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I’m going to ask a pretty straightforward question, the answer to which is, ironically, too vast for any of us to find. How many mistakes have you made in your life? The idea behind my posing this enormous question is not for you to go hunting down Memory Lane with a fine-toothed comb for an answer. Instead, think about all the major mistakes you’ve made (and let’s face it, all of us have made such mistakes in our lives), and try and discern what you’ve learned from them. How have those mistakes helped you become better, wiser and more rounded individuals? Now before you dismiss this as a useless exercise, you should remember that one of the most important parameters business schools gauge in their applicants is the kind of person they are, and what you bring to the table. So a trip down that Memory Lane of yours to find the mistakes you’ve learned from will help you understand YOU as an individual, and what you have to offer to the world at large. This allows me to segue into the cover story of this issue of Advanc’edge MBA. While it is not as all-encompassing as the question I posed, it is still significant. One of the most important stages of your preparation is the mock or simulated tests you take. Now that you’re grasping and relearning your concepts, you have to start applying them to these mocks. You will see that initially, your performance will be marred by mistakes galore (based on your strengths and weaknesses, of course). But these are the mistakes that you have to learn from, if you plan on cracking the CAT and the other management entrance tests. As you keep taking more and more mocks, you have to learn from your mistakes, and you will find that your performance will keep improving. And as you all know, the best way to learn from your mistakes is to analyse them thoroughly. So analyse your performance in the mocks with gusto! Finally, it is all about the people we become, and that’s what the business schools are trying to gauge. In fact, as I’m sure you’re aware, the whole world is your oyster, but the world is still going to judge the kind of person that you are. So concentrate on your mocks, but don’t forget to keep worrying at the question I asked in the beginning. I’m sure you’ll do wonders.

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CONTENTS

June 2017

COVER STORY Mastering the mock tests

STUDENT SPEAK NIHIL CHARAN REDDY 100%iler in CAT 2016

STUDENT SPEAK ASHISH JAIN 100%iler in CAT 2016

CORPORATE WORLD Job losses in ITeS: How big a concern is it?

MUST READS Start with Why Homage to Catalonia A Little Life

Flipkart eyes Snapdeal acquisition: An analysis

Regulating real estate: RERA to the rescue?

STUDY HOUR Test Q&As

Word Dose: The Bond of the Sea

Globescan

SuDoKu

10 14 16

COUNT DOWN Top 10 Most Influential Business Leaders CORPORATE INTERVIEW YUVRAJ AMAN SINGH, CEO & Founder, Rocking Deals NEWS SNIPPETS

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.

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HSEDCOVER ARRUPOHARYSTORY HDDUNTAS

Mastering the mock tests This is the time when you will gradually start taking simulated test series to get yourself out of the “concept building” mode and into the “test-taking” mode. Now your study pattern is about to get slightly altered. Here are a few things you can expect to face in the mock tests.

The Advanc’edge Team

never get the feel of it until you actually sit down and stare at the questions on the screen, just waiting to be answered. So for all those who may or may not be fully aware, here are a few details about the tests that you will be taking.

What’s all the fuss about? Many might ask: Why the entire hullabaloo about these tests? You only have to know basic concepts. Well, that’s exactly the point. Knowledge of basic facts is important, but mere knowledge of these facts learnt in a conventional “orderly” pattern can sometimes act as a hindrance while taking a test such as the CAT, CMAT or XAT. This is because the multiple choice questions attempt to probe that knowledge from an unusual angle. Take, for example, a simple mathematical problem:

This is the time that you apply the concepts that you’ve been studying these last few months. Q. 5 is 25% of _____ (a) 1/20 (b) 5/4 (c) 20 (d) 125 Now this is not a very complex problem (certainly not the sort you’ll find in the actual test!), but what keeps it from being absolutely simple for anyone who has finished his primary school is its unusual nature. We are not used to thinking about percentage problems in this way. If it were presented in an honest, straightforward “What is 25% of 20?” form, most of us

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he countdown has begun for the months from October to December, which will decide the future careers of lakhs of students. The tension is palpable, with some students delving deeper into their books and others finding that their enthusiasm has suddenly frozen into fear of the test and their performance at it. This is the time that you actually take the concepts that you’ve been studying these last few months, and apply them to tests. In other words, the phase of taking mock test series begins now. Although some of you may know exactly what the CAT and other competitive exams like it, such as the CMAT, XAT, SNAP, NMAT, among others, entail, you will

Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

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COVER STUDY STORY ANDHRA HOUR PRADESH

would have no difficulty with it. Hence, a good objective type question is likely to have this unusual twist. Let us take another example: Q. Which of the following could be considered the opposite in conception to secular state? (a) theocratic (b) communistic (c) fascist (d) non-religious Now, you know that the opposite of ‘secular’ in this regard is ‘theocratic’ and that is the right choice. However, if you are even slightly unsure of your answer, the two alternatives (b) and (c) can easily distract you. It is common knowledge that communist (b) states have no religion. Likewise, alternative (d) would suggest nearly the same idea as “secular”, except that the latter has the backing of usage in politics. Thus, each of the alternatives, except (a), has an element of distraction built into it. In order to sail through one needs more than mere knowledge of facts.

Accuracy

Your score can improve by getting used to taking tests under a time frame. quite difficult to correctly solve the same questions when they have to concentrate on multiple areas and sections under time constraints. Your score can definitely improve just by getting used to taking-tests under a time frame and for a continuous concentration of 2 to 3 hours. You have to be disciplined and have the ability to concentrate for long durations.

Negative marking Almost all multiple choice question tests (MCQs) penalise the students for incorrect answers. This characteristic is unique to MCQs only to help avoid outright guessing. In this case, the test is fair to those test takers who really know the answers versus those who will

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Time constraint

guess the answers and may get them right. Negative marks ensure that the student more often than not knows the real answers to the questions. This way, the test setter can check if the student is really answering the question or is gambling.

Note how most of the tests have a similar test-taking duration. Most range from 120 minutes (2 hours) to 180 minutes (3 hours). The important aspect from this analysis is that you should possess the ability to concentrate continuously for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours. Although most students can solve questions easily when there are no time limits, they find it

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Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

By creating the negative marks concept, the test is clearly laying stress on accuracy. Therefore, it is important that the student knows how to answer the question as a priority. Most Indian students are used to studying only those portions of the subject which they are good at. However, these tests are very clear on the fact that the student needs to be competent rather than casual.

Speed Speed is a factor of the number of questions to be answered in the given time. If the number of questions in the test is more and the duration is short, it suggests that the test setter is seeking fundamental understanding. If the number of questions is less compared to the duration of the test, he is seeking to test not only the fundamentals but has gone a step further to test applications of the fundamentals as well. The CAT of the 21st century as compared to the CAT of the nineties has changed from just checking fundamentals to querying the students on applications. Earlier, the CAT used to have anything between 150 and 180 questions, and the

HSEDCOVER ARRUPOHARYSTORY HDDUNTAS

A few useful points to keep in mind to crack the tests • Remain connected with your peers: When dealing with a competitive exam like the CAT, it helps to be connected with your peers, especially those who are serious about cracking it. Some peers in your immediate circle may be nervous and keep cribbing about the tasks at hand. In fact, friends who are not better prepared will reinforce each other’s negative feelings about how difficult it will be to crack the test. So it’s better to spend time with someone who can enhance your preparedness, rather than with someone who creates tension and continuously complains about the difficulty levels of the test. • Lead a balanced life: The CAT does not demand sacrifices, but a balanced daily routine that keeps your stress under control instead. It has been seen that students spend the last few weeks packing in studies into each day’s schedule. Since the test is a timed one, there is already a pressure exerted on you. You shouldn’t have to handle anymore. So keep your mind relaxed and uncluttered by spending time in activities that make you happy. This could be anything as simple as listening to music. • Try and keep back-up plans: Nervousness and panic set in only because of what you feed into your mind. If you keep brooding over the prospect of failing at the test, you will definitely hamper your performance. This test is so competitive that a lot of your preparation can be done in the mind, by dealing in the right manner with your thoughts. It is also important to have back-up plans. Make sure you discuss your options with the concerned experts – if you crack the CAT then what are the options open to you, if not the CAT, then what is the road ahead for you? • Have a set goal in your mind: You are led to distraction and procrastination only when you don’t have a specific goal in place. If your goal is set in your mind, you automatically find that you don’t waver from it. Again, it becomes important to set aside time for all your activities. For example, you may be spending time with friends, all the while thinking that you haven’t studied for the CAT that day. Therefore, you will end up worrying even more. • Always analyse your test score and performance: Keep these few things in mind, keep the concepts you have learnt in your head, and remember, it’s just about applying those concepts. So start taking the mock tests, and more importantly, analyse your score and performance in each so that you can improve them in the next. So finally, when you get to the actual exam, it’ll become just another test!

