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Let’s begin with a cliché. If you work hard, it will garner you the success you want in your career. Now let’s change this cliché a bit. Add “conviction” to the mix. By conviction, I mean conviction about yourself, what you’re doing, what you want to do, the whole nine yards. You might call it passion, or the ability to stick to something, what have you. Lastly, heave in a large dollop of self-confidence. So now, the cliché has become real, tenable, actionable — and of course, something you can work on. This is what an entrepreneur has described in one of the articles of this issue of Advanc’edge – being convinced about what you want to do. And this is what I want to talk to you about, as we approach the last mile to CAT, the last lap, the final stage of your preparation. You’ve battled it out with the various concepts that will be tested in the CAT, you’ve been working on your test-taking skill, fine-tuning your strategy until you’re sure of giving your best shot and getting the percentile/score you need to get into the institute you want. These next few weeks will be your final leg of preparation in which all these factors will culminate towards building your future. Now is the time that you must put in your best efforts. There is, after all, no substitute for hard work, so put in your 100%, and you will reap the rewards down the line. Have conviction in yourself. You know why you’re here, why you’ve spent the last few months preparing for the CAT. Now is not the time to have doubts, or question yourself. Believe in your strengths and your motivation to do well. An easy trick is to keep reminding yourself of the next two years, which will certainly be one of the biggest highlights of your life — the experience of studying at a top B-school surrounded by the best in the country and the constant exchange of exciting thoughts and ideas. Finally, don’t lose confidence. You’ve made it this far, and that’s farther than many others who couldn’t last. A dwindling self-confidence is the worst enemy you can have at this time, because it will make you question yourself and your motives. Put in the effort, and be confident that that effort will take you where you want to go, and make you a stronger individual in the process. All the best.
Aditya Prakash Iengar Editor
CONTENTS 06
COVER STORY Prepare to perform: The last lap to CAT
10
MBA BUZZ The last chance to prep up before CAT 2018
14
STUDENT SPEAK PARTH DEV JUGNALIA, First year, MBA, TISS
18
CORPORATE INTERVIEW ANKUSH KHERA, Founder and CEO, Fox My Box
22 26
NEWS SNIPPETS News in brief YOGA TALK Surya Namaskar
Disclaimer : The views expressed in the articles by contributors and others are not necessarily those of the Publishers, unless specifically stated therein. While no effort is spared in ensuring the accuracy of the information published herein, readers are advised to reconfirm the current facts before acting upon any such information. The Publishers regret their inability to accept responsibility for any inadvertent errors of commission or omission in this issue. Readers are recommended to make appropriate inquiries before incurring expenses or entering into commitments in relation to any advertisement appearing in this publication. The publishers do not vouch for any claims made by the advertisers of any products or services. The Publisher, Printers or Editor shall not be held liable for any consequences in the event of such claims not being honoured by the advertisers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without prior permission from the publisher.
Period 1 Year 2 Years 3 Years
October 2018
28
CORPORATE WORLD Reliance & e-retail: Volatile entry expected?
