort my life to an extent.
www.advancedge.com
Q. What is that one thing you are afraid of?
My understanding of philosophy has taught me that everything in this world is transient and in the end we will lose everything. So it’s pointless to attach too much importance to
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
HSSUCCESS EDARRUPOHASTREET RYHDDUNTAS
Q. A typical day in Priya Kumar’s life...
Take onus for your education. It is up to you to find your purpose & to ensure that your education is in alignment with it.
I don’t have a fixed ‘wake up’ time. I usually try to catch seven hours of sleep. So, depending upon when I go to sleep the previous night, I wake up after seven hours. And, the moment I am awake, my mind is alert, planning and strategising for the day ahead. My time at home is spent with my dogs and my mother. However, she remains occupied throughout the day, so time spent with her over some heart-to-heart chats at the end of the day is priceless. Throughout the day I am extremely tied up. I am doing so much currently that it seems I am trying to fit in a 48-hour shift in a single day. But even amidst this busy schedule, there are certain days when I take reading breaks and spend long stretches just at home poring over my favourite books. I also love to watch meaningful movies and do that sometimes. However, I have an aversion towards socialising and try and avoid it as much as possible. My work life involves a lot of interactions with people, so during my leisure hours, I prefer being a complete recluse. In that sense I am some kind of a loner and I really enjoy my time with myself or at the most with a few of my selected friends.
Q. We all have moments and places in life where we feel alive. What and where are yours? I feel alive when I am working. Being productively involved in making other people’s lives better gives me a sense of accomplishment. Whatever I advise people, I wish first to practise that myself.
Q. Is there any one word that can describe you the best? It’s indeed hard to come up with just one word to describe myself. You need quite a few of them.
(Smiles) I feel passionate, honest, fun-loving and excellentcontributor are some words that can describe me best.
Q. Do you think management studies are essential to shape a person’s career?
Well, I feel management education or for that matter vocational studies are better than theoretical ones. I have seen people as clueless before they start their studies as when they finish it. But two years in a good B-School can transform students and prepare them for the professional world. On the other hand, I have found students often confused on the impracticality of the subjects that they studied in real life. That is a waste of education and a waste of life.
Q. A few words of motivation for future management aspirants... Take responsibility for your education. It is up to you to find your purpose and goal and to ensure that your education is in alignment with it. No one can do that for you, and no amount of blaming others, will set it right for you. Be curious and be willing to learn. Education is not restricted to your college campus. Life is a teacher and for that present yourself every day as the best student ever, and you will be a guaranteed success at everything you do. A
Priya Kumar’s Books • I am Another You – A Journey to Powerful Breakthroughs • License to Live – A Seeker’s Journey to Greatness • The Perfect World – A Journey Through Infinite Possibilities • Thinking Aloud – A Book of Inspirational Quotes • The Inspiring Journey of a Hero • I Will Go With You – The flight of a lifetime • Dream Dare Deliver – The story on the making of DTDC • The Calling – Unleash your trueself • The Wise Man Said
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
anything. This makes me quite a fearless person. I feel success and failure come to all of us in turns and so it’s useless to get affected by them. At certain junctures of life I may choose not to do something, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I am afraid, it means that I choose to invest my time and energy in something other than what others want or expect me to do.
MBA STUDY ANDHRA BUZZ HOUR PRADESH
How to evaluate your first SimCAT performance Your first SIMCAT is neither an engineering exam nor a blood test. So what is it and how should you evaluate your performance? IMS Chief Mentor, Pune Region, Tony Xavier shows how best to analyse this test.
T
www.advancedge.com
he response to the first SIMCAT was great and it was nice to see so many students jump into the fray from the word go. But the plunge as most of you would know is similar to jumping off a diving board for the first time — the moment of impact, the bewilderment when you are under the water and most importantly the desperate eagerness towards the end to somehow get back to ground again. (I have never jumped off a diving board but was once caught under the waves on the beach when I was quite little, thankfully my dad managed to rescue me). Just like you would not bother
too much about the score given to your first ever dive, do not think too much about the score you got.
taking strategy that has two parts Question Selection Time Allocation
The four cornerstones aptitude testing
Choosing the right question
of
The four concerstones of aptitude testing are concepts, application, test-taking strategy and mental toughness. On a scale of 100, the weightage to each of these depends on the pattern of the test but on average they would be 25%,30%, 30% and 15% respectively. Concepts, Application and Mental Toughness need no defining but what most test-takers do not understand is the key role by test-
Prepare well for your SimCATs in order to score well for the CAT. Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
Question Selection becomes very important on a test where you do not need to answer a question before you move ahead and you can navigate to and fro between questions. On the GMAT for example you HAVE TO MARK an answer before you go ahead and you cannot return to that question again so there is no question of choosing or leaving a question. On the CAT and the GRE, you do not have any such compulsion. So your task is to identify and solve the easiest questions or sets first, mark the medium-level questions later and never attempt the really tough questions. How many of you chose questions wisely in the first SimCAT? did you answer questions in serial order as they appeared? did you realise that you ended up wasting time on tough DI or LR sets only to discover too late or after the test, that there were easier questions or sets? did you have unread questions at the end of each section? If your answer to any of these questions is YES, it means that this first SimCAT is simply an eye-opener
HSEDARRUPOMBA HARYHDBUZZ DUNTAS
for you with respect to your testtaking strategy. Can you develop this ability to identify the right question to do immediately, mark the right question for later and leave the tough question, by the next SimCAT? The answer obviously is NO. You will develop that skill only after solving quite a few SimCATs. Also, we will dedicate an entire 3-hour session to this later in the season.
Time-allocation Look properly for the mistakes you should have avoided in your SimCAT 1 in order to score well in the next.
The CAT has been doing flip-flops on the question of where it stands with respect to time-allocation.
Yes, your scores will go up but so will the scores of others! So accept the reality that you will take time to develop expertise in all four areas — concepts, applications test-taking and mental toughness. In all probability you will not see your best scores before September.
Who are those people scoring 170s and above!
third section? I am sure quite a few would have. This is where the fourth stone — mental toughness — comes in. Of the four cornerstones most of you will be still in the work-inprogress stage on first two — concepts and application. The other two stones you will lay by taking as many SimCATs as possible.
You are not going to see your best scores till September Those of you who haven’t prepared for an entrance test taken by so many people might be tempted to view your SimCAT 1 like you view engineering exam. If not in the mains, then definitely in the supplementary! Once I finish the concepts I will start scoring well.
I am sure you would have seen that the scores and percentiles of toppers will be in a different range and obviously that will set you wondering if they are from a different planet. Well, most of them will be testtakers who gave a serious shot last year but could not make it for some reason. There will also be a handful of people from a different planet such as a student of mine last year who scored a 180 in his first SimCAT after attending classes only for a week and having never prepared or appeared for the CAT before! But not everyone needs to be like that. Many greats have made modest starts. Some food for thought: Number of matches SRT played
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
The CAT has always been doing flip-flops on the question of where it stands with respect to timeallocation. Over the last decade it has alternated between having sectional time-limits and having no sectional time-limits. I for one am not in favour of sectional time-limits since it plays a crucial part in evaluating a candidate’s ability to strategise — use the resources at his/her disposal (relative skills on various sections) to maximise the outcome — clearing sectional as well as overall cut-offs. When you have to divide your time properly, choose the right questions and solve them correctly, you have to play three roles those of CEO, Manager and Worker respectively. With sectional time-limits you end up playing only the latter two roles — Manager and Worker. Most of you by now would have realised that for the better part of SimCAT 1 you were doing only one role — Worker. We do not know what changes this year’s CAT will ring in but if they remove sectional time-limits things will surely get infinitely more interesting (or tough depending on the way you view it). How many of you let your performance on the second section affect your performance on the
MBA STUDY ANDHRA BUZZ HOUR PRADESH
Cracking the CAT is a skill and it will take time to develop. before first ODI century — 78
Number of years it took Djokovic to win his 1st Major – 5 When you are taking a SimCAT you are competing against the most serious aspirants among the approximately 2,00,000 people who register for the CAT, so you really need to be on the top of your game to hit the higher percentile ranges.