The CAT comes up with ingenious ways to unsettle students having pre-set notions about the test.

increased, so it is the application of your knowledge that is being tested as well.

Lack of a fixed pattern Although you may know the test patterns of all the important tests in the Indian MBA calendar, the tests do bring in factors to throw students off balance, such as changing the structure/pattern of the test subtly. This is done especially since the areas and the subjects tested are same and cannot change. So the test setter alters other parameters, like the duration of the test, quantum of negative marks, breaking up areas into different sections or suddenly

combining them into one, altering the weightage of subjects or areas or topics, and changing the level of difficulty of the questions themselves. Very often, the CAT comes up with ingenious ways to unsettle students who have pre-set notions and fixed expectations about the structure of the test. Therefore, the two prime requirements to crack the entrance tests are: • Knowledge of the fundamentals of each subject. • A consciously cultivated ability to think on your feet. Both are required to become a successful manager. A

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duration was just 120 minutes, meaning that the candidate had just 40 seconds to answer a question. But now, the time given per question has been

Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

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STUDENT SPEAK

Direct your energies in the right direction ... feels ASHISH JAIN, 100 percentiler, in CAT 2016. He shares with Alolika Banerjee his journey towards his brilliant score in the CAT and how staying focussed can help attain one’s target in life. Q. 100 percentile is a rare achievement! How was the feeling when you saw your CAT score? The feeling was quite unreal. I was seeing my scorecard but I was not believing it. It took me quite a long time to fully absorb the fact. I will never forget the feeling.

Q. Were you kind of expecting this score? Not even close. I was a little disappointed after the CAT, and had expected something between 98.5 and 99 %ile. However, after the exam, I had various discussions with many of the fellow students and then the perspective about my CAT performance changed. Later, I came to know that it wasn’t just me who was taken aback by the DILR section. It was a cause for concern for most students. Trust me, I was quite happy to hear it. I started expecting that I might get something like 99.5%ile. After talking to even more people, I believed I could touch 99.8%ile if I was really lucky. But 100%ile was a score that’s totally unexpected. No doubt I was thrilled beyond my imagination when I saw the score, but I didn’t believe my eyes the first time I saw my score. It’s a truly humbling experience.

Q. Behind every success story there is the contribution of someone very vital. Who is that very vital person in your life to whom you can attribute your success?

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There has never been just one person behind anything I have achieved so far in my life. A lot of incredibly nice people have contributed significantly in the various phases of my life. The same goes for this. The fact that I could score a 100 percentile in CAT was a culmination of contribution from my family, friends, teachers and mentors.

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Q. Can you share with us your daily study plan a month before the CAT? I was working while I prepared for my CAT so I couldn’t ignore my office schedule. On working days, I got up at

Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

8 in the morning, went to office at 9, came back by 7, and by 9 p.m. was ready to take a mock test from 9 to 12. Then, I analysed it for an hour before going to sleep. On weekends, I got more time to prepare and take two tests every day.

Q. How did you prepare for CAT 2016 for the entire stretch? I feel diligence and persistence play a significant role in life, no matter what the endeavour might be. For CAT 2016, I didn’t go out of the way and do anything extra for a significant period. I only took mock tests and analysed them and followed the routine I mentioned earlier without fail. This consistency perhaps helped me to score the way I did in the CAT.

Q. After CAT, how are you spending your time? I spent the initial two months preparing for interviews. After that, I have been relaxing quite a bit and spending a lot of time with my friends.

Q. Which B-school will you be choosing now? I’ll be choosing IIM Ahmedabad since it is where, I believe, I will meet the smartest of brains coming from the most diverse of backgrounds. Also, the curriculum is considered to be the most hectic of all the B-schools in India. If I outshine others there, I believe I will gain the confidence to take on anything that life throws at me.

Q. What do you plan to specialise in? I am currently inclined towards marketing, but I will be choosing my stream only after the 1st year.

Q. Your words of advice for future CAT aspirants... Hard work and determination never betray you. So if you are focussed about what you want to do with your life, nothing can stop you from achieving your target. However, make sure that you direct your energies in the right direction. 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!

his book deals with the quintessentially important question, ‘why’. Why are certain people and companies more innovative than others? Why do some make more profit? Why are certain people more successful? ‘Why’ is a word that has haunted millions. Great personalities like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Martin Luther King Jr. might not have much in common except that they all started off with the ‘why’. This questioning spirit helped them to inspire those around them and left a mark in others. Those who begin and lead their lives with WHY never manipulate, they inspire. And the people who follow them don’t do so because they have to; they follow because they want to. Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Name: Start with Why author Simon Sinek remarkably weaves together a clear vision of what it Author: Simon Sinek truly takes to lead by example and inspire others. This book is for anyone Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd who wants to inspire others or for those who want to find someone to Genre: Non-fiction Price: `283 inspire them.

aught amidst the chaotic Civil War in 1936’s Spain, George Orwell was shot and barely survived to tell the tale of what he witnessed. But he survived, and Homage to Catalonia was published. In this book, he recounts his personal account of his torturous six months on the front lines of the Spanish Revolution. The book was published to little attention and surprisingly enough, wasn’t even published in the US until 1952. However, over the years, the book has emerged to be one of the finest in the history of literature, a landmark text of the 20th century and an indispensable read. Few stories of war, hardships and conflict manage to evoke such a moving Name: Homage to Catalonia admixture of horror, grace, brutality and, yes, even humour. “The Spaniards Author: George Orwell are good at many things, but not at making war,” he wrote. “In Spain nothing, Publisher: Important Books Genre: Autobiography from a meal to a battle, ever happens at the appointed time.” Homage to Price: `499 Catalonia is a must-read for people who love literature and in quest of a book that can be a treasure for life.

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anya Yanagihara’s book, A Little Life, is a witness to human suffering pushed to its limits. We begin with four young men who move to New York after college, with a promising future ahead. JB, a “gay, brilliant and arrogant figurative painter”, is the only one sure of his inevitable success; Malcolm, an architect, is a disappointment to his high-income parents, unsure of his sexuality and perplexed about his “insufficient blackness”; Willem, a handsome, unambitious actor, works as a waiter; and Jude, an orphan with a mysterious past, is an assistant prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s office.” Despite the “brothers-in-arms” setup, the narrative quickly concentrates on Jude. Yanagihara brings out New York’s subcultures and socioeconomic Name: A Little Life groups. Through the much described insightful detail and decade-by-decade Author: Hanya Yanagihara examination of these characters’ lives, Yanagihara has woven a deeply Publisher: Pan Macmillan discerning character study that inspires as much as devastates. It’s probably a Genre: Autobiography life, just like everyone else’s, but in Yanagihara’s deft hands, it’s also tender and Price: `491 large, affecting and transcendent; not a little life after all.

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CORPORATE INTERVIEW

Being honest with oneself is essential in business ... feels YUVRAJ AMAN SINGH, CEO and Founder of Rocking Deals, a company that deals with refurbished mobiles. In an interview with Alolika Banerjee the MBA grad from Middlesex University shares his entrepreneurial journey. Q. You are a first generation business person. Share with us the problems you had to face. First and foremost I had started quite young when I was 23 years of age, straight from scratch with no business background whatsoever. So it was difficult for me to understand how business functions in the first place. At age of 23 you are generally too young and innocent for such exposure, right? However, I must mention that in this journey, I met two persons who taught me a lot of things regarding business and helped me shield myself against the fake ones.

Q. Pros and cons of being a first generation businessman as opposed to someone who comes from a business background. Well, if I have to talk about the pros then I must mention that whatever I did, it was purely my own effort. There was no business background for me to fall back upon. However, the experience helped me learn new things and the struggle that I faced and the decisions that I took, right or wrong, made me learn a lot, even though I made mistakes. This encouraged me to create a path for my future self. Among the cons, I must say that I came across people who often tried to take advantage of my inexperience and misled me to fulfil their own interests.

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Q. What triggered your decision to join business when three generations before you were in the service industry?

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I felt being in service and working under somebody was not my cup of tea. I did not want to report to any one and wanted to do something on my own due to my different mindset. I had to make a difference with my own work, my own contribution to the world. This mindset gave me the courage

Advancâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

to take a plunge and start my own venture. I knew it was a big step, with multiple risks involved. And ever since I started I have had immense learning. Most of it came from the mistakes that I made. Starting a business is a gradual process, where slowly and steadily, you get a grip on the situation around you and then take small but confident steps towards success.

Q. Why mobile phones, and that too, pre owned or unboxed ones? I took up this venture because I could see a formidable future in this segment. The unboxed thing is interesting, as it helps make something of my own brand by refurbishing and certifying products and, therefore creating a higher and more distinct value. We add value to the product by means of providing warranty and insurance after testing t h e m , quality

CORPORATE INTERVIEW

Q. How does your business operate? We buy from all the distributers, brands, portals and support them in upgrades and buyback models. While upgrading, we modify the products handling customer relation projects, buy and assemble devices by refurbishing and packaging. We also have our distributors and dealers who aid us in getting into retail as well.