32
Upskilling India: TCS and the IT sector
36
Dow Jones drops GE: The whys and hows
40
STUDY HOUR
42
Word Dose: The Greek turnaround
44
Globescan
46
SuDoKu
Test Q&As
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COVER STORY
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
COVER STORY
Prepare to perform: The last lap to CAT As far as the CAT is concerned, there are no secrets to success. Cracking the CAT is the result of preparation, perseverance and persistence. And of course, avoid the glaring last-moment mistakes! Here’s what you need to do in the last few weeks till the CAT. The Advanc’edge Team
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onsidered to be one of the toughest management entrance exams in the world, the CAT tests not only how prepared you are, but also what your attitude has been in the last lap. By now, you know where you stand in your preparation, and we’re sure you’ve given it your best. But it is also just as important to develop the right attitude to give your best on D-Day, November 25, 2018! Let’s look at the following three-pronged strategy to optimise your CAT preparation in this last lap, and form a strategic improvement plan:
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Know yourself better To know yourself is the beginning of wisdom. And a wise man is he who recognises his strengths and works on his weaknesses. As a manager, both are important attributes, and this applies to the CAT too, where you must identify your strong and weak points. Obviously, you must maintain your proficiency in your strong areas. So keep practising questions from these areas. But what about your weaknesses? This brings us to the SMART
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
action plan to deal with your weaknesses: Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Reasonable and Timely. Tackle the weak areas one by one. Don’t try to master all of them together, you won’t even cover half of them. Make a schedule for each topic. Dedicate hours, days and weeks to these topics depending upon how vast they are and the effort you need to put in. Start from scratch: Fundamental theory first, then examples, then attempt basic questions followed by previous years’ questions from the topics. After covering the fundamentals, solve a few sectional questions to fortify the learnt concepts. Meet a mentor. Often, a mentor can help you deal with this situation by providing constructive and honest feedback. Try looking for an experienced mentor; he can be your sibling, senior or a professional institute which can hold your hand till you gain enough confidence. Last but not the least, don’t
forget to reward yourself for every weakness that you turn into strength! Indulge in your favourite recreational activity! Don’t completely ignore any topic. In a test like the CAT, there will be questions that will demand knowledge of multiple concepts and topics. So you need to have at least a working knowledge of all topics. Remember, risk diversification is important for an exam like CAT, which is known for its unpredictability. One of the most important things is to develop a familiarity with the test interface. Apart from the various mock tests that you’re taking, a practice test will also be available on the CAT website: www.iimcat. ac.in, sometime at the end of the October 2018. Familiarise yourself with the functionality and navigation of the actual exam.
Managing time One of the most important ingredients to crack CAT is time management. Time management includes a whole host of things:
handling the exam pressure, taking the right decision in your strategy while attempting the paper, finding the right balance between speed and accuracy. With proper time management you can deliver a balanced and good performance across all three sections. For example, if you get stuck on any question in a section, it is better to move ahead and re-attempt that particular question if you are left with time at the end.
Handling the paper The CAT is a test of knowledge, confidence and time management, which are the key attributes of any good manager. Therefore, handling every question in CAT can broadly be segregated into a three step process: a. Reading and comprehending the question properly: Reading the question carefully is very important so to understand which concept must be applied. Give more time to understanding the question and you will be closer to solving it correctly and quickly. b. Taking a call: Have the confidence to select the right set of questions and say ‘NO’
CAT prep should be the core of your life in the remaining days, which means you need to prioritise things accordingly. to the dampeners. So after reading and comprehending the question properly, you should be able to sense whether to attempt the question then and there, or mark it for review later. Here, your management skills are tested as to which questions should be attempted and which avoided. c. Solving the question: Naturally, in this last step, you knowledge is actually tested, right till solving the question to the last step. Solve the questions correctly and click/type the answer carefully. The Ten Commandments of CAT: 1. Revision is very important. Revisit all the formulae and shortcuts that you have
gone through during your entire preparation. This will help reinforce all the learnt concepts, and increase the chances of your recalling them on D-Day spontaneously. 2. The best way to prepare for a test like the CAT is to keep evaluating yourself every 10-15 days, which is done through taking mock tests. 3. Do not repeat the mistakes of the mocks in the real exam. If you have given all (or most) of the SimCATs, glance at the different kinds of new concepts that you have learnt and note them separately for last minute revision. 4. Rather than focusing on all the topics, try and select those topics which you are more comfortable with. Spend 2-5 minutes in scanning the paper and selecting the questions from your area of expertise. Once done with the questions from your strong area, attempt the remaining questions, while, of course, avoiding making any blind guesses. 5. A few days prior to your actual exam, study/revise/take mocks in the same time slot in which your CAT window is scheduled so that your body clock is accustomed to the time table. Also, ensure that you are focused and away from distractions during this period. 6. Follow a proper diet plan and have a routine life in the remaining days to avoid any last minute unforeseen circumstances. 7. Practising calculating mentally is a must while preparing for CAT. Fast and smart calculations save a lot of time, so practise quick mental calculations rigorously
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
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COVER STORY
COVER STORY
on a daily basis. 8. Don’t go into the exam with a fixed target of attempting a certain number of questions. If the question paper is easy, more questions can be attempted, and if the paper seems difficult, accuracy should be maintained. 9. Avoid social media, as they can reduce your productivity and increase your distraction and therefore your stress. Don’t switch off altogether either. Use strategies like scheduling email /notification checks three times a day, turning off notifications for apps except for certain times. 10. CAT prep should be the core of your life in the remaining days, which means you need to prioritise things accordingly. Let your relatives, friends, marriages and parties (all of which are important in life) take a back seat for at least a few days till you are done with your exams.