How to analyse a SimCAT Back in the day when I was preparing for the CAT, I spent as many hours if not more hours analyzing a SimCAT as I spent taking it. So the first half was spent taking the test, the second analysing it and only then would I go to the beach to meet friends (that is what I would do every day in the evening in the small beach-town that is Vizag). What are the things that constitute a great analysis?
www.advancedge.com
What is the best score you could have got?
Irrespective of what you current level is you should look at the mistakes you should have avoided the questions you should have avoided the questions you should have solved to arrive at the best score you could have got. You need to get that number after every test to know what you are capable of, what was within your reach.
Take as many SimCATs as possible and spend enough time analysing the tests, and the results will show. What are the things on which you succeeded but you could have succeeded better? You should look at the questions you solved correctly and see if you could have done them faster. could you have cut down on solving that DI or LR set if you had spent more time at the beginning trying to understand the set? could you have solved some questions/problems faster by not writing so much, by approximating or looking for an alternate approach? Use this to list the process of improvements you can make in the next SimCAT.
Solve all the unsolved questions in the SimCAT Yes, I know you have not yet touched that Geometry book yet but your learning need not be linear. Use every unsolved question
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
to learn concepts from topics you have not yet covered. So if there is a trapezium problem then you can at least learn the formula for area of a trapezium by learning to solve that problem. People keep asking for tough problems, especially tough DI and LR sets. The SimCATs will always have the best sets. So spend enough time trying to solve them on your own before looking at the solution. If you consistently do these things over the next few months after each and every SimCAT, be it a take-home one or a proctored one you will start seeing results. If you stick to only solving the books and not doing this part of the job then you are really not preparing for the CAT but for a college exam.
Developing a skill takes more time than learning a concept As I have mentioned many a time, cracking the CAT is a skill and it will take time to develop. But the reason I keep repeating this is that one needs to view the whole process with the right mindset. So think of the first SimCAT as the first time you took a car out after learning how to drive a car in the driving school — you will be overwhelmed by enormity of the task and the pressure of driving in real-time traffic. But by repeatedly taking out the car on your own, you learn, you will bang the car, make a dent in it, but you will get better for sure. All you have to do is take as many SimCATs as possible, spend enough time analysing the tests you take and stay focussed, the results will show. In case some of you haven’t enrolled for the SimCATs – you can do it next time. All the best for the next SimCAT! A
MUST STUDYREADS ANDHRA HOUR PRADESH
HSEDARMUST RUPOHARYREADS HDDUNTAS
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!
M
anagers Not MBAs delves deep into the need for developing dependable managers for companies. The book examines and analyses what is intrinsically wrong with both management education and management itself. And not only that, the book also discusses how these practices can be changed for the better as well. In Managers Not MBAs, author Henry Mintzberg explores the concept of management as a practice blending craft (experience) with art (insight) and some science (analysis). He says, “conventional education in this realm, encourages a “calculating” approach by overemphasising the science, and a “heroic” approach by overstressing the art.
Name: Managers Not MBAs Author: Henry Mintzberg Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Genre: Non-fiction Price: ` 1,032
P
This book can be considered a sequel to author Henry Mintzberg’s bestseller, The Nature of Managerial Work, which he had written 30 years ago.
aul Beatty’s The Sellout is a biting satire about a young man’s isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court.
Born in the “agrarian ghetto” of Dickens—on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles—the narrator of The Sellout resigns himself to the fate of lower-middle-class Californians. He is led to believe that his father’s pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family’s financial woes, but when his father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realises there never was a memoir. All that’s left is the bill for a funeral. Fuelled by this deceit and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right this wrong and a heart-breaking and tale ensues. This 2016 Man Booker Prize book is a must-read for those with a sensitive soul.
Name: The Sellout Author: Paul Beatty Publisher: Oneworld Genre: Fiction Price: ` 242
T Name: The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian Author: Nirad C. Chaudhuri Publisher: Jaico Genre: Autobiography Price: ` 399
And, this is where the book veers to a zone of being a masterpiece. In The Autobiography of An Unknown Indian, Chaudhuri blends in sense of deep conviction, charm, and intimacy that certainly makes it one-of-a-kind. It’s indeed an exemplary note of the writer’s art.
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
www.advancedge.com
he Autobiography of an Unknown Indian is a wonderful tale where the author takes us on a journey of self-discovery and thereby lays bare a peerless and provocative sensibility to the readers. The author weaves an interesting tale right from his days of childhood in the Bengali countryside to spending his days on youthful glory in Calcutta. The narrative is powerful and transports the readers to an era long gone by. Amidst it all, Chaudhuri tells the story of modern India and the tone that he takes up is quite fierce and independent sans any possible bias.
CORPORATE INTERVIEW
An MBA is essential to jumpstart a career Feels PANKAJ RAHUL SINGH, Co-founder at TSD Corp. In a conversation with Alolika Banerjee, this IIM-Bangalore dropout with a passion for games, shares his journey of how he actualised his dream of opening a venture in sports.
Q. How did TSD Corp happen?
www.advancedge.com
Well, let us retrace our steps to a time when social media hardly had any presence. Orkut, however, was there, but slowing fading out. It was essentially a time when people were yet to get accustomed to the wonders of digital and social media. I consider this my good fortune that even during those times, I had an uncanny foresight to assume that great days are ahead for digital medium. Deep down I knew social media marketing would be having a tremendous impact in India and the simple fact that it’s here to stay. Being in the sports business at that time, I could foresee the advantages that social medium could offer, especially to the gods and icons of the sport that all Indians worship. Social was the opportunity to bring the fans closer to their icons and vice versa and as an extension of that thought, we started TSD when we set out to manage the digital identity of the athletes and celebrities. The TSD story started in 2009. Since then we’ve grown immensely and now we are proud to say that TSD is a full service digital agency. We help brands tell stories, build audiences, we power the game changers and global influencers. At TSD, we believe in creating not only successful but beautiful digital experiences that help brands grow. We deliver Social Awesomeness. Period! (Smiles)
Q. Do you think a management background is essential in today’s competitive times? If you ask whether an MBA degree is essential or compulsory, I would say no, but as a post script I would like to add that a management
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
degree is extremely useful, if one has to make a mark in today’s competitive times. To think that a management degree is the only way to success is short sighted. But there is no denying the fact that if you are looking to jumpstart your professional journey or to give a slowing career a shot in the arm, an MBA degree is certainly important.
Q. You got into IIM Bangalore and then left it mid-way. What led you to such a decision? My lack of interest in academics to begin with, and the realisation that if I want to grow as a professional I needed to work, experiment, fail and learn and then repeat the process, which I was unable to find in the classroom. However, having said that I feel students today must finish their academics first and then pursue their careers with passion. A little bit of patience is not a bad thing and must be inculcated.
Q. Any regrets for not completing the two years at IIM Bangalore? Even though I feel everyone must finish their education first, I have no regrets whatsoever personally, that I left it midway. I feel that I was fortunate enough to get admission into IIM Bangalore, which is one of the most prestigious MBA colleges of India. During my stint there, I learnt some invaluable life lessons about the person I am and the dreams I have in life. I met some of my closest friends at IIM-B and have a lot of absolutely fantastic memories of the time spent there.
CORPORATE INTERVIEW
Q. What were the challenges that you faced after you left IIM? Honestly, I did not face any problems. In fact, I felt liberated as if a huge weight had been lifted off my chest. Coming from a middle class family, going to an IIM was the ultimate education opportunity for me. However, I was an athlete, and very interested in sports. So even back then I knew that I always wanted to be in the sporting arena. And that’s exactly what I did. Right after IIM, a friend and myself started a football training school, and it was like a dream come true experience for me. It was amazing. And I’ve never looked back since then. Today, I still carry forward the dream to be a professional athlete, and with Golf, I intend to make it a reality.
Q. Why entrepreneurship over service? Why not? I feel, if someone has an idea worth pursuing, then one should go for it. What’s the worst that’s going happen? The venture will fail. But, in the process, one would’ve learnt a lot. And, just imagine, in case that venture succeeds. I know entrepreneurship involves a lot of risk but if one whole-heartedly believed in it then it’s worth taking it. If I believe in something, then I’m all for it. This is the philosophy I completely believe in.