Q. How does your management degree help you run the nuances of business, if it at all does? Every day is a new challenge and you have to upgrade yourself for that. No degree can particularly help you in facing day to day circumstances considering your respective undertakings. Commitment value is much higher and focused on building customer loyalty.

Q. Do you think management programmes abroad are better equipped to train students than colleges in India? I personally feel that dedication and commitment to work depend on the person and not the institution he joins. My personal opinion is that dedication is the key and not the standard of the respective institutions.

human being and motivated me to face my fears and not run away from crises. This learning helped me immensely in my professional sphere and especially in running my venture. She also advised me to not be disheartened by any ups and downs while running this business which eventually contributed a lot towards the achievement of my dreams.

Q. What is the way ahead for you a few years down the line? We have immense future plans surrounding several of our new products. We are hopefully opening an institute for teaching mobile phone repair. And along with all that we are also looking forward to get into the retail industry and facilitating exports.

Q. If given a choice would you do things differently in life?

As India is the second largest smartphone market followed by China, it is expected to grow more as brands are based out of here.

Q. Your take on the telecom industry in India and its future? As India is the second largest smartphone market in the world followed by China, it is expected to grow more and more as brands are based out of here. The future seems bright for the telecom industry in this country, as it is a volatile and aggressive market.

Q. One person who has been your professional guru and helped you achieve great goals in your business. I would not want to mention any guru, but I feel that my mother’s positivity made me a strong

No, I love my life as it is and would not like to edit it in any way.

Q. What three things you feel are required to make a mark in the world of business or to be an entrepreneur?

In my opinion, commitment to your own work to reach the goals is extremely important in the world of business. Then I feel remaining true to your words is also essential. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep your promise. But if you can do it, then nothing can stop you from increasing your value. And last but not the least don’t ever stab people in the back for your own profits. Today you may win but the backlash will come to you in some way or the other and ruin you.

Q. Your words of advice for someone who wishes to be an entrepreneur after MBA. Try not to abide by what the world expects of you. Follow your own instincts and listen to what your heart tells you to do. If what you want is out-ofthe-box, then let not what others say affect you in any way. Learn from your mistakes and don’t let failure deter you from following your heart. Let that failure be a learning lesson for you. Be confident and you will not fail to reach your goal. A

Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

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is good so automatically users receive the value added. To ensure that I give the best products to my customers, I have tie-ups with some of the best technologies in the world.

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SNIPPETS STUDY HOUR ANDHRA PRADESH

News in brief

Here are some interesting titbits from over the last month

Netflix working on technology that streams high-quality videos on low Internet speeds Netflix’s India operations have been quite impressive and has helped the company redouble its efforts on improving the delivery of their video content worldwide, a top company executive has said. “We’ve been working on the efficiency of delivery and the data that we had about the performance of streaming in India made us redouble our efforts to use new codecs, denser encodes” said Neil Hunt, chief product officer, Netflix. “This is more important in India because of the bandwidth constraints but the technology is equally relevant in the US or markets with best streaming performance like Korea,” Hunt said.

Fabindia up against fresh challenges once more Fabindia, the popular ethnic wear brand, is again facing new challenges after it used the term khadi to describe its fabrics owing to the raw material used and the weaving pattern employed in their creation. Earlier, the company was slapped with a legal notice by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) for using the term without permission. The Textile Laboratory and Research Centre, Mumbai, said Fabindia has been using blends of flax with cotton, which doesn’t qualify as khadi. A report by the Ahmedabad-based Khadi Gramodyog Prayog Samiti, an independent research institute, earlier this month said, “Since right twist was used in weft of the sample, it is not at all a khadi fabric.”

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India is number 1 in the list of Dubai’s 100 tourist source markets India is the number one country in the list of Dubai’s 100 tourist source markets for the second time, with a total of 1.8 million visitors last year. The Annual Visitor Report 2016 was released by Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) during this year’s Arabian Travel Market. Saudi Arabia (1.6 million) and the UK (1.2 million) were other prominent names on the list. According to the data, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) remained the number one volume generator for tourism to Dubai, delivering the highest share of visitor volumes for 2016 with a total of 3.4 million, up 5% over 2015.

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IDBI Bank restricted by RBI from further hiring The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be restricting IDBI Bank from hiring, opening branches and giving big ticket loans. This decision by the RBI is directed to ensure that the bank takes measures to cut down its losses by reducing expenses and recovering problem loans. The bank had suffered a historic loss of `2,255 crore in the December quarter 2016 as it had to make huge provisions for bad loans. Within weeks of the bank reporting huge losses, the government had directed the bank to curb expenses and freeze big ticket lending.

Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

Renault India has become the fifth largest car-maker of the country Renault India will add 50 more dealers to take overall dealerships to over 320 by December this year. The company has become the fifth largest player within five years of operations with a 4.5% market share in the 3-million units per annum domestic car market. “Over the past five years, we’ve not only become the fastest growing car brand in the country but also the fastest in dealership addition. “We closed 2016 with 270 dealers, adding almost 70 over 2015 and will be opening 50 more to take our brand presence to 320 by end-December,” said Renault India chief executive Sumit Sawhney.

HSEDARRUPOSNIPPETS HARYHDDUNTAS Online hiring activity for April increases 10%: Monster Employment Index According to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI), the online hiring sentiment for the month of April 2017 showed recovery signs with a 10% year-on-year growth. There was a surge in the online recruitment activity in sectors like Banking/ Financial Services, Insurance (BFSI), where the year-on-year growth rate improved from 24% in March 2017 to 31% in April 2017. The telecom/ISP led all monitored sectors charted a 40% year-on-year growth. According to Monster, there was an increase in demand for sales and business development professionals, year-on-year, demand increased from 9% in March 2017 to 19% in April 2017. Discovery to launch Hindi general entertainment channel by 2017 end Discovery Communications, the world’s largest factual entertainment company, is planning to venture into the general entertainment channel (GEC) space in India with a male-centric focus for the first time in over 21 years of operations in the country. The company has decided to enter new genres and change the programming mix. Discovery also decided to up investment in India for catapulting the country into one of the top three fastest growing markets by 2017 end. It will go about with an entry into new genres and reworking existing channels. Previously, it had launched its sports channel DSPORT in India.

Nearly 75% employers aren’t comfortable with a ‘work from home’ option When almost 90% employees prefer a ‘work from home’ option, 75% of employers are not comfortable with the idea, said a recent study. “Nearly 60% organisations do not have a formal work-from-home policy. Incidentally, 75% employers are not even comfortable with the idea, whereas 90% employees are keen on having such a policy at work,” according to a study carried out by job portal, TimesJobs. The study was conducted with a sample size of over 1,100 employees and nearly 800 employers.

India’s online gaming industry all set to grow to $1 billion by 2021 The online gaming industry in India is all set to grow to $1 billion by 2021 from the current $360 million. This figure shows a growth rate of 20%, which will take the online gamers’ community to a stupendous 310 million by 2021, a Google-KPMG report has said. There has been a 117% spike in searches for online games by Indians, offering huge potential for developers, said the report titled “Online Gaming in India: 2021”. The report is based on a qualitative and quantitative research executed by global market research firm IMRB that covered over 3,000 respondents across 16 geographies.

Only 14 hours to connect Kashmir with New Delhi by 2021 A project to connect Kashmir valley with the rest of the country by rail is being fast-tracked. This will enable trains to operate between New Delhi and Srinagar in just 14 hours. The railway line, which could become functional in four years, is seen as a big development push by the Narendra Modi government in the Valley. Costing over `10,000 crore, it will provide allweather connectivity and be a cornerstone of the government’s outreach programme in Jammu & Kashmir. The project is being personally monitored by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.

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Tech Mahindra to hand out pink slips to hundreds of its employees IT firm Tech Mahindra could be the next company after Infosys and Wipro that may hand out pink slips to hundreds of employees as it looks to ‘weed out bottom performers’. The annual performance appraisal process has started for the Mumbai-based Tech Mahindra, the company, which ranks 5th in the tally of Indian IT firms by revenues. “We have a process of weeding out bottom performers every year and this year is no different,” Tech Mahindra said in an emailed response. Industry sources suggest that the number of employees asked to leave the company could run into hundreds.