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What to do in the last week The most important step in the last week is to relax your mind. Keep practising mocks till the last week of the exam, but don’t get demoralised if you’ve not done well in a couple of mocks. Don’t get complacent if you’re doing well, either. Revisit the mistakes you made in your mock tests, and ensure that you don’t repeat them in the exam. If you’ve missed a topic, leave it and forget it, don’t agonise over it. Don’t start anything new. Adjust your clock depending on the time of your exam. Know the location of your centre at least a day before to avoid the last day’s hassle. And of course, take the exam with a positive attitude! A
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND Read the instructions displayed on the screen before the test You will get some time to read and comprehend this page. This page will also tell you about the test structure. You have to now use your knowledge and plan your test. Carefully read the directions before you answer a question Make sure you are answering the question that is being asked! Often, students know how to solve a problem, but they misread or misinterpret the question itself. Read through the sections first By spending the first couple of minutes reading through the entire section you can learn what is expected of you. Prioritise items on the test, and pace yourself. Intelligent guessing You can attempt certain questions when you test the alternatives one by one for correctness. This way, you are able to eliminate wrong alternatives. You may be first-time lucky or you may be required to test all but one of the alternatives. Here are a few tips on how you can guess intelligently: •
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Wrong choices usually don’t answer the question; that is, they may sound good, but they’re answering a different question. Sometimes, two answers are very close. Consider both of these for future consideration, because they both can’t be right, but both can be wrong. Answers that are very close are sometimes given to test your comprehension. Some wrong choices may just strike you as wrong when you first read them. Trust your instincts. If you have spent time preparing for these exams, you have probably learned more than you think.
Don’t dilly-dally If you get stuck on a problem move on and come back to it later. When you are finished, recheck all your work. Watching the clock When the test begins, check your watch and write down the time you start and the time that you will finish. Knowing how much time is left helps you to pace yourself during the test and in turn helps you to attempt more questions in the given time. Keep a good attitude. Think positive! The bottom line is that you have to be alert for the entire time while taking the test. In the end, it’s not just about Mathematics or English, attempts and accuracy levels. It is also about whether you followed these basic steps to ensure that you have taken the test in the most appropriate manner.
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COVER STORY
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
MBA BUZZ
The last chance to prep up before CAT 2018 The tension is heating up, as we enter the last leg of the race to CAT 2018! Time is of essence here, as there is just enough time for you to give your preparation that shot in the arm. So, plan efficiently, and execute that plan methodically, and we guarantee it’ll help you perform better. Soumen Dutta Mentor, Program Director, PG India
How do I plan my studies? Your studies till the actual exam should be broken up into 3 parts: WEAKLINGS: Focus on areas that you are weak in. Bring them up to a decent level. Complete all questions pertaining to these topics from BRM, Class Sheets, Concept Builder and Application Builder. Familiarity leads to faster and accurate solving.
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STRENGTHS: The areas that you are very comfortable in also require regular revisits. Don’t ignore them completely else your sheen in them will reduce. So keep practising the questions from the Application Builder that relate to these areas. TESTING: Keep ample time for strategising, taking and analysing the performance in SimCATs. Preferably book the SimCAT slots matching the actual CAT slots. Alternate between Morning slot and Afternoon slot so that you are physically and mentally
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
aligned to taking CAT in either slot. Make a daily routine till 15th November. Your daily routine should have at least 3 hours for your CAT prep. And plan out all other activities around that routine.