Q. What are the three basic qualities you think a person must have in order to be an entrepreneur? It’s hard to list only three qualities, because it takes a lot more than just three to show the true mettle of an entrepreneur. However, if I have to select only three, it would be like the person needs to be a dreamer first. He must think out-of-the-box and have big dreams. Any business involves considerable amount of risks. So the person needs to be a risk-taker nonetheless. There will be ups and downs. But only a person with the toughness of spirit has it in him or her to make it big in business. And the last quality, which I think is very important is that the person has to be persistent in his beliefs, likes and dislikes.
Q. What are the challenges you faced during the initial days of business versus those that you face now?
Starting a business is always a risky proposition and involves a lot of guts to just kick-start it.
It’s brilliant! Great for our country and the dreamers who want to follow their own passion and do what they believe in. This culture has given hope to people with ideas. It has made them realise that they can choose the road not taken and yet make a mark. My advice to budding entrepreneurs would be that work hard on your idea, the cause that you completely believe in and you will find assistance from some quarter. Initially, you might have to cross a million hurdles, but if you have faith in your idea and passionate about it, then you will for sure get support somewhere. Nothing could be more encouraging to a young entrepreneur than this.
Q. How sustainable do you think these are? It seems there is a lot of spray and pray happening on the funding of these start-ups. Although, professionally I don’t like the idea of companies running on just outside funds, founders making loads of money while the company keeps making losses. Having said that I
Starting a business is always a risky proposition and involves a lot of guts to just kick-start it. When we started off, we didn’t know much nor did anyone know us. So, in the beginning, it was all about building the right business model and being frugal. It was extremely challenging for us since the entire social landscape was new. There was no reference point for us and all we had to bank upon was our instincts. However, in a way it was fun and we evolved as and when the industry was evolving. Today, the challenge is more to do with scaling the company to greater heights and managing the people in the company.
Q. How do you see yourself five years down the line? Life is full of unexpected realities but one thing I am certain about is playing professional golf full time.
Q. Yours words of advice for MBA aspirants who are interested in entrepreneurship later on in life... Work for a few years before going for an MBA. And after your MBA, if you want to be an entrepreneur, don’t go for it just for the lure of money that it offers in the long run. Don’t get enamoured with the big valuations and media stories about entrepreneurship. Chase your idea, refine it, build your business model first, then test it and then test it some more. Good Luck! A
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
Q. Your take on the new wave of start-ups these days.
feel that this will correct itself over time and only the companies with strong fundamentals will survive.
SNIPPETS STUDY HOUR ANDHRA PRADESH
News in brief
Here are some interesting titbits from over the last month
Mumbai is the second most crowded city in the world: WEF Report Mumbai and Kota have been named among the world’s most crowded, in a list of cities, which has been topped by Dhaka, said World Economic Forum (WEF) citing UN Habitat data. With a population density of 44,500 people per square kilometre, Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is the most crowded one on the planet, followed by India’s financial capital Mumbai, home to 31,700 people per square kilometre at the second place. Kota in Rajasthan with 12,100 people per square kilometre was ranked seventh. Others in the list include Medellin in Columbia ranked third with 19,700 people per square kilometre, Manila, Philippines (4th, 14,800), Casablanca, Morocco (5th, 14,200), Lagos, Nigeria (6th, 13,300), Singapore (8th, 10,200) and Jakarta, Indonesia (9th, 9,600).
Infosys founders might sell off their entire stake in the company Infosys co-founders are exploring a sale of their entire 12.75% stake in the company worth about Rs 28,000 crore. This move is said to have been triggered by their unhappiness over the manner in which the company has been run since their exit three years ago. The situation has reached such a stage that they feel it might be better to make a complete break from the company they founded in 1981 and took public in 1993. Infosys had been founded by N R Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani, who have long been seen as the original flag bearers of a new breed of engineer-entrepreneurs who decided to start a business, which helped spread the story of Indian software around the world.
HDFC claims a place among top 10 financial services companies globally Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd has been named among the top 10 consumer financial services companies in the world. It is the only Indian company to be included in the list. With profits of $1.6 billion and sales of $8.1 billion, HDFC was ranked seventh on the Forbes Global List 2017 in the consumer financial services sector, same as last year. The company has been featured in this coveted list for the third consecutive year. American Express topped the list, followed by Capital One Financial and Visa in the second and third place, respectively.
www.advancedge.com
India’s longest bridge inaugurated in Arunachal Pradesh Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has inaugurated India’s longest bridge in Arunachal Pradesh on May 26th, marking BJP-led NDA’s three years in government. The Dhola-Sadiya Bridge is built over the river Lohit, which is a tributary of the Brahmaputra. It links Dhola in Assam to Sadiya in Arunachal Pradesh. The bridge will be of immense help to the commuters, since it will reduce travel time between the two states by as much as four hours. Modi earlier tweeted and described the bridge as “one of the most important infrastructure projects to be undertaken” in the country.
FSSAI gives green signal for 5% vegetable fat in chocolates India’s food regulator has allowed the use of vegetable fat in chocolates, Solvent Extractors Association, a lobby group of edible oil traders, has said. It has been over two decades since the association has been pursuing the authorities to treat vegetable fats as coco butter equivalents for the purpose of making chocolates. The argument that they put forth was that it will boost local collection of tree borne oilseeds and support the livelihood of tribal people. Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
HSEDARRUPOSNIPPETS HARYHDDUNTAS Widespread layoffs in the private sector is a reality Narendra Modi government’s biggest failure so far has been the creation of sufficient jobs. The man who had promised to create one crore jobs before coming to power, is now riddled with a scenario of widespread layoffs in the private sector, so much so that a sense of fear has percolated among the entire workforce. Larsen & Toubro, India’s biggest engineering firm, had fired 14,000 employees, or 11.2% of its total workforce, in November 2016. Multiple start-ups made headlines for layoffs. Demonetisation brought layoffs to manufacturing and construction too. This year there was a spate of layoffs in the information technology (IT) sector as Cognizant, Wipro, Infosys and Tech Mahindra pruned their working force. Historian Ramachandra Guha steps down as BCCI Administrator Historian Ramachandra Guha, one of the members of the Committee of Administrators of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has resigned from the post. He had been appointed by the Supreme Court as one of the four administrators of the BCCI. The historian has reportedly cited personal reasons for the resignation. A vacation bench of Justices M M Shantanagoudar and Deepak Gupta was informed by Guha’s counsel that he had tendered his resignation on May 28 to Vinod Rai, chairman of the COA of the BCCI.
India is all set to become the third largest buyer of passenger planes India is poised to become the third-largest buyer of commercial passenger planes in the world, with over 1,000 aircraft set to be on order. Only countries like the US and China are ahead of India. The aircraft order book of the Indian airline industry will soon touch 1,080, which would mean that for every aircraft in service, there will be 2.2 aircraft on order. This information is from a Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) report, a Sydney-based aviation think tank. There are 480-odd aircrafts in India. Currently, a total of 880 aircraft are on order.
Star Sports launches its first Tamil sports channel Star Sports, the sports broadcast arm of Star India, has launched ‘Star Sports Tamil’, the country’s first Tamil sports channel. Along with the regular dose of a full calendar of sports – starting with the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, followed by the second edition of Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), VIVO Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 and Hero ISL, the channel would provide curated localised content on Tamil stars such as Indian cricketer R Ashwin, TNPL stars and those from Chennaiyin FC.
Job market to get a boost in the next 6 months: Experts’ prediction Consultants and experts have predicted that the Indian job market in the next two quarters will look up despite pockets of negativity in certain sectors such as IT, start-ups, telecom and BPO. The Indian job market over the next six months will be equally split by positive and negative hiring sentiment as disruption caused by increasing technology automation continues to weigh on entry and middle level hiring in certain sectors. Tier 2 cities are likely to see some slowdown in hiring while it would remain robust in Tier 1 cities.