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SNIPPETS STUDY HOUR ANDHRA PRADESH Flipkart-Snapdeal acquisition: Agreement reached? Snapdeal founders and one of its early investors, Nexus, have finally reached an agreement with SoftBank Group that will allow the Japanese firm to move ahead with its plan to sell Snapdeal to its bigger rival Flipkart. The news was reported on ET Now. Nexus and Snapdeal founders have agreed to the terms of payment with SoftBank wherein Snapdeal founders will get $15 million each and Nexus will get $50 million to $60 million, the business channel has said. However, Snapdeal and SoftBank were not immediately reachable for comment, while Nexus declined to give any statement. Sources had earlier informed Reuters that SoftBank is working to engineer a sale of Snapdeal to Flipkart, as it seeks to play consolidator and take a more active role at a trio of leading start-ups in India. The Japanese conglomerate had reported a loss of $1.4 billion (`9,000 crore) from investments for 2016-17 made in Indian start-ups, primarily Snapdeal and Ola. Vodafone sees signs of stability returning to the Indian telecom market With Reliance Jio Infocomm starting to charge for services from April 1, Vodafone has seen early signs of stability returning to the Indian telecom market. However, there is still fear that the industry is fragile and could again be disrupted by a new promotional offer from the telco. “I think it is a bit early to call the bottom of the market,” Vodafone Group chief financial officer Nick Read said during an analyst call after annual results. “It remains fragile and Jio could always determine a new promotion but we are starting to see stabilisation in important metrics going forward,” Read said.

Mukesh Ambani tops Forbes ‘Global Game Changers’ list Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped the Forbes list of ‘Global Game Changers’. This is one listing of personalities who are known for transforming their industries and changing the lives of billions of people around the globe. Forbes’ second annual Global Game Changers list includes 25 ‘intrepid business leaders’ who are ‘unsatisfied with the status quo’ and ‘transforming their industries and changing the lives of billions of people around the globe.’ Ambani, 60, comes at the top of the list for his game changing efforts to bring the internet to India’s masses.

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Future Group makes its first ever international foray In its first ever international foray, India’s Future Group has said that it has tied up with UAE’s Khimji Ramdas Group to sell garments in Oman, and eventually all across the Gulf region. The Indian consumer goods firm, which sells everything from electronic goods and groceries to fashion apparel, plans to initially open 4 to 5 stores in Oman, and eventually 17 to 18, Future Group Chief Executive Kishore Biyani said during a press conference in Mumbai. Both companies have invested 750 million rupees ($11.71 million) each in the 50-50 joint venture, under which Future Group also plans to sell food and consumer goods like soaps and detergents in the future, Biyani said.

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Esprit all set to open its Indian chapter once more Esprit, the Hong Kong-based fashion brand that had closed their Indian chapter four years back because of weak sales is all set to open brick and-mortar stores in the country once again. This could be great news for Esprit loyalists who swear by the brand. Esprit is in talks with online fashion retailer Myntra to open Esprit-branded physical store in the country, sources said. Myntra already sells Esprit products online through an exclusive deal signed with the fashion brand late last year. However, an official statement from Esprit and Myntra is yet to come.

Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

Dabur takes over South African hair care brand Dabur has taken over South African hair care brand ‘Long and Lasting’ by acquiring both its manufacturer and distributor, the company said in a filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Dabur South Africa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dabur International, entered into the share purchase agreement to acquire personal care products firms D&A Cosmetics Proprietary and Atlanta Body & Health Products on or before June 1, 2018, the company said in the filing. Even though the deal size was not disclosed from the company, officials aware of the development said it is estimated at `25 crore.

STUDENT SPEAK

Strategising is the key to scoring well in the CAT ... feels NIHIL CHARAN REDDY, CAT 2016 100 percentiler. He shares his path to this spectacular score, choosing IIM Ahmedabad, preparation strategy and a lot more, in a conversation with Alolika Banerjee.

Scoring 100 percentile in CAT was beyond my imagination. Trust me, it was an unbelievable experience. I remember I went almost into a state of shock after downloading my CAT 2016 score card. When I first saw 100, I just thought it’s been mentioned in the score card as the maximum possible marks for students to score. After a while it struck me that 100 percentile was my CAT score! Once this realisation struck me, I was so excited that I shivered for an hour.

Q. So, was it a total surprise for you? This is my third attempt at CAT. I’ve scored 99+ score twice previously and to be honest my preparation was good this time around. However, not even in my wildest dreams did I expect to score a 100 percentile. In all fairness, I expected a score somewhere around 99.5+.

Q. Who is that important person in your life to whom you are thankful after your success? I would like to give a shout out to those who believed in me, even when things weren’t favourable. Many people wrote me off as I decided not to join any B-school after a 99.03 percentile in CAT 2015, but my brother, mom and dad and a few of my best friends stood by me and supported my decision. I give my brother the utmost credit for his counsel. He would never have guessed how important our little conversations helped me not only for the CAT, but the other B-school interviews as well.

Q. A typical day in Nihil’s life, a month before the CAT... I was working in Coal India Ltd while I prepared for the CAT. I still am. The office hours are from 10 AM and 6 PM. So I had either morning or night to prepare. I needed a three-hour stretch to write a mock test. It was difficult to find an uninterrupted stretch after coming from work. So I slept early, around 10 PM, and woke up at 5.30 AM to write a mock test. So a mock test from 6

to 9 AM in the morning and then to work. After coming from work, I reviewed the solutions every evening.

Q. For the entire stretch, how did you prepare for the CAT? I was confident that I could solve most of the questions in the CAT paper (at least Quant and DILR) if I had sufficient time. But the problem was that the CAT never gives you sufficient time. The concepts that are required for solving CAT questions are honestly not too difficult (here I am speaking for engineering grads only). So, I only focused on improving my time management skills and levels of efficiency. In my opinion, the only way to improve in this respect is through regular mock tests. I must say that I spent at least three to four hours per week for about 3 months, September to November, while I prepared for CAT 2016.

Q. Now that the CAT is over, how are you spending your time? Q. I am currently serving my three-month notice period in Coal India. These days I get a lot of free time and I pretty much laze around mostly playing video games and watching movies. I have a feeling I won’t get such leisure during my MBA years. So, I am trying to make the most of this phase now.

Q. Which B-school will you be opting for? I shall be opting for IIM Ahmedabad. It was a hard decision for me because at the top level the IIMs offer great facilities. However, I had friends in IIM A, who suggested that the institute would be a good choice in terms of academics and placements and that finally made me opt for it.

Q. Your words of advice for future CAT aspirants... I feel strategising is the key to scoring well in the CAT. Knowing your weaknesses and countering them is essential. Make a plan of action and stick to it. There is no substitute for hard work. Keep practising and soon you will improve or overcome your shortcomings. A

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Q. Your score in CAT 2016 was amazing. How did you feel when you saw your score?

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STUDENT SPEAK

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Job losses in ITeS: How big a concern is it? The Indian ITeS sector has been facing a slew of redundancies in the last few months. And this is due to the workforce’s current skill sets not matching up to the global client’s requirements, leading to panic spreading like wildfire. Dr Suresh Srinivasan

t is a known fact that the Indian ITeS industry is undergoing a major transformation (refer to the article of May 2017 “Indian ITeS sector now at a crossroads”). Such transformation is stemming from the client’s changing requirement. Today, clients expect IT services to continue to offer the traditional “human resources arbitrage” model, but add to it additional services that integrate cutting edge technologies like high end analytics using data housed on the cloud, providing enterprise solutions using mobility and emerging digital technologies for tracking social media.

Changing needs redundancies

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This

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and

transformation entails a paradigm shift in the

skill sets required by the Indian ITeS companies and for them to successfully compete in the ITeS business globally. They need to acquire a workforce that has a much higher level of skill sets. Over and above coding, programming, testing, project management, etc, the workforce and the managers need to bring to the table deep capabilities in terms of automation, artificial intelligence, business analytics, business intelligence, cloud computing, virtual reality and associated emerging digital technologies. With large job losses being reported in the Indian ITeS industry over the last few weeks, there seems to be a perception that the roof is coming down. Especially with all large players, including TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL, indicating in some form or the other that large scale job losses may happen, the situation is perceived to have become grave in the ITeS space. This situation is linked with the overall belief that the market is experiencing shifts. There is also an emerging perception that

Today, the Indian IT industry is witnessing a series of redundancies. Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

The Indian IT workforce needs to upgrade to a more modern set of skills to match global clients’ requirements. Indian ITeS companies might have misjudged the timing and the emergency of acquiring such skills sets on a timely manner. And this leads to the speculation that companies are issuing pink slips to cut costs, and that the traditional human resources arbitrage model will no longer work. Considering such a perspective and its apparent doom-worthy nature, it is hardly surprising that people are expecting the redundancies and job losses to continue in the coming months! To put it differently, there seems to be a perception that a downward spiral in the ITeS sector has already commenced, and we are expecting to see more and more job losses in coming days. So the burning questions in everyone’s mind are these: Is there a need to

CORPORATE HSEDARRUPOHAWORLD RYHDDUNTAS

panic? How grave is the situation? And what is likely to happen next?