How do I analyse a SimCAT? The first step is to know your weaknesses. After you are done with your SimCAT, and you’ve got your results, solve each section of the test separately once again. Compare your new performance with your earlier performance. This will help you to figure out the following: • The mistakes that you could have avoided • The questions that you should have avoided • The questions you should have solved but left as you couldn’t identify them • The questions you solved, but could have solved faster From the aforementioned points you will get a list of improvements that you will need to make in the next SimCAT.
How many SimCATs should I attempt? Before answering this question, I want you to understand the true purpose of SimCATs. The SimCATs are meant for the following purposes: 1. To give you the actual feel of the CAT before actual CAT. 2. To make you aware about the various uncertainities and pressures that you will be facing on that day 3. To acquaint you with the various types and difficulty level of questions that can be asked in the test. In short, the primary objective of the SimCATs is to prepare you fully for the physical, mental and emotional challenge that you will face on that day. So, you should be taking as many SimCATs as you possibly can before the actual CAT or any other exam that you have signed up for. However, indiscriminately taking SimCATs is not the solution as well. Hence, the answer to
MBA BUZZ
After the 2 rounds of solving, there would still be a few questions that you couldn’t attempt. Try solving all these unsolved questions without a time limit. Use these unsolved questions to learn concepts from topics that you have not covered yet or are not very comfortable with. So if there is a circular arrangement problem, and you had left it because you hate P&C, then here’s a chance for you to at least learn the formula for it by learning to solve that problem.
Do this after each and every SimCAT that you take - It can be a take-home or a proctored one. And every week you should be taking at least 1 SimCAT. If you keep at it for the next couple of months, then you will surely start seeing improvements.
How many hours should I study? Most mentors recommend a general 3-4 hours. My prescription though depends on what level of preparation you are in. So, if you are just beginning the prep, then you need to hit the 6 hours mark because there’s a lot of ground for you to cover. On the other hand, if you are towards the end of your preparation, then even an efficient 3 hour stint will do. But what if I don’t have time to prepare? Well, if you don’t have time for your own future then what do you have time for? You need to wake up and smell the coffee. If you are not smart enough to prioritise what is important for you in life, then you need to rethink your plan to do an MBA. After all, an MBA prioritising tasks is the biggest success factor for a future Manager. Having said that, let me share with you a few things that I did in my own life
when I was preparing for my MBA entrance tests (And I was working in an IT company for 14 hours a day, on development projects): • I hated coding and never wanted to make a career in that. So, I intentionally moved out of the development project into a boring maintenance project that no one wanted. What I missed out in terms of praise, awards, onsite assignments and better prospects of promotion, I made up for with the extra time that I got every day to prepare for my exams. • During my time, the only online distractions were the well-established Orkut and the starting phases of Facebook. I ensured a distraction free 3 months by exiting Orkut and Facebook. In the current times the list will be much longer for a social hibernation – Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and so on. But as I said earlier, it’s your life; you need to prioritise what’s important. • I created a daily schedule where I first put my work timings and my travel time. Then I put my study schedule. And then whatever time was left, I put in the filler activities l i k e
Few extra hours to study before CAT2018
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this question becomes more dependent on your current state of preparation. First Case: If you are done with all your concepts and application practise then you should be taking 1 SimCAT every week. If you want to up your ante, then along with a SimCAT a week schedule, attempt 2 SimCATs every alternate week. But spare enough and more time to analyse each SimCAT. And this schedule should be till the first week of November only. Thereafter, take 1 SimCAT a week only. Second Case: If you are still grappling with your basic concepts or started late and yet haven’t been able to complete your ‘syllabus’, then take a SimCAT every fortnight to know where you are with respect to others and your own state of preparation. In the month of October and November, you have to ramp up your efforts and move to 1 SimCAT a week schedule. Understand one thing very clearly – irrespective of when you started and at what level you are currently at, CAT will have the same set of questions for everyone.