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
IIT Kharagpur researchers develop new technology to manufacture biofuel A new technology has been developed by researchers at IIT Kharagpur, which will change the way biofuel is manufactured by making the process cheaper, quicker and pollutionfree. The ‘soil-to-soil’ manufacturing technology developed at the P K Sinha Centre for bio-energy at IIT-KGP is in the process of being patented. “2g bioethanol can be produced from various naturally available ligno-cellulosic components. But to do so it needs to be treated chemically. Because of chemical treatment, the process contributes to polluting the environment,” Professor of Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Dr Rintu Banerjee said. Lignocellulose refers to plant dry matter (biomass).
SNIPPETS STUDY HOUR ANDHRA PRADESH Lenskart planning to open 400 stores in the next couple of years Eyeware retailer Lenskart is planning to open 400 stores in the next two years. And, to meet its goal, this Ratan Tata-backed brand is planning to invest over Rs 100 crore on business expansion. The company, which has a strong online presence, is eyeing a total of 700 stores by March 2019 by targeting small towns, tier II and III cities. “As of now we have 300 stores across India and in the next two years we plan to open another 400 stores,” said Lenskart CEO Peyush Bansal. Kohli becomes the only Indian player in Forbes highest paid athletes’ list Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli has become the only sportsperson from the country to get featured among the world’s 100 highest paid athletes in the recent Forbes list topped by star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. Kohli, 28, has been ranked 89th on the 2017 Forbes list of ‘the world’s highest paid athletes’ with a total pay of $22 million that includes $3 million from salary and winnings and another 19 million from endorsements. Describing Kohli as the ‘Indian cricket phenom’, Forbes said the star cricketer has ‘for good reason’ already drawn comparisons to all-time great Sachin Tendulkar.
Aadhaar becomes compulsory for opening and maintaining bank accounts by December 31st The government has made Aadhaar card mandatory for opening bank accounts and for financial transactions of Rs 50,000 and above. All existing account holders are asked to submit Aadhaar to banks by Dec 31, 2017, failing which accounts will become invalid. In recent months, most banks had been encouraging account holders through SMS and phone calls to link Aadhar with their bank accounts. This was probably done to pre-empt the possibility of it becoming compulsory in future.
www.advancedge.com
Nestle launches iron fortified Maggi noodles especially for anaemic people FMCG major Nestle India has launched iron fortified Maggi noodles, which is aimed at iron deficient or anaemic people in the country. As per the 2015-16 National Family Health Survey, 53% females and 22.7% males between 15 and 45 years age group suffer from iron deficiency with an almost equal split across rural and urban India, Nestle said. The company believes that with 2.5 billion portions of Maggi Masala noodles consumed annually in India, it will have a major impact.
42% global child deaths due to diarrhoea in India, Nigeria A Lancet study has showed that India and Nigeria accounted for nearly 42% of almost 500,000 child deaths globally because of diarrhoeal disease in 2015. The study found that diarrhoea is the fourth leading cause of death for children and responsible for 8.6% of all deaths of children aged under five. It pointed out that 42% of these deaths occur in India and Nigeria alone. Chad and Niger had the highest child mortality rates for diarrhoeal disease, with 594 and 485 deaths per 100,000 children each year, respectively. Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
America’s Marigold Capital all set to take over Leela Chennai American private equity fund Marigold Capital and Investments, a fund specialising in buying debtridden hotels and commercial real estate properties and turning them around, is all set to take over Leela Group’s 326-room hotel in Chennai for around Rs 700 crore. “The deal with Marigold is in the documentation stage where the final agreement will be drafted,” a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. JM Financial, an investment bank, is advisor to the sale.
CORPORATE HSEDARRUPOHAWORLD RYHDDUNTAS
US and climate change: Expecting the unexpected? The US has backed out of the Paris Climate Accord, as promised by President Donald Trump, purportedly to protect its own economy. However, how this affects emerging economies like China and India remains to be seen. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
temperatures are likely to increase by more than two degrees over the next 90 years, potentially resulting in abrupt climate change patterns.
Kyoto Protocol and the Paris accord Despite hard evidence and scientists’ warnings, the theory of global warming is itself questioned by certain sections who disapprove of the billions of expenditure going into curbing global warming. In spite of such
debates, climate change in recent time has been very visible — the number of violent cyclones around the world has more than doubled over the last three decades. The year 2016 was the warmest since records began in the 19th century, as global average temperatures continued to rise. Recognising the magnitude of the global warming issue, the Kyoto Protocol was established in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, under the United Nations Convention
Global warming is considered by experts as possibly one of the greatest threats to the planet and mankind. Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
G
lobal warming is considered by experts as possibly one of the greatest threats to the planet and mankind. Currently, the United States (US), the second largest polluting country, is responsible for around 16% of the global carbon dioxide emissions. China is the largest pollutant, with a share of 28%. The European Union is the third biggest polluting with 10%, with India coming in at fourth position with 6%. Excessive pollution arising out of industrial gases, automobile exhaust, decomposition of trash and power plant wastes, over the years, in the form of carbon dioxide and methane gas emissions, have increased the level of greenhouse gases that is being emitted into the atmosphere. This excess gas is trapping more sunrays within the earth’s surface, and consequently leading to a rise in global temperature levels. It must be noted that over the past 15 decades, the mean temperature of earth has increased by one degree. Scientists today are in agreement that if fossil fuel consumption is left unchecked, the global
STUDY HOUR ANDHRA CORPORATE PRADESH WORLD
US President, Donald Trump on Climate Change. More than 150 countries that have ratified this protocol have aggressively committed to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, underwritten by their respective governments. An ambitious target has been set for countries, including the US, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5% below their 1990 levels. This pushed the nations to formalise the climate change accord and move towards binding commitments. The Paris accord of 2015, which took years to reach, saw both rich and poor countries
committing to reduce emissions. Developed nations, including the US, agreed to raise around $100 billion annually for the next five years that would finance and support developing economies in their initiatives to tackle climate change. But the details of who would be responsible to raise such finances and the decisions as to how it would be shared across developing economies and in what proportion, had been left open, leaving the commitments to be legally unbinding. A UN Green Climate Fund was set up for this purpose.
US commitment in 2015 As a part of the Paris summit in 2015, the US had committed that by 2025, it would reduce emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels. Industrialised countries had pledged $10.3 billion since 2013 to help poorer nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the effects of climate change. The US committed $3 billion.
Currently, this fund is financing energy efficiency projects around the world. These include irrigation and groundwater replenishment systems in northeastern India, a hydropower plant in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific to eliminate diesel generators, and restoration and protection of Ugandan wetlands that are used by subsistence farmers, to name a few.
US pulling out of the Paris accord US President Donald Trump recently announced that US will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, quoting that the deal earlier agreed unfairly benefited countries like India and China. He, however, seemed to be open to renegotiate the deal on the commitments made by the US. Following through on his election promise, and calling climate change a “hoax”, Trump argued that the earlier commitments made by the US towards the climate change
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE All eyes on India PM meet with US Prez Given the trend shown by current US President Donald’s Trump’s various meetings with other countries’ leaders, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Trump is of enormous importance. With issues such as work permits, H1B visas, etc continuing to keep Indian companies wary, the meeting will be the first real indication of where US policy on India is headed under the new Trump administration.
HTC Global Services acquires US consulting co
www.advancedge.com
HTC Global Services, which has delivery centres in Hyderabad and Chennai in India, on Thursday said it has acquired US-based IT consulting services and outsourcing player Ciber Inc for $93 million. The US headquartered IT and ITeS services player is looking to scale up further, for which this move is expected to be one of many to come.
Sebi relaxes takeover norms for bad debtors Markets regulator Securities and Exchange board of India (Sebi) recently relaxed takeover norms for acquisition of stressed assets. This move is ostensibly aimed at bolstering the efforts of the Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India to tackle bad loans. The RBI has recently identified 12 companies that have over `2.5 lakh crore in outstanding loans.