What is driving the current sentiment? While every stakeholder is aware that the industry is experiencing winds of change and Indian ITeS companies need to re-skill themselves, this is undoubtedly an absolute fact. However, what seems to have triggered off the current negative sentiments and the doom theory is the change in the visa regulations in developed markets like the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan, and the fact that such a change comes as jolt to the sector. These global developments require Indian ITeS companies to recruit skill sets onsite. Since such a skilled workforce will potentially come at a higher cost, it can certainly dent the profit margins of these companies. Now, it is obvious that there are numerous such external developments that will impact profitability in various industries. But in the case of the Indian ITeS industry, social media had a large role to play.

It is a fact that the young Indian IT workforce is quite social media savvy, and hence, the announcements of US President Donald Trump’s administration and the events that followed were rather sensationalised, and gave birth to a rising panic. So the question boils down to whether there is really a concern over the medium to long term. Or is this a just temporary blip, a mere correction that is taking place and which should settle down in the coming months?

The harsh truth First of all, there are facts that

support the view that Indian ITeS companies have been complacent and have deployed very little resources in new technology areas. As a consequence, these companies are seriously lagging in the fast-changing innovation landscape. The quality of the skill sets possessed by the Indian ITeS companies are also not well geared towards cracking the desired levels of innovation. We all agree that over the medium to long term, India needs an industry ready ITeS workforce that has such emerging high-end skill sets. Engineering colleges and

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE FinMin evaluating Bitcoin in India The Finance Ministry has opened up a forum to discuss whether digital currencies like Bitcoin should be allowed in India. Till now, both the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India have not taken a keen interest in opening this up for discussions while many countries have officially allowed it. Foodpanda invests heavily in India

Tata Sons appoints CFO After Cyrus Mistry’s exit, and appointment of N. Chandrasekaran as its Chairman, Tata Sons has appointed Saurabh Agrawal as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), currently with the Aditya Birla group, as strategy head. It is a key appointment for Tata Sons which was recently marred by controversies.

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Delivery Hero, which owns online food delivery platform Foodpanda, will invest a significant part of the `3,000 crore it recently raised from South African internet investor Naspers, in its India operations. Foodpanda values India as one among its top three markets of focus.

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STUDY HOUR ANDHRA CORPORATE PRADESH WORLD

Is the perception a reality?

business schools in the country too need to be aligned with these requirements. These are long term and fundamental shifts required through changes at the grassroots level in the secondary and tertiary education system of the country. While this shift has already started happening, it will take some years to mature and supply such skill sets to ITeS companies. In that case, what happens in the short term of say, 2 to 4 years? Does the prediction of a doom scenario still stand?

More perception than reality Although there are news items in abundance that show that redundancies are taking place, which is true of course, the Indian ITeS companies are reported to

have hired more employees than they fired during 2016-17! This is an interesting statistic! In fact, the industry is reported to have sliced off jobs that account for as less as 3% of the total workforce. The reasons behind this are said to be linked to performance and, to a certain extent, due to aligning of skill sets to the developing market requirements. For instance, technology relating to ‘robotic process automation’ is quite mature and ubiquitously available in the market for an affordable price, and hence, op sensitivity of the ITeS industry in the Indian context, and this has resulted in almost every other media house painting a doom scenario for this sector.

To a certain extent, if this perception is a reality, it will definitely carry serious long term implications. On the one hand, the industry will continue to align the skill sets to the changing environment, which more job losses are to be expected. But on the other hand, ITeS companies need to recruit, in large scale, a medium to highly skilled workforce that can deliver digitalisation and technology intensive service to global clients. This in turn means that Indian ITeS companies and the workforce need to look at it as a huge opportunity, rather than a threat! However, the message to the Indian ITeS workforce — be it entry level, mid-level or senior managers — re-skill or perish! This message has to be taken very seriously and every initiative needs to be taken for the workforce at all levels to reskill themselves. The closing note will hence read as follows: the skill sets that take this workforce to the next level within the organisation will be very different from what brought them to the current level. In essence, the skilled employee must look very different from what they do in the coming years! A

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE More reforms to follow, promises Centre

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Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently stated that after a number of significant reforms that have been put in place over the last three years, more ‘big bang’ reforms are likely to follow in the coming two year of the current BJP led government.

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Jio loses out to competitors: TRAI report In a recent report released by TRAI, the telecom regulator, Reliance Jio’s low price 4G mobile service scheme Prime has been unable to aggressively grow as intended, while existing competitors like Airtel and Vodafone have gained in connections and market share.

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Flipkart eyes Snapdeal acquisition: An analysis While a mood of consolidation is prevalent across industries and across the world, it is still unclear if Snapdeal will accept Flipkart’s acquisition offer. Although this deal will bring in size and scale, the jury is still out on whether it will enable Flipkart to better compete with Amazon.

Dr Suresh Srinivasan

Losses of the Big Three Amazon, the most aggressive player in terms of large investments, accounted for almost a third of the total losses, being around `3,700 crore. Snapdeal lost around `3,000 crore and Flipkart around `5,300 crore. During 2016-17, the losses have kept mounting. While the

valuations of the companies have sharply declined, players like Amazon pledged large investments and are pouring cash into the Indian market. Flipkart and Snapdeal are running out of cash by the day, and keeping their heads above water seems to have become their biggest priority. Among the two, Snapdeal is in a far worse situation and is currently desperate to survive.

Discounting model: Sustainability The business model of the Indian e-commerce companies continues to hinge mainly on discounting. The high competitive r i v a l r y between the three

Flipkart has offered US$1bn to Snapdeal; however, the latter feels that it is a below par valuation. largest players is visible in the flaring up of discounts. As it has turned out, this doesn’t appear to be helping; they have to find a way to hold on to their price and differentiate through other means. However, of late, Amazon has bitten the bullet and is now investing in last mile delivery and in enhancing user experience in order to differentiate itself.

Flipkart’s deal for Snapdeal Recently, Flipkart offered US$1 billion, equivalent to `6,500 crore, to Snapdeal for acquiring the latter. The logic behind this offer

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t is a widely known fact today that the Indian e-commerce industry is truly under pressure. The combined losses of the top three companies for the financial year 2015-16 stacked up close to `12,000 crore. This almost doubled from the previous year 2014-15, the trend is highly discouraging.

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STUDY HOUR ANDHRA CORPORATE PRADESH WORLD

Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal

Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal is to consolidate the fragmented operations into a larger company that can better compete with Amazon. The shareholders of Snapdeal are, however, not yet on the same page with respect to the Flipkart’s offer. Although Snapdeal was co-promoted by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, the SoftBank Group of Japan pumped in funds steadily over the last few years into Snapdeal, and is now the largest shareholder with management control.

Snapdeal: Shareholder snapshot Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal are in fact not at all keen to sell the company, but SoftBank is now in a strong position to make such a decision and convince the promoters. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is pushing for this deal, for the board of Snapdeal

to sell the company to Flipkart. The other shareholders are passive investors and private

Softbank, the largest investor in Snapdeal, is all for the deal, but other shareholders remain unhappy. equity firms like Nexus Ventures and Kalaari Capital. They are are unhappy to accept Flipkart’s offer primarily because the offer values Snapdeal at $1 billion, while it had been valued at $6.5 billion at its peak a year before. But given the precarious financial position the company is in, the shareholders do not seem to have an option, and they

seem to have broadly agreed, albeit reluctantly. On that basis, Flipkart is soon expected to get into a due diligence process, after which Flipkart will make a firm binding offer for Snapdeal. Other major shareholders in Snapdeal like Ratan Tata and Azim Premji are yet to accept the decision to sell the company to Flipkart. Their concerns mainly emerge from the low valuations now being offered — Flipkart’s US$1 billiion as opposed to the earlier US$6.5 billion. However, nothing much can be done, as Snapdeal’s losses have been mounting and valuations dropping. So it would seem that it is only a matter of time before these investors too agree on a sale. Based on the information available at this point in time, on completion of the acquisition, it is expected that, out of the $1 billion sale proceeds, SoftBank will settle $60 million to Nexus, around $30 million to Kalaari, $30 million to each of the cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal and around $30 million will go towards payments to the management who have an employee stock option scheme. SoftBank is expected to hold a share in Flipkart after the acquisition.

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE 1.2mn affordable houses in offing?

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The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is targeting to build 1.2 million houses during the current financial year 2017-18. It is notable that during the last year, the scheme had built only close to 1.5 lakh houses. Housing shortage is a major problem and getting affordable housing is a top priority.

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Final touches being given to GST? The countdown to the July 1 deadline for GST introduction has begun and a number of loose ends are still to be tied up by the finance ministry. There are a number of uncertainties, ranging from the rate of tax slabs to the clarity on what is included in each slab. It is to be hoped that these will be addressed by the time the GST is rolled out fully.