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
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MBA BUZZ
watching tv, playing soccer with friends, birthday parties, etc. In fact, quite a few times I turned down my relatives’ and friends’ invitations for birthday parties and night outs as they clashed with my study schedule. I knew I wasn’t the most brilliant in my cohort, but what made me better than 99% of the others who took the test that day was my self-discipline for the last 3 months. • I did not give up on my friends. It’s just that I chose them well. Friends who supported me in my endeavour were my true friends and I kept them close. I had setup a few rules for them. Coffee breaks in office were times when they would test my vocabulary, and I’d pay for a samosa for every 10 words that they knew, but I didn’t. Similarly, for the GK questions, I didn’t smoke but I’d pay for a cigarette for 10 unknown GK questions. A financial gain or loss is a very big motivator. • I moved from a bike to a public bus. My travel time increased from half an hour to 1 hour. But it allowed me time to catch up on my reading. In the last 3 months, this simple change allowed me to not only skim through The Hindu and the Economic Times, but also finish most of the works of Guy deMaupassant, O. Henry, Amartya Sen, G. K. Chesterton and P. G. Wodehouse. A feat that helped me enormously in Reading Comprehension as well as my PI rounds for the B-schools I received calls from. • I had learnt from my seniors that B-school life is hectic. A 6 hour sleep is a luxury that you get once in a blue moon. So, I moved from a lethargic 8-hour sleep schedule to a 6-hour sleep schedule thereby freeing
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
How do I know which B-Schools should I target and which tests to take? Ideally, you should have already created your target list of 15 colleges and programmes. The list would be of 3 buckets – The aspirational schools, the comfortable school and the backup schools. This list of schools should have been chosen based on the following factors: • Your objective for doing MBA • Your preferred specialisation (or what do you want to work on post-MBA) • Your current profile and how much value the b-school will add to your profile Any particular target companies or profiles (where you would like to work post-MBA) If you still have questions and want to speak to a mentor to clarify your doubts regarding selection of b-schools, you can book a slot for a one-to-one call with our Career Mentors at https://www.imsindia.com/ims-mentorship-program.html
Your daily routine should have at least 3 hours for your CAT prep. And plan out all other activities around that routine. up 2 more hours. • Finally, I utilised my leaves pretty well. Taking 15 days of leave before CAT did not work out well for my colleague in the previous year, as he was stressed out for the entire period feeling there’s so much to do and so little time to do it. So, when it was time for me to crack the CAT, I planned it differently. I took leaves around weekends and public holidays thereby increasing a 2-day holiday to a 4-day holiday. I kept only 5 days of leaves before CAT and took that week off to
mentally get into the groove. Rest of the holidays I utilised in September and October and ensured that I complete everything in this period. So for every leave, I would keep a target and attain that at all costs. I never took more than 4 leaves at a time because I knew that longer vacations will reduce my productivity. For all you lion-cubs, who haven’t tasted the blood of corporate life, you have an even better chance of utilising your time. Follow the same set of advice that I have shared and plan your life. For you, the only difference is that you don’t have the luxury of not studying for your exams as your Graduation scores are going to play a vital role. But, these very same studies can keep your mind on the cutting edge thereby making absorption of new knowledge easier. And, do not forget that you do have time, just that you don’t realise you have it. This is a vital time in your life and you shouldn’t let it slip by. A
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MBA BUZZ
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
STUDENT SPEAK
‘Be clear about why you want an MBA’ …says Parth Dev Jugnalia, a first year MBA student at TISS. In conversation with Advanc’edge MBA, Parth talks about his decision to pursue a management degree in Human Resources from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and how fulfilling his chosen career path has been.