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
protocol would undermine the US economy, cost US jobs, weaken American national sovereignty and put the country at a permanent disadvantage with respect to the other countries of the world. One of Trump’s main concerns and logic is that China and India will get billions of dollars for meeting their commitment under the Paris Agreement. Both these countries, as developing economies, will continue to double their coal-fired power plants in the years to come, gaining a financial advantage over the US. He firmly stated that the US would stop payments to the UN Green Climate Fund, in which rich countries committed billions of dollars to help developing nations deal with floods, droughts and other impacts from climate change. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres however said the accord could not be renegotiated based on the request of a single nation. Business leaders, including Tim Cook of Apple and Elon Musk of Tesla, have expressed disappointment at the US President’s stand. Jeff Immelt has gone on record to state that climate change is real and the industry should no more depend on governments and they themselves should lead the initiative.
India implications As part of the Paris Accord in 2015, India committed to reduce its carbon dioxide emission intensity, i.e., emission per unit of GDP (not on absolute emission quantum), by around 35% from 2005 levels over the next 15 years. This requires India to generate 40% of its installed electricity capacity by 2030 from nonfossil fuels, and is clearly a very
Business leaders, like Tim Cook and Elon Musk, have expressed disappointment at Trump’s stand. aggressive commitment in spite of not committing on absolute levels of emission. This commitment required India to substantially move away from coal-based power generation to renewable energy sources. Currently 65% to 70% of India’s energy basket is generated from coal, petroleum and gas. Such commitments also require India to increase its forest cover by five million hectares, along with an improvement in the quality of green cover of an equal measure by 2030. One way of looking at the US’s withdrawal is that with the rising uncertainty in US federal policies towards renewable energy, India’s renewable energy market will become possibly even more
attractive given its targeted size of 175 GW by 2022. Investors, including from the US, could look very positively at India given such developments. The last two years have seen more than $10 billion flowing into India, as energy sector investments. The stakes are high between India and the US in terms of energy cooperation. In the recent past, India and the US have signed a number of bilateral deals, including the deal on the nuclear energy. A recent agreement for India to procure a number of nuclear reactors from US companies like Westinghouse (which recently went bankrupt) is also very important for the US and its economy. India is, of course, concerned by the US’s decision to withdraw from the Accord. The Indian diplomatic channels will certainly raise this issue with the US. However, given the strong stand taken by the US President on the climate issue, other issues like terrorism in the region and H-1B visas (which are anyway major concerns) might just take priority, pushing the climate change issue onto the backburner. A
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
CORPORATE HSEDARRUPOHAWORLD RYHDDUNTAS
STUDY HOUR ANDHRA CORPORATE PRADESH WORLD
The big, fat telecom bailout: What’s at stake? Non performing assets have been piling up in the telecom sector. The only way forward appears to be a bailout package, which the telecom players are demanding. Banks too support a bailout, as it will reduce their NPA count further. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
T
www.advancedge.com
he government has acknowledged that the telecom sector is under stress. An ironic admission, since the sector had been the mover and shaker of the Indian economy over the last two decades. The industry has become more than 20 times in size over a decade, from 3.5 crore subscribers in 2001 to around 90 crore subscribers in 2011. As of 2017, India’s telecom network is the second largest in the world in terms of number of users — the number of fixedline and mobile phone users has crossed 100 crores! And now, this sector that was once booming (and arguably still is) is now under enormous financial stress and needs a serious bailout. What makes this case interesting is the underlying dynamics between the three key stakeholders that are directly impacted: the telecom companies, the banks and the Indian economy (fiscal deficit).
For the first time since 2009, Indian telecom companies have reported a drop in revenue.
The current scenario
the entry of Reliance Jio, the price cuts and the resultant impact it has had on all the existing players of the Indian telecom market. The banks that have lent monies to the telecom companies will support this initiative. In the event the government does not agree to the bailout request of the telecom companies, the non-performing assets (NPA) of the banks, which is already at a tipping point, will be further aggravated. However, if the government does indeed provide the demanded concessions to the telecom companies and bail them out, the banks will be happy, of course, but the fiscal deficit for the year 201718 will fall steeply below the target deficit. This could turn out to be a bigger problem, especially the deviation from the fiscal discipline. The consequences will also be adverse, in terms of investor confidence, reform failure and rating by international agencies.
The stressed telecom companies want the Government of India to bail them out due to the extremely adverse industry developments in the recent past. The most of recent of these was triggered by
The most recent telecom crisis was triggered by the entry of Reliance Jio.
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
The telecom woes For the first time since 2009, Indian telecom companies have reported a drop in revenue. The price of voice calls sharply reduced, as Vodafone and Bharti had to respond to the entry pricing of Jio. However, the drop in revenue and profits is only one side of the story. The accumulated debt, interest and principal repayment dues to the banks and the license fees payable to the government are the other major stress items for the telecom companies.
CORPORATE HSEDARRUPOHAWORLD RYHDDUNTAS
GST rates applicable to the telecom sector have been pegged at 18%, which the operators feel is quite high. Furthermore, the Jio effect has strained the existing players with respect to interconnection charges (interconnecting Jio’s calls to its subscribers), further impacting margins. Over the last 10 years, Indian telecom companies have been aggressively bidding in spectrum sale auctions conducted by the Government of India, and have
spent huge sums to acquire spectrum assets, which are predominantly financed by bank loans. The total debt of the telecom sector is close to `4,85,000 crore. With the competitive rivalry increasing multifold, profits have been dwindling, and there is enormous pressure due to the liabilities that these companies face. To add fuel to the fire, GST
rates applicable to the sector have been pegged at 18%, which the operators feel is quite high. There is also a demand to reduce this to 5%, given the stress the sector is going through. In addition to the loan interest of around `50,000 crore, around `30,000 crore of spectrum license and other fees needs to be paid. However, the telecom industry’s cumulative earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) could be pegged somewhere close to `50,000 crore, such is the stress.
Bailout expectations The telecom companies are looking to the government to ease the situation through flexing the license fee term, much beyond the current contracted period. Current contracts have a 10-year payment, which the companies are demanding to be extended
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Uber CEO quits, lawsuits filed against co-founders Founder-CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick has stepped down as its CEO. His exit came under pressure allegedly after hours of drama involving Uber’s investors. The investors included the venture capital firm Benchmark, which has one of its partners, Bill Gurley, on Uber’s board. Kalanick’s exit follows several allegations of sexual harassment against employees, as well as lawsuits against Uber for allegedly classifying drivers as independent contractors.
Kirloskar eyes pump segment leadership Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd has stated that it will acquire Ahmedabad-based electric pump maker La-Gajjar Machineries (LGM) for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition comes in the light of Kirloskar’s attempts to achieve a leadership position in the pump segment.
Tata Group to acquire equity in Air India?
RIL once more India’s most valued co Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has regained the status of the country’s most valued firm, overtaking Tata Group’s Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in terms of market valuation. RIL, with a market capitalisation of `4.7 lakh crore, overtook TCS, which has a market cap of `4.65 lakh core.
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
The Tata Group is believed to have held preliminary discussions with senior government officials for participating in the privatisation process of the government’s loss making airline Air India. It is being speculated that the Tata Group will purchase an equity stake in Air India, which had been originally promoted by JRD Tata. To boot, the Tatas are already in a joint venture with Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines.
STUDY HOUR ANDHRA CORPORATE PRADESH WORLD
to 20 years. More importantly, given the profit accruals, banking experts feel that the level of debt beyond `4 lakh crore is totally unsustainable. The government and a group of ministers are currently looking into the demands of the telecom companies. A number of issues are pending with the government that will also need to be speedily addressed. Jio has complained that it competitors (Bharti, Vodafone and Idea) are indulging in cartelisation by not offering points of interconnection (PoI) for Jio to scale up. On the other hand, the existing telecom players have alleged that Jio’s free voice calls is a clear case of predatory pricing, which has adversely impacted the Indian telecom industry. These are hard issues and the government, regulators and courts need to take a firm call. These issues cannot be ignored when the bailout proposal is being discussed.
The banking angle Indian banks have a huge exposure to telecom companies. The Reserve Bank of India recently cautioned the banks to avoid additional
The finance ministry in 201718, has a target of collecting around `48,000 crore from the telecom companies.