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Once the deal goes through, the biggest challenge for Flipkart will be to integrate the operations, bringing together all its entities — which include Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, eBay and now Snapdeal. It is also a fact that the attrition levels in all the companies are quite high, and may actually worsen after the Snapdeal acquisition. Snapdeal comes with close to 2,000 employees, and most of them are unlikely to be retained in the merged entity. Ahead of the merger, the All India Online Vendors Association has written a letter to the commerce ministry that large sums are pending and Snapdeal has not yet settled with many of the sellers listed on its platform. These issues will come out in the Flipkart due diligence, and generally such dues are adjusted from the purchase price.

If the deal goes through, Flipkart feels it will be in a stronger position to compete with Amazon. to 3 years?

Amazon vs others Currently, t.he industry, especially

An advantage One way of looking at the proposed acquisition is that the best practices and cutting edge technology that Amazon is bringing into India can be replicated only by an equal sized competitor and not by fragmented small competitors. To that extent, the proposed acquisition of Snapdeal by Flipkart and the eventual merger into a larger entity could bring in scale and size to the industry as a whole.

Way forward For the moment, Flipkart is doing everything to hold on and compete with Amazon. It is also suffering high losses, and its accumulated losses are mounting. Recently, the company managed to raise $1.4 billion from Tencent Holdings Ltd, Microsoft and eBay. The operations of eBay are also being consolidated with Flipkart. Now with a Snapdeal merger on the cards — and with Myntra and Jabong already in its fold — Flipkart is certainly expected to gain scale and size to compete with Amazon. However, the reality isn’t that simple and straightforward. It is a fact that all of them are loss making entities, and hence the question is: What is the probability that they could turn profitable in the next 2

are struggling for their day to day survival and suffering from severe shortage of liquid funds. Amazon is also investing heavily on enhancing customer experience across multiple customer touchpoints. These include spending on technologies, analytics, mobility, last mile delivery, logistics and overall backend infrastructure. With all of this working for Amazon, it does not seem that the proposed Flipkart-Snapdeal merger can easily remedy the situation by making Flipkart as competitive as Amazon.

The future

Amazon, is spending billions on enhancing technology for providing a touch and feel ahead of ordering. Amazon is also building solid delivery capabilities as well as an enhanced goods return experience, which is an inherent component of the e-commerce industry. Unfortunately for players like Flipkart and Snapdeal, deploying such initiatives is a difficult proposition, since they

With more and more Indians moving into the middle income group, the requirement for e-commerce service is highly likely to grow in the coming decades. With two large companies competing for market share, the customer is still likely to benefit. However, Flipkart will certainly not find competing with Amazon a walk in the park, since it will have to focus doubly on satisfying customers, continuing to be profitable and provide returns to its shareholders. Can Flipkart enhance its management depth to pull through such a challenge? Only time will tell. A

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Challenges

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STUDY HOUR ANDHRA CORPORATE PRADESH WORLD

Regulating real estate: RERA to the rescue? With the real estate industry in dire need of regulatory oversight, Parliament has passed the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), which will safeguard buyers from unfair practices by builders. But how effective will the Act be? Dr Suresh Srinivasan

oday, one of the biggest pain points for the common man is the challenges encountered when buying or selling a real estate property. Be it residential or commercial, the industry is marred with unaccounted monies and transactions that happen in “black”. In fact, sometimes a buyer or seller wanting to declare the transaction transparently and being ready to pay the taxes to the government is even discouraged to do so by the other party. At the moment, there seems to be no remedy for such a situation.

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Transparency and jargon

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process the customer loses track of what he is paying for the usable area he is eventually delivered.

The middleman The real estate industry is also infamous for the presence of dubious agents and middlemen who facilitate deals between the buyer and the seller. Usually, the buyer or seller does not clearly understand the roles and responsibilities of such middlemen, and are often confused as to what needs to be paid to them. In some cases, the commissions are collected from the buyer or seller, or sometimes even from both.

Currently, the transparency in the dealings is quite low, and builders of apartments and villas exploit the ignorance of the buyers. In effect, the industry suffers from the “seller’s might”, and this high hand is due to their sheer financial muscle power and proximity to regulators. A small retail investor does not have any protection against such large players. Part of this is the use of complicated industry jargon to confuse the customers. Usage of terms like “carpet area”, “built up area” and “super built-up area” are widely practiced, and in the

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RERA has come into force from May 1, 2017. But many states are yet to implement the Act. These uncertainties often seriously hamper the experience of buying or selling a property, and can sometimes even lead to threats and counter threats between the parties and the middlemen.

CORPORATE HSEDARRUPOHAWORLD RYHDDUNTAS

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STUDY HOUR ANDHRA CORPORATE PRADESH WORLD

Delays in delivery Delay in delivering a project is also a major concern, and the buyer has hardly any say or control in this issue. In general, there are penalty clauses like a “fine per day” of late delivery. However, these are often even advantageous to the builder, and anyway, whether such penalties are being honored has always been an area of debate.

RERA: The regulatory oversight The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) is intended to address all these pain points, and is expected to make real estate transactions more transparent. The objective is to provide a superior, unambiguous experience to the parties involved in a real estate transaction, and also plug loopholes in the leakage of tax revenue emanating out of a real estate deal. The Act also safeguards small retail real estate investors against the large real estate sharks by making projects more transparent.

This is expected to allow buyers to benchmark value and price with competing real estate companies on a meaningful “apple to apple” basis. The RERA has been passed by both the houses of Parliament and was implemented from May 1, 2017.

RERA: What it entails The Act stipulates that the state governments need to make rules for implementing the Act. While a number of states have already notified rules for implementation, some states are lagging behind. Uttar Pradesh is the one of the first states to publish rules for RERA implementation. Henceforth, buyers can demand to purchase only RERA compliant projects so that they get the best deal without being taken for a ride by builders. They can also ensure they get a property that is safe and secure and the transaction is also completely tax compliant. Buyers will be able to see authentic information on the

project on the RERA website once the builder registers the project with RERA. To that extent at least, the transparency is assured for the buyer.

What do the new regulations provide? The RERA brings in all large real estate projects under the enactment straightaway. It will henceforth be mandatory for all real estate projects where the land is over 500 square meters, or eight apartments, to register with RERA. The biggest positive aspect of the Act stems from making real estate transactions completely transparent and the finances involved fully tax compliant. By eliminating black transactions that are unaccounted for, the Act streamlines one of the biggest pain points in real estate dealings. Transparency is likely to be largely improved. The new regulation is streamlining such a practice by directing the builders to quote only on carpet area, so

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE RBI announces plan for stressed banking assets The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced an action plan to implement the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017. This act is primarily directed towards relieving stressed assets in the banking system, which has of late reached unacceptably high levels.

Dip in India’s investment in foreign cos Indian companies’ investment in overseas companies and ventures was recorded at $3.15 billion, which is lower by close to 45% as compared to the last year. Last year Indian companies invested close to $5.6 billion in overseas assets. Non attractive global economic climate is the main cause.

Air India eyes `80cr fund raise

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The poor financial position of Air India is well known. Now, the airline is planning to raise around `80 crore through the sale of its seven properties, including some land parcels, as a part of its asset monetization plan. This is expected to relieve some of the financial burden currently plaguing the national airline.



April 2017 sees fall in hiring Mass layoffs in IT industry is being widely reported across the country. Reports also indicate that there is close to a 25% fall in hiring during the month of April 2017 as compared to the same month in 2016. This is based on a survey by job site Naukri.com. However, Nasscom states that the situation is not so bleak.

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Will RERA really help? The question is: How realistic will the implementation be? With the real estate industry infamous for cash dealings and deep-rooted corruption, how effective will the Act be in the short to medium term? With so many unfinished projects that are delayed or abandoned, whether the Act will provide immediate relief for such parties is a serious question, especially since the implementation date of RERA has been delayed a number of times in the past; state governments not immediately notifying the rules is also a concern! It is also important to evaluate how effectively this piece of regulation can be implemented across all states in a timely manner and provide relief to the buyers. The Act requires the states to establish a real estate appellate tribunal. However, in spite of the deadline having passed, many states are yet to implement this. The rules relating to RERA registrations are quite stringent and will to a large extent curtail unprofessional practices of the real estate developer. Smaller players in the business making money out of the uneducated buyer may very probably find it

extremely unviable to register with the RERA. It is also quite possible that they may think of exiting the industry, since it may no more be viable for such players, especially if they have to be RERA compliant. On balance, this is quite a farreaching legislation and is well intended to secure the interests of the small retail real estate investors. Furthermore, this is likely to being in substantial order and transparency to the real estate dealings and at the same time favour the exchequer through more efficient tax collections. It will also disincentivise black money hoarding. The catch only lies in the speedy implementation across states. 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.