Q. Was an MBA always on your mind? Why did you choose to pursue an MBA degree?
Q. What helped preparation?
I studied engineering in my graduation. During the first three years, MS in Material Sciences was on the top of my mind. But as I neared the end of the third year, I realised that the engineering domain wasn’t quite what I wanted, primarily because working as an engineer didn’t seem appealing to me in the long run. So in the next one year I tried and identified my areas of interest. Fortunately, I figured out that I was most interested in the field of human resources, and I started reading about it and interacted with industry experts. That was when I decided that I really wanted to pursue an MBA.
One of the things that was crucial was my ability to put in a lot of efforts without getting tired. Preparing for competitive exams required me to invest a lot of hours, and I was doing my internship as well. So time management was a crucial aspect in my preparation, and I think I did a fairly good job of it! The SimCATs, the IMS mock tests, too helped me in gauging the patterns for questions asked in the CAT. They helped me focus on particular sections, and gave a very good sense about what I could expect in the actual test. Also, the SimCATs helped me figure out how much time I needed to allocate per section and plan out a strategy for the actual test.
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Q. You didn’t have work experience before your MBA. Did you feel disadvantaged? I didn’t have any work experience, but I graduated in 2017 and started my MBA programme from TISS in 2018. During that one year, I worked as an intern to better align my profile towards my interest in HR. I really wanted to understand what this field is all about before actually going for the formal education. And yes, the internship did help me to some extent in handling the tests and the PIs, because I could discuss my interest more effectively with the interviewer.
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
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Q. What is your take on group study? Firstly, you must ask yourself, ‘does going in for group study add any value to you?’ I believe group study will help only when you’ve gone through all the study material, solved question papers, and built your fundamental understanding of the subject matter. So for me, it makes sense to go for a group study only to address doubts and clear any queries.
STUDENT SPEAK
Q. Any suggestions for CAT aspirants? You have to establish some very concrete timelines for yourself with the objective of completing your learning and assessment. This is essential for any competitive examinations and not just the CAT. You will be assessed on Math, Verbal, decision making, logical ability and so on. Make sure to chart out a timeline that you can invest in each of these areas before the final day of CAT or any other examination. Religiously go through the text books. Interact with people who sat for these tests, because their experience can be really helpful. If your target is to get into one of the top B-schools, then hard work is a must.
Q. How was your experience at the selection rounds at TISS? TISS conducts a National Entrance Test (NET), the TISSNET. In this, there is a special focus on general knowledge. On D-day you are subjected to three kinds of assessments. The first is an essay. Secondly, you have to talk about that essay in a GD, and finally, the PI. The essay topics can range right from abstract to social issues. It could also be something related to human resources. My experience at the TISS discussion was quite orderly. A few individuals were making their point vociferously, but the group was more or less a very pacifistic kind of a group. That helped everyone make their point succinctly. The group was able to summarise in time very well, and quite a few of them from the panel were selected for the subsequent PI round. The PI rounds started with a vetting of whatever I had mentioned in my CV. Subsequently, it took the form of a behavioural interview, wherein questions about my experiences in particular situations were asked. Situations were given to me where I had to take a decision; there were questions on social issues. In PIs at TISS, your profile may or may not drive your interview, but what you say will actually make a lot of difference at the end of the day. The entire process for all the three activities lasted for about 8 hours.
Q. Tell us a bit about your experiences of group discussion and personal interview? Group discussion topics for me ranged from HR topics to social issues in India, which meant that I encountered a gamut of GD topics. My PIs were primarily driven towards understanding my individual capabilities — how I would react to a particular situation. So the behavioural component of lot of interviews was actually pretty high. The other thing that the interviewers focused on was why I wanted to pursue HR, having come from an engineering background.
Q. According to you, what are the important points one must remember before going for a personal interview? One of the key things I will suggest to anybody preparing for PIs is to be very thorough with whatever they’ve written in their CV. Because that in itself is the interviewers’ first take of who you are. What often happens is that the interviewer picks a particular point in your CV and then goes to deeper levels with their questioning. This can lead to a stress situation, and you have to prove your knowledge to the interviewer. Secondly, learn how to present yourself. Apart from your communication skills, you must keep in mind the general etiquettes while entering a room, manoeuvring your hands, sitting posture and the way you engage with the questions. Be humble, be straightforward and also, if you have the necessary component of wit, use it! Interviewers appreciate a certain amount of wit in a candidate’s answers. Make sure that you are dressed for the occasion. You’re presenting yourself as a potential professional, and it reflects poorly on you if you are dressed shabbily. Make a check list of the essential items you need to take with you on the day — your documents, stationery, and also something to eat, because PI day can be very heavy, you never know when you will be called in. Be prepared for contingencies.