Special Mention Accounts (SMA). These refer to companies that are on the verge of becoming a non performing asset (NPA). Reliance Telecom, the Anil Dhurubhai Ambani Group company, for example, has defaulted on its debt obligations with more than 10 banks and is a classic case of an NPA in the making. The banks are in complete support of the telecom companies demanding a bailout package, purely to ensure their NPA position is safeguarded.
exposures to the sector, and also to ensure adequate provisions are made towards non-performing assets, given the weak financial position many of these telecom companies are currently in. Worried about the banking sector’s huge exposure to the telecom industry, and the possibility of non-payments of interest and principle, State Bank of India (SBI) requested the Department of Telecom to conclude a bailout package at the earliest. Many of the telecom companies are currently being listed as
The fiscal deficit angle is even more worrying! According to the budget estimates for the fiscal year 2017-18, the finance ministry has a target of collecting around `48,000 crore from the telecom companies towards licence usage and spectrum fees. In the current state of affairs with the telecom industry, this will certainly not be achievable. Experts say that the companies are already paying more than 30% of their revenues to the government, and with the current stress, this can only worsen. Rating agencies have warned that the fiscal deficit target for 2017-18, which is pegged around 3.2%, may exceed the target, to around 3.35% due to shortfall in telecom industry revenues to the government.
The fiscal deficit angle
www.advancedge.com
The inevitable solution
The Reserve Bank of India recently cautioned the banks to avoid additional exposures to the telecom sector. Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
In effect, the bailout package seems inevitable, and the government will move in that direction to safeguard the industry. This makes sense for the government, as it will not allow the NPA position of the banks to further deteriorate and muddy the waters. Eventually, the brunt will would have to be borne by the economy if the fiscal deficit targets are not be achieved. A
CORPORATE HSEDARRUPOHAWORLD RYHDDUNTAS
Change of guard at GE: A new era dawns GE will get a new CEO in John Flannery, who will succeed Jeff Immelt in August. While shareholders are unhappy and the company was apparently not doing well, it can be argued that Immelt did the best with what he got, and his achievements were substantial. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
companies like Google, Apple and Amazons, GE continues to be the 10th most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalisation of close to $250 billion. Commendable!
Leaders at GE GE, given its survival over the last century, has always been defined by the quality of its leaders. Jack Welch, its 12th CEO, managed the company from 1981 to 2001 — a solid two decades of enormous growth, rising share prices and superior shareholder returns. Contrarily, the 16 year era of Jeff Immelt was marred by low share price growth and poor investor returns. However, we need to appreciate that Immelt, the 13th CEO of GE, took over the company during the September 2001 World Trade Centre attack, and steered the company through the economic slowdown that happened then on. The media, which often considers Jack Welch as
Jack Welch, managed GE from 1981 to 2001 — a solid two decades of enormous growth. the gold standard in global leadership, portrays Jeff Immelt as someone who has not lived up to Jack Welch’s standing and calibre, more so on the grounds of GE’s stock performance. The share price of GE increased multi-fold under Jack Welch. It went up close to 30 times when the index barely scaled up by 10 times — a true achievement of high performance and superior shareholder returns. Under Jeff Immelt, the share price has more or less remained flat over the 16 year period, while the index has almost doubled. A large section of the investors are not happy with Immelt, and in fact, his exit has come as a relief to many sections of the investor community. Has Jeff Immelt underperformed? Is
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
G
eneral Electric (GE) has announced that John Flannery, the head of its healthcare unit, will now succeed Jeff Immelt, the current CEO of the company, with effect from August 1, 2017. GE is a unique company. It was one of the 12 original companies listed on the then newly formed Dow Jones Industrial Average, back in 1896. After 122 years, GE is the only one from the original lot that is still listed on the Dow index (albeit with some small breaks). Today, in the era of technology and domination of
STUDY HOUR ANDHRA CORPORATE PRADESH WORLD
the tanking of the GE stock price a direct reflection of his leadership and poor strategy making? These are some of the questions we will ponder.
Jack Welch: An era of growth and diversification During his 20-year tenure, Welch focused primarily on growth. Expansion and acquisitions was the name of the game. Welch made close to 600 acquisitions in his time. GE, a company traditionally known as a string industrial company, moved away totally and was positioned as a conglomerate. Diversification was towards remote areas like financial services and media businesses. A substantial geographical growth also happened during the Welch era. In fact, GE was beginning to be classified as a financial conglomerate, given that a large proportion of its revenues were coming from its financial service businesses.
Jeff Immelt: An era of focus and mega restructure It is important to note that Immelt steered the company through two major crises during his 16year tenure. The Jack Welch Jeff Immelt 9/11 attacks and the economic crisis that followed had a deep impact impatient. on GE, especially with sharply If Jack Welch can be credited declining airline business and for GE’s astronomical expansion, other manufacturing businesses Immelt should be credited for that remained subdued for very making bold move after bold long periods of time. move! He had enormous guts to Before things could return reshape the company and anchor to normalcy, the 2008 financial it back as an industrial company. crisis started brewing. With GE He was instrumental in exiting shouldering a large portfolio of various non-core businesses like financial assets and business, banking and financial services, the impact on the company was consumer finance, media deeper. The financial services businesses, home appliances business almost wiped out any and pulling the company back superior performance from the strongly to its industrial roots. industrial side, and the company The company is now in a seemed to be poorly managed. state where the late Thomas Shareholders started growing Alva Edison, one of the greatest
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Crude oil looks up Crude oil showed signs of recovery from steep falls earlier in the past few weeks. However, it has still been the worst performing first-half in two decades, despite the OPEC’s ongoing production cuts that are intended to stabilise the price of crude.
Infosys AGM: Turmoil in the offing? The next Annual General Meeting of Infosys is likely to be a stormy one. A showdown is expected between the board of directors and founder shareholders, given the corporate governance and performance related issues.
Rise in overseas staff hiring by Indian IT cos
www.advancedge.com
Recent data has shown that Indian IT companies have been hiring large numbers of employees overseas. Based on information released by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), it has hired over 12,500 US employees over five years. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s current visit to the US will address the H-1B issue.
Cognizant to acquire HCSC subsidiary US headquartered Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS) recently announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Health Care Service Corporation’s (HCSC) subsidiary TMG Health. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory nod.
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
CORPORATE HSEDARRUPOHAWORLD RYHDDUNTAS
How Immelt’s worked
strategy
The exit from financial services and other non-core businesses not only allowed the management to focus on key industrial businesses, but the divestures also provided adequate funds for the company to reinvest and strengthen its core business. One of the notable large acquisitions was Baker Hughes. GE’s merger with Baker Hughes has created a global oil and gas giant that positions itself well to complete with oil and gas companies like Schlumberger, the world’s leading energy services company. GE’s acquisition of Alstrom also positioned it strongly in the power sector, making it a formidable industrial company in the short to near term future. Steering the company back to being an industrial company is one thing, but deepening its skill sets and weaving digital capabilities to position it as a “digital industrial” company is something else, which Immelt achieved commendably. Immelt intelligently invested large sums in integrating digital services with industrial capabilities, weaving data and analytics through the company’s entire product line, be it MRI machines, aircraft engines, locomotives, or wind turbines. This is done through the integration of mechanical and cyber systems through millions
of sensors and platforms that capture ‘second’ level data generated out of these sensors. Sophisticated analytics software work on these data to provide deep insights into the functioning of the products sold by GE to its customers. The beauty of this is that GE, which merely used to sell products, will now be capable of selling “higher value added” services to the same customers, substantially enhancing its value creation.
The share price conundrum In terms of poor stock performance, when such large scale restructure was taking
Welch’s era was mostly a boom era in the US stock markets, which were going through a bull phase. place, many of the investors did not truly understand the strategic intent of the management. All they could see and sensationalise were the businesses that were being divested, the jobs that were lost and the shrinkage in the size of the company that was taking place. Naturally, these are extremely difficult decisions from the CEO’s perspective and large scale uncertainties are for sure perceived negatively by external spectators. This naturally has a negative impact on the stock prices. That said, Immelt did not have the good luck of Welch in terms
John Flannery of timing. In fact, Welch’s era was mostly a boom era in the phase of the US stock markets, which were going through a bull phase. However, Immelt’s era was marred by global uncertainties, recession and a solid bear phase. Having the GE stock price maintained itself, one can argue, is an actually awesome performance! In the light of all this, it is therefore easy to believe that the decisions that Immelt took in challenging circumstances were more difficult than the expansionary route followed by Welch that happened during good times! All said and done, GE is definitely well poised for good growth in the coming years. The next era under John Flannery is promising, and the first few things he will work on will be to ensure that a positive investor perception is created. Otherwise, what Immelt is leaving behind is a well-crafted strategy and an organization that Thomas Alva Edison would actually have been proud of! A Dr Suresh Srinivasan is a Chartered Accountant, has an MBA (Bradford UK) and a Doctorate in Strategy. He is the Director of the 2-year PGDM at Great Lakes Institute of Management, as well as a Sr. Associate Professor. He is also a management consultant.