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that the customer can compare the prices of two different builders on one single referential scale. The Act also brings the middlemen into the purview of the transaction. Real estate agents who facilitate a transaction are required to make a prior registration with RERA. Complete details on the transaction facilitated by each broker or middleman are accounted for in the Act, and a benchmark for the reasonableness of the fee paid is also available to the parties.

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ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH

Are you a Brainiac? In this section, we shall explore several different types of questions from the various areas of entrance exams like the CAT, CET, GMAT, etc, and how to best solve them.

Quant Q.1 In the given figure ABCD is a square and CDE is an equilateral triangle, then find m BEF?

1] 30o

2] 24o

3] 15o

4] 60o

Exp: m DCE = m CED = mCDE = 60o EF is parallel to CD and EC intersects both lines. m FEC = m ECD = 60o and CE = CB m CEB = m CBE ( isosceles triangle) m CEB + m CBE + m BCE = 180o m CEB + m CBE = 180 – 30 = 150o m CEB = 75o m BEF = 75 – 60 = 15o. Hence, [3].

Q2. Sum of first ‘n’ odd numbered terms of a GP starting with 1 and common ratio ‘r’ is:

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

Exp: GP is 1, r, r2 ... Sum = 1 + r2 + r4 +.....+ r2n – 2. Which has 1st term = 1, common ratio = and number of terms = n

Sum =

. Hence [4].

Q3. A batsman is on 23 runs, which raises his average for the season from 15 to 16. How many runs would he have to score in that innings (in which he scored 23) to bring his average up to 18? 1] 33 2] 37 3] 39 4]Cannot be determined

Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

Exp: Had the batsman scored 15 runs in the last innings, his average would have been constant at 15. He scores 8 runs more innings than 15, which raises his average by 1. The last must have been his 8th innings. To raise his average by 3, he must score 8 × 3 = 24 runs more than his previous average in the 8th innings. He needed to score 39. Hence, [3].

Q4. Find the value of α such that the straight line (2x + 3y + 4) + a(6x – y + 12) = 0 is parallel to y axis.

1] –2

2] 3

Exp: If the line is parallel to y axis, the equation of the line is Ax = B or the co-efficient of y in the equation in the line is zero.

For the line (2 + 6a)x + (3 –a)y + 4 + 12a= 0 3–a=3 a = 3. Hence, [2].

Q5. A and B have their incomes in the ratio 7 : 5. The expenses of A, B and C are in the ratio 9 : 7 : 4. If C spends Rs.2800 and B saves Rs.1100, A’s saving is:

1] Rs.2100 2] Rs.1000 3] Rs.1500 4] Rs.700

Exp: Let the expenses of A, B and C be 9y, 7y and 4y, respectively. Hence, 4y = 2800 y = 700 The expenses of A and B are Rs.6300 and Rs.4900, respectively. Now, B’s income is 4900 + 1100 = Rs.6000

So A’s income is = 6000 ×

A’s saving will be 8400 – 6300 = Rs.2100 Hence, [1].

= Rs.8400

HSEDAR STUDY RUPOHARYH HOUR DDUNTAS

Verbal

Q2. 1] Many alchemists believed that all matter was a mixture of four elementary substances: water, air, earth and fire. 2] The transmutation of the elements was pursued in medieval laboratories in a quest called alchemy. 3] The defining objectives of alchemy included the creation of the fabled philosopher’s stone, which among other things, could create an elixir of life conferring youth and longevity. 4] By altering the relative proportions of earth and fire, say, you would be able, they thought, to change copper into gold. Statement [2] introduces the topic of alchemy, especially that aspect of it concerning the elementary make-up of matter and how it could be changed. [1] and [4] both continue the idea of what matter was made of, and how alchemists sought to change it. But [3] does not fit into the sequence, as it discusses a different point: the other goal of alchemy, i.e. creating the philosopher’s stone. Hence, [3]. DIRECTIONS for question 3: The following question has a sentence with two blanks. Given below each question are four pairs of words. Choose the pair that best completes the sentence.

Q3. I had expected a transformation of another kind: a tranquil sense of well-being, the blurred _______ of a dream, with everything about me misty, ill-defined; not this tremendous impact that I was feeling of a reality more vivid than anything _______ experienced, sleeping or awake. 1] exhilaration … heretofore 2] euphoria … theretofore 3] inebriation … thitherto 4] intoxication … hitherto Both ‘heretofore’ and ‘hitherto’ mean until now, while ‘theretofore’ means before then, and ‘thitherto’ means until then. The narrator is talking about his present feelings, so it would make more sense that the feeling was more vivid than anything he had experienced ‘until now’, rather than ‘until then’or ‘before then’, since the meaning of ‘then’ would not be clear from the context. So options [2] and [3] are ruled out. While ‘intoxication’ and ‘exhilaration’ are synonyms in some contexts, in this case, only the former fits: the hazy feeling of a dream is better described by ‘intoxication’, i.e. drunkenness, than ‘exhilaration’, i.e. great cheerfulness or excitement. Hence, [4]. Q.4 DIRECTIONS for question 4: The following question has a sentence with two blanks. Given below each question are four pairs of words. Choose the pair that best completes the sentence.

I had expected a transformation of another kind: a tranquil sense of well-being, the blurred _______ of a dream, with everything about me misty, illdefined; not this tremendous impact that I was feeling of a reality more vivid than anything _______ experienced, sleeping or awake. 1] exhilaration … heretofore 2] euphoria … theretofore 3] inebriation … thitherto 4] intoxication … hitherto Both ‘heretofore’ and ‘hitherto’ mean until now, while ‘theretofore’ means before then, and ‘thitherto’ means until then. The narrator is talking about his present feelings, so it would make more sense that the feeling was more vivid than anything he had experienced ‘until now’, rather than ‘until then’ or ‘before then’, since the meaning of ‘then’ would not be clear from the context. So options [2] and [3] are ruled out. While ‘intoxication’ and ‘exhilaration’ are synonyms in some contexts, in this case, only the former fits: the hazy feeling of a dream is better described by ‘intoxication’, i.e. drunkenness, than ‘exhilaration’, i.e. great cheerfulness or excitement. Hence, [4].

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DIRECTIONS for questions 1 and 2: Each 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. Q1. 1] He dropped pebbles into a trough of water and discovered that the splash has an unexpected complexity and beauty with a surprising degree of symmetry and order. 2] His sequences of photos appear to represent a series of successive snapshots taken during the course of a single splash, but in fact they were taken during different splashes. 3] A splash, he found, erupts into a corona with a rim that breaks up into a series of spikes, each of them releasing micro-droplets of their own. 4] In the 1870s, the British physicist Arthur Worthington used high-peed photography to capture the hidden beauty of splashes. Statement [4] introduces the topic, i.e. the photographs of splashes taken by Arthur Worthington, and the beauty of the splashes themselves. Statements [1] and [3] continue the topic of the beauty of the splashes. But [2], which talks of his photography technique, doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the sequence. Hence, [2].



ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH

WORD DOSE

The Bond of the Sea The Director of Companies was our captain and our host. We four affectionately watched his back as he stood in the bows looking to seaward. On the whole river there was nothing that looked half so nautical. He resembled a pilot, which to a seaman is trustworthiness personified. It was difficult to realize his work was not out there in the luminous estuary, but behind him, within the brooding gloom. Between us there was, as I have already said somewhere, the bond of the sea. Besides holding our hearts together through long periods of separation, it had the effect of making us tolerant of each other’s yarns—and even convictions. The Lawyer—the best of old fellows—had, because of his many years and many virtues, the only cushion on deck, and was lying on the only rug. The Accountant had brought out already a box of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with the bones. Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol. Excerpt from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

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MAT CH T HE W OR D S W IT H T H E IR M EA NING S

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1. Affectionately – uh-fek-shuh-nitli (adverb) 2. Nautical – naw-ti-kuh l (adjective) 3. Trustworthiness – truhst-wurth ee nes (noun) 4. Personified – per-son-uh-fahy d (verb) 5. Luminous – loo-muh-nuh s (adjective)

6. Estuary – es-choo-er-ee (noun) 7. Brooding – broo-ding (adjective) 8. Gloom – gloom (noun) 9. Yarns – yahrn s (noun) 10. Convictions – kuh n-vik-shuh n s (noun) 11. Virtues – vur-choo s (noun) 12. Cushion – koo sh-uh n (noun) 13. Rug – ruhg (noun)

14. Dominoes – dom-uh-noh s (noun) 15. Mizzen – miz-uh n-mast (noun) 16. Sunken – suhng-kuh n (adjective) 17. Complexion – kuh m-plek-shuh n (noun) 18. Ascetic aspect – uh-set-ik as-pekt 19. Resembled – ri-zem-buh l d (verb)

a. The third mast from forward in a vessel having three or more masts. b. Appearing darkly menacing. c. The ability to be relied on as honest or truthful. d. Relating to light as it is perceived by the eye, rather than in terms of its actual energy. e. In a way that displays fondness or tenderness. f. Qualities that are considered morally good or desirable in a person, showing high moral standards. g. Of or concerning navigation, sailors, or the sea; maritime. h. A bag of cloth stuffed with a

mass of soft material, used as a comfortable support for sitting or leaning on. i. A dark or shady place. j. Stories, true or exaggerated. k. The natural colour, texture, and appearance of a person’s skin, especially of the face. l. Represent or embody (a quality, concept, etc.) in a physical form. m. Have a similar appearance to or qualities in common with (someone or something); look or seem like. n. Deeply recessed, or hollow, especially as a result of illness, hunger, or stress.

o. The tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream. p. Firmly held beliefs or opinions. q. The game played with dominoes, in which they are laid down to form a line, each player in turn trying to find and lay down a domino with a value matched by that of a piece at either end of the line already formed. r. Strictly religious look or demeanour. s. A thick woollen coverlet or wrap, used especially when travelling.