Q. Why did you choose TISS over other institutes? Even before deciding on an MBA, I was genuinely
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Establish some very concrete timelines for yourself with the objective of completing your learning and assessment.
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
STUDENT SPEAK
interested in the social side of things. That was a deciding factor for my pecking order in choosing an HR specialisation. For me, TISS was first, followed by other colleges. In fact, the unique selling proposition of TISS is that not only are you exposed to the curriculum of a flagship HR programme, but you also find out about the reality of the modern world, including getting sensitised towards social issues. That was exactly what I had in mind when I chose TISS. The institute has a unique element called the fieldwork internship programme, wherein every semester has an internship stint. So at the end of the two years of TISS HRMLR programme, every student gets four internships in the form of field work, coupled with summer internship and an NGO internship (which is sometime in the second year). That’s a total of 6 experiences, and this differentiates itself from any other programme.
Q. What, according to you, are some of the benefits of studying at TISS?
Q. As part of the campus life, what should one look forward to at TISS? www.advancedge.com
Q. What are your personal learnings after joining a B-School? For the most part, B-schools are the first touch points students have with the corporate environment, although for those with work experience this might not be a new experience. However, whether you have work experience or not before coming to a B-school, you end up unlearning many things, and you end up relearning others that you had fo rgotten. The topics of conversation in the classrooms are highly stimulating, to say the least. And these talks and conversations go beyond the theoretical context. The faculty here are industry experts, have worked outside and are visiting faculty members who are very proficient in the subjects they teach. Also, at a B-school, you realise how important networking is. These are the personal learning that eventually leads to personality transformations for most students graduating from B-schools.
Studying at TISS provides you practical experience through their fieldwork internship programme, that gives you an idea about the business world.
I think the biggest benefit of studying at TISS is the practical experience that you obtain. Through the fieldwork internship programme, you are exposed to what the business world looks like. This gives you a look at the ground realities of HR as a profession in some of the biggest organisations in India, as you intern with some of the biggest names in the corporate sectors. For instance, in the FMCG sector, you might get an internship opportunity with Unilever, Marico, Nestlé and so on. These are the practical touch points that one must have when doing an MBA, which is often not emphasised enough in other B-schools.
TISS provides you the opportunity of being part of a larger ecosystem of being a socially responsible individual. There are numerous committees at TISS. Also, TISS gives you the option of being part of a bigger cause. The Field Action Programme happens to be TISS’s intervention in areas that require particular focus and government actions.
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You can be a part of these FAPs and part of the end-to-end execution of those initiatives. If you really have an inclination towards a social cause and doing something more than just the HRM course at TISS, you can explore these avenues too.
Q. Anything you would like to tell future aspirants? First, be very thorough with why you want to pursue an MBA. Have a good and sound reason. Secondly, the preparation to crack any entrance test needs to be thorough. Third, be extremely thorough with the kind of profile that you have, it should reflect your personality and your life experiences. Network with individuals that are part of these institutions. Try to gauge what their experiences were like. This will help you make a sound decision as to the kind of B-school that you’d prefer. Lastly, the preparation days can get stressful, so it is essential to invest some time in recreational activities, be it sports, or hanging out with your friends, or even travel. And of course, eat healthy and sleep well!
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STUDENT SPEAK
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‘Don’t hold back, give it your all’ Q. How did Fox My Box come about? Tell us about your journey.
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This is what ANKUSH KHERA has to say about becoming an entrepreneur. In an interview with Kalyani Majumdar, the founder and CEO