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
inventors of our times and also the founder of GE, would be happy looking at the company and its industrial businesses, as it stands today. GE now has a strong portfolio of industrial businesses that includes aviation, power, healthcare and energy. To that extent, Immelt’s tenure can be described as an era of mega restructure.
www.advancedge.com
STUDY HOUR ANDHRA CORPORATE PRADESH WORLD
July 2017
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
HSEDAR STUDY RUPOHARYH HOUR DDUNTAS
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 Q 1. Consider a large metal sphere fixed to the ground. A ball starts rolling of the sphere from its highest point. The ball looses contact with the sphere at a height equal to half the radius of the sphere measured from the top. The ball does not slip off while rolling down the surface of the sphere and the radius of the sphere is 36 times that of the ball. How many rotations did the ball make before falling off? 1] 3 2] 9 3] 6 4] 18 Ans:
Let R and r be the radii of the sphere and the ball respectively. Then, R = 36r Let A denote the highest point of the sphere and B denote the point on the sphere where the ball loses contact with the sphere.
Now, cos =
=
(smaller arc AB) = R × = 36r ×
Then the number of rotations made by the ball
= 12 r
= 6. Hence, [3].
f(1)(1 + a) = ab
f(1) =
Now, put n = 3.
f(3) = a{f(5) + f(7) + ....}
f(3) = a
f(3)(1 + a) = a
f(3) =
3.
Three partners A, B and C make a profit of Rs.95000 together in a business. A invests half the capital for half the time, B invests one-third of the capital for one-third the time and the remaining partner, the rest of the money for the whole time. What is B’s share in the profit? 1] Rs.19000 2] Rs.20000
3] Rs.
. Hence, [3].
A: =
B:
Q 2. Consider a function f on natural numbers such that f(1) + f(3) + f(5) + ... = b ... (i) f(n) = a{f(n + 2) + f(n + 4) + ...} ... (ii) Find the value of f(3). 1]
4] None of these
Ans: Proportional investment of
=
f(1) = a{f(3) + f(5) + ....} f(1) = a{b – f(1)}
2]
3] Ans: Put n = 1 in (ii).
4]
×
= , =
C:
, and ×1=
Ratio of profit of B=
×
=
B’s share =
=
of total.
× 95000 = Rs.20000
Hence, [2]. Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH
Verbal In the following question, there are sentences that form a paragraph. Identify the sentence(s) or part(s) of sentence(s) that is/are correct in terms of grammar and usage (including spelling, punctuation and logical consistency). Then, choose the most appropriate option. Q1. A. Each year, hundreds of students from different countries come to India to join various colleges. B. While some lucky ones have relatives and friends already waiting, the rest end up with few or no contacts. C. To insure these students are well integrated into campus life, colleges have been putting in a lot of effort these days. D. From holding exclusive fests to appointing full-time coordinating staffers, from providing separate accommodation to equipping them with communication skills through special classes, E. colleges today are leaving no stone upturned to make overseas students feel at home. 1] A, B & D 2] A, C & E 3] A, B, C & E 4] B, C & D Q2. The correct word in C should be ‘ensure’, meaning to make certain, not ‘insure’, meaning to guarantee against loss. The correct idiomatic phrase in E should be ‘leaving no stone unturned’, meaning doing everything that you can, not ‘upturned’. Statements A, B and D are grammatically correct. Hence, [1]. The following question has four sentences pertaining to a subject, which may or may not be in sequence. One of the sentences is contextually/logically incorrect. Choose the option corresponding to the sentence that is incorrect or inappropriate.
www.advancedge.com
Q3. 1] Why is it so hard to find words for smells? 2] That’s because smell, unlike our other senses, isn’t consciously processed: the input goes straight to the emotion and memory centres. 3] Our first impression of a scent may be a flash of colour, an image, a sensation, rather than a word. 4] Humans are better equipped for sight than for smell – we process visual input ten times faster than olfactory.
Statement [1] asks a question regarding smell. Both [2] and [3] answer that question: [2] answers it directly, and [3] elaborates on the point made in [2], by providing examples of the impressionistic (as
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
opposed to the conscious) sensations of smell. The correct sequence of the sentences is as given: [1]-[2]-[3]. Statement [4] does not fit into the sequence, as it begins a different point, i.e. the difference between humans’ visual and olfactory abilities. Hence, [4]
The sentences given in the question below when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the most logical order of sentences, from among the given choices, to construct a coherent paragraph. Q4. A. For more than half a century, physicists have been quietly aware of a dark cloud looming on the distant horizon of their field. B. The other is quantum mechanics, which provides a theoretical framework for understanding the universe on the smallest of scales: molecules, atoms, and all the way down to subatomic particles like electrons and quarks. C. But through years of research, physicists have come to a disturbing conclusion: as they are currently formulated, general relativity and quantum mechanics cannot both be right, as they are mutually incompatible. D. One is Albert Einstein’s general relativity, which provides a theoretical framework for understanding the universe on the largest of scales: stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and beyond to the immense expanse of the universe itself. E. There are two foundational pillars upon which modern physics rests. 1] AEDBC 2] ACEDB 3] EDBCA 4] EADBC The EDB link is the most obvious one in the paragraph: E mentions the two foundational pillars of modern physics, D states that one is general relativity, and C states that the other is quantum mechanics. So option [4] can be ruled out. A makes more sense as the first sentence (as in [1] and [2]) than the last (as in [3]), since it introduces the problem at hand. D and B must precede C, as the former two introduce general relativity and quantum mechanics respectively, while C states the problem with them. So [2] is ruled out, and the correct sequence has to be AEDBC. Hence, [1].
WORD DOSE
HSEDAR STUDY RUPOHARYH HOUR DDUNTAS
Our marsh country
Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river wound, twenty miles of the sea. My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things, seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening. At such a time I found out for certain, that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond, was the river; and that the distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was Pip. Excerpt from Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations
MAT CH T HE W OR D S W IT H T H E IR M EA NING S 2. Vivid – viv-id (adjective) 3. Impression – im-preshuh n (noun) 4. Identity – ih-den- ti-tee (noun) 5. Memorable – mem-er-uh-buh l (adjective) 6. Bleak – bleek (adjective)
a. Cold and miserable.
7. Overgrown – oh-ver-groh n (verb)
12. Wilderness – wil-der-is (noun) 13. Intersected – in-ter-sekt d (verb)
8. Nettles – net-l s (noun) 9. Churchyard – church-yahrd (noun)
14. Dykes – dahyk s (noun)
10. Parish – par-ish (noun)
16. Savage – sav-ij (adjective)
15. Mounds – mounds (noun)
11. Aforesaid – uh-fawr-sed (adjective)
strong, clear images in the mind.
l. Force of nature that is fierce, violent and uncontrolled.
b. The characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is.
h. A herbaceous plant which has jagged leaves covered with stinging hairs.
c. Covered with plants that have been allowed to grow wild.
i. Raised masses of earth and stones created for purposes of defence or burial.
n. Embankments for controlling or holding back the waters of the sea or a river.
j. Worth remembering or easily remembered, especially because of being special or unusual.
o. An effect produced on someone.
d. (In the Christian Church) a small administrative district typically having its own church and a priest or pastor. e. To divide (something) by passing or lying across it. f. A neglected or abandoned area. g. Producing powerful feelings or
k. An enclosed area surrounding a church, and especially used for burials.
m. Something that has been said or mentioned earlier or previously.
p. An area of low-lying land which is flooded in wet seasons or at high tide, and typically remains waterlogged at all times.