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HSEDAR STUDY RUPOHARYH HOUR DDUNTAS

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Enhance Your English Proficiency

Toll Free: 1800-1234-467(IMS) June 2017

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

ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH

A quiz to boost your General Knowledge 1. Name the country that has been the first in the world to ban the mining of metals. a. Mozambique b. Namibia c. Seychelles d. El Salvador

to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession. a. Azaad b. Gutthi c. Roadside Ambanis d. Little terrorist

2. This eminent Bengali poet and literary critic, has been conferred the 52nd edition of the Jnanpith Award (2016) on April 27, 2017. He is the 6th Bengali to win this prestigious literary award. Name him. a. Sanjeeb Chattopadhyay b. Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay c. Joy Goswami d. Sankha Ghosh

5. Which state of India is expected to come up with India’s first-ever Blind Football Academy? a. West Bengal b. Sikkim c. Kerala d. Karnataka

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3. The 2017 World Immunization Week (WIW) has started from April 24, 2017 to raise awareness about the critical importance of full immunization throughout life and its role in achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). What was the theme of the week this year? a. Close the immunisation gap b. Are you up-to-date? c. Vaccines work d. Immunisation vaccine for you

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4. Name the short film that was screened by UNESCO as part of 2017 World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) in Indonesia. The WPFD is observed every year on May 3 to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute

6. The National Anti Child Labour Day is observed every year in India to create awareness and educate the citizens about the hardships of the child labourers. Apart from this, the International Labour Organization (ILO) also observes World Day against Child Labour every year on June 12 to raise awareness and activism to prevent child labour worldwide. When is the National Anti Child Labour Day observed? a. April 27 b. April 28 c. April 29 d. April 30 7. Name the lady who has been appointed as the first woman President of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). a. Nita Ambani b. Shobana Kamineni c. Vimala Mehta d. Preeti Jain 8. This state has become the first in the country to announce shifting of its financial year format to

Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 2017

January-December starting from 2018, as against the current practice of April-March cycle. Which state are we talking about? a. Madhya Pradesh b. Maharashtra c. Uttar Pradesh d. Tamil Nadu 9. The United Nations has marked the first World Tuna Day (WTD) to conserve one of the globe’s most popular fish to be caught and eaten and to highlight the vital socio-economic importance of tuna to people around the world. Name the date on which the day is observed. a. May 2 b. May 3 c. May 4 d. May 5 10. This state government has recently imposed a ban on sale of ‘High in Fat, Salt and Sugar’ (HFSS) food at school canteens across the state. 12 categories of foods which cover potato chips, noodles, carbonated soft drinks, pizza, burger, cakes, biscuits, buns, pastries, etc, cannot be sold. It also gives a list of 20 items that can be sold, which include wheat roti, vegetable pulav, idli-vada, coconut water and jaljira. Which state government imposed this ban? a. Madhya Pradesh b. Kerala c. Maharashtra d. West Bengal 11. The World Fair Trade Day (WFTD) is a global celebration of fair

HSEDAR STUDY RUPOHARYH HOUR DDUNTAS

12. Name the person who has been conferred the first-ever Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Lifetime Achievement Honour in Public Service. a. Pawan Chamling b. Mukul Changma c. Lal Thanhawla d. Manik Sarkar 13. The International Day of Families is observed to promote awareness of issues relating to families and increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic progression that affects families. What was the theme of the day this year? a. Families, healthy lives and sustainable future b. Stronger families stronger communities c. Ensuring work-family balance d. Families, education and well being 14. India’s first electric cab fleet was launched on May 26, 2017 to promote the usage of electric and hybrid vehicles in India. In which city of India was it launched? a. Nagpur b. Lucknow c. Bhopal d. New Delhi

15. What is India’s rank in the 2017 World Bank’s Power accessibility list? a. 24th b. 25th c. 26th d. 27th 16. He has won gold medal for India by defeating South Korea’s Seunghui Lee 6-2 in the men’s 65kg freestyle category at the 2017 Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi. With this, he became the first Indian to win gold in the championship. Name him. a. Bajrang Punia b. Sushil Kumar c. Amit Sangwan d. Satender Dagar 17. The 2nd meeting of National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) was held this year from May 15-16, 2017 on the theme ‘Disaster Risk Reduction for Sustainable Development: Making India Resilient by 2030’. In which city of India was this held? a. Kochi b. New Delhi c. Surat d. Thiruvananthapuram 18. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) has collaborated with the British Geological Survey (BGS) to turn Varanasi into a smart city. As part of the project, three dimensional geological modelling of the geology under Varanasi will be prepared to help improve the building of new transport and service infrastructure. Which IIT are we talking about? a. Kharagpur b. Kanpur c. Bombay d. Delhi

19. The Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) is home to about 1660 animals representing 166 species, including 67 species of mammals, 81 species of birds, and 18 species of reptiles. It has the largest collection of white tigers in India. In which state of India is this zoo situated? a. Odisha b. West Bengal c. Assam d. Uttarakhand 20. Rifath Sharook has designed the world’s lightest and smallest satellite “KalamSat”. The satellite weighs only 64 grams and will be launched by NASA on June 21, 2017. With this, he will become the first student of his country to have his experiment launched by NASA. What is Sharook’s nationality? a. Pakistani b. Malaysian c. Indian d. Bangladeshi 21. She has become the first Indian woman to scale the Mount Everest for the fourth time. Name her. a. Lhakpa Sherpa b. Premlata Agarwal c. Malavath Purna d. Anshu Jamsenpa 22. Name the Indian scientist who won the 2017 Dan David prize in the “Future” category. a. Shrinivas Kulkarni b. Biman Bagchi c. Har Gobind Khorana d. Dronamraju Krishna Rao 23. Name the country that has topped the 2017 Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) released by Ernst and Young (EY). a. China b. India

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trade to promote and educate about fair trade in towns and communities. It’s an initiative of World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) that falls on the second Saturday of May of each year. What was the theme of the day this year? a. Support community support peace b. Human chains for fair trade and the planet c. Hand in hand for change d. Fair trade to promote social justice

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ANDHRAHOUR STUDY PRADESH c. Germany d. Australia 24. India’s first Aquatic Rainbow Technology Park (ARTP) will be set up recently. The park will have an ultra-modern exclusive facility for ornamental fish equipped with multi-species hatchery and live feed culture units. In which city of India will this park come up? a. Kolkata b. Mumbai c. Chennai d. New Delhi 25. The International Museum Day (IMD) is observed every year to raise awareness on how important museums are in the development of society. The day provides the opportunity for museum professionals to alert the public as to the challenges that museums face. On which day is IMD observed? a. May 11th b. May 17th c. May 18th d. May 20th

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26. Which Union Minister has been given the additional charge of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)? a. Ananth Kumar b. Ravi Shankar Prasad c. JP Nadda d. Harsh Vardhan

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27. The International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia (IDAHOT) is observed every year on May 17 to raise awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBT rights work worldwide. What was the theme of the day this year? a. Join Hands b. Families c. Mental Health d. Childhood Memories Advanc’edge Mastering Business Acumen June 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. d

2. d

3. c

4. a 5. c

6. d

7. b

8. a

9. a 10. c

11. b

12. a

13. d

14. a 15. c

16. a 17. b

18. a

19. a 20. c

21. d 22. a

23. a 24. c 25. c For more similar puzzles, visit: www.sudoku.com

26. d 27. b

WORD DOSE

1. e 6. o 11. f 16. n

2. g 7. b 12. h 17. k

3. c 8. i 13. s 18. r

4. l 9. j 14. q 19. m

5. d 10. p 15. a