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
1. Marsh – mahrsh (noun)
ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH
A quiz to boost your General Knowledge 1. Name the person who has been appointed the new chairman of International Fertiliser Association (IFA). The Parisbased IFA is the global fertiliser association with 500 members representing 68 countries, including 24 members from India. a. Naoki Tajima b. Vinod Bhat c. Rakesh Kapoor d. Kaustubh Shah
2. The Chief Minister of this state has launched a massive immunisation drive in 38 districts to eradicate Japanese Encephalitis (JE) from May 25, 2017. The government also launched a toll free number “18001805544” to get or provide any information about encephalitis. Which is this state where this campaign has started? a. Bihar b. Uttar Pradesh c. Madhya Pradesh d. Maharashtra
6. Renowned fashion designer Laura Biagiotti passed away recently. She was a citizen of which country? a. Italy b. France c. USA d. Germany
www.advancedge.com
3. According to World Economic Forum (WEF), which city is the world’s most crowded as per the UN Habitat Data? a. Dhaka b. Mumbai c. Tokyo d. Beijing
4. Name the state in India in which Yelagiri Summer Festival had been organised. The festival had been marked by cultural programmes by students as well as professional artistes.
a. Kerala b. Tamil Nadu c. Karnataka d. Andhra Pradesh
5. Name the Indian monument that figures in the world’s top 10 TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards for Landmarks? a. Taj Mahal b. Swamynarayan Akshardham c. Qutub Minar d. Gateway of India
7. The tourism of which state has won the ‘Best Destination for Romance’ at the Lonely Planet Magazine Indian Travel Awards 2017? a. Himachal Pradesh b. Jammu and Kashmir c. Meghalaya d. Kerala 8. Name the country that has the most complex tax jurisdiction in Asia-Pacific, as per 2017 Asia Pacific Tax Complexity Survey conducted by Deloitte. a. China b. Japan c. USA d. Germany 9. What is India’s GDP growth forecast for FY 18, as per World Bank (WB)’s latest report “India
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
Development Report”? a. 7.0% b. 7.1% c. 7.2% d. 7.3%
10. The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is observed every year on May 29 to honour the memory of martyred peacekeepers and pay tribute to all those who have served and continue to serve in UN peacekeeping operations for their high level of professionalism, dedication and courage. What was the theme of the day this year? a. Honouring our heroes b. Women in peacekeeping c. A force for the future d. Investing in peace around the world 11. Name the Indian Institute of Technology that has developed ‘soil-to-soil’ technology to manufacture cheaper, quicker and pollution-free bio fuel. a. IIT Delhi b. IIT Bombay c. IIT Madras d. IIT Kharagpur 12. This bank has got $100 million Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan to finance solar rooftop projects in India. The loan is guaranteed by the Government of India (GoI). Which bank are we talking about? a. Allahabad Bank b. Punjab National Bank c. Indian Overseas Bank d. UCO bank
HSEDAR STUDY RUPOHARYH HOUR DDUNTAS
14. Name the state in India where The Sri Venkateswara National Park is located. a. Andhra Pradesh b. Karnataka c. Kerala d. Tamil Nadu 15. Basudev Chatterji passed away recently in Guwahati on June 8th. Name the field with which he was associated. a. Politics b. Films c. Journalism d. History 16. Name the state in which Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary is located. It got the status of a sanctuary in 1959 and is home to endangered birds like Rufousnecked Hornbill, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Great Hornbill etc. a. Bihar b. Uttar Pradesh c. West Bengal d. Uttarakhand 17. Name the country with which the Nalanda University has signed an MoU for academic linkages and collaboration. a. South Korea b. China c. Japan d. Vietnam
18. The World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) is observed every year on June 14 to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products, and to thank blood donors for their voluntary, life-saving gifts of blood. Every pint of blood donated can save more than 3 lives. What is the theme of the day this year? a. Every blood donor is a hero. b. Blood connects us all. c. Give blood. Give now. Give often. d. Thank you for saving my life. 19. Name the country that has launched the world’s smallest and cheapest private jet, ‘Vision Jet’. a. United States of America b. United Kingdom c. Australia d. Dubai 20. As per latest Child Rights and You (CRY) 2017 Report, which Indian state has the highest number of child labourers? a. Bihar b. Jharkhand c. Maharashtra d. Uttar Pradesh 21. The Valmiki National Park (VNP) is home to tiger, rhinoceros, black bear, leopard, wild dog, wild buffalo, wild boar etc. At present 241 bird species have been reported in the forest. Some of the interesting birds are Nepal kaleej pheasant, three-toed quail, flycatcher, grey shrike, green willow warbler and tree pipit. In which state of India is this Park located? a. Bihar b. Uttrakhand c. Uttar Pradesh d. Himachal Pradesh
22. An Indian player has won the 2017 Men’s singles Indonesia Open Super Series Badminton tournament. Name him. a. Kidambi Srikanth b. Chetan Anand c. Prannoy Kumar d. Parupalli Kashyap 23. The International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict is observed every year to raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world. The theme this year was “Preventing Sexual Violence Crimes through Justice and Deterrence”. When is the day observed? a. June 17th b. June 18th c. June 19th d. June 20th 24. In which country is The Jigme Dorji National Park located? a. Bhutan b. Bangladesh c. Myanmar d. India 25. Name the famous personality in India who has been appointed as the new brand ambassador to promote the Goods and Services Tax in India. a. Amitabh Bachchan b. Shah Rukh Khan c. Sachin Tendulkar d. Aamir Khan 26. Name the Union Minister who has launched the mobile app ‘Celebrating Yoga’ for scientific healthy living. This person is the Science and Technology Minister. a. Smriti Irani b. Arun Jaitley c. M Venkaiah Naidu d. Harsh Vardhan
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
www.advancedge.com
13. The World Milk Day (WMD) is observed every year by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to recognise the importance of milk as a global food. The day is intended to provide an opportunity to bring attention to activities that are connected with the dairy sector. When is the day observed? a. June 1 b. June 2 c. June 3 d. June 4
ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH 27. Name the city where the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is headquartered. a. Berlin b. New York c. London d. Geneva 28. The ASEAN Dengue Day (ADD) is observed every year on June 15 to raise awareness on dengue and to mobilise resources for prevention and control involving private and public sector stakeholders. The day observed as a collective advocacy event to reiterate calls on all sectors of society to unite against dengue, as well as to highlight innovative and effective strategies in the prevention and control of dengue. What was the theme of the day this year? a. Dengue: Fight is necessary b. One vision for dengue-free society c. Let’s make a dengue-free community d. United fight against dengue
www.advancedge.com
29. Name the person who will receive the 2017 Bhupen Hazarika National Award. Bhupen Hazarika was an Indian playback singer, lyricist, musician, singer, poet and filmmaker from Assam. a. Lou Majaw b. Samudra Gupta Kashyap c. Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi d. Jahnu Barua
30. Name the author who has won the 2017 Man Booker International Prize. He won this prize for his book A Horse Walks Into A Bar. a. Roy Jacobsen b. David Grossman c. Amos Oz d. Ian Samsom
Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen July 2017
How to Play Fill in the grid so that every horizontal row, every vertical column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9, without repeating the numbers in the same row, column or box. You can’t change the digits already given in the grid. Every puzzle has one solution. Hint: Don’t fill in numbers at random. While filling a particular square, write numbers 1-9 on a pad and start eliminating those numbers that already appear in the same row, column or 3x3 box.
ANSWERS GLOBESCAN
SUDOKU
1.c
2.b
3.a
4.b
5.a
6.a
7.d
8.a
9.c
10.d
11.d
12.b
13.a
14.a 15.d
16.c
17.a
18.c
19.a 20.d
21.a
22.a
23.c
24.a 25.a
26.d 27.b
28.d
29.c 30.b
WORD DOSE
1. p 6. a 11. m 16. l
For more similar puzzles, visit: www.sudoku.com
2. g 7. c 12. f
3. o 8. h 13. e
4. b 9. k 14.n
5. j 10. d 15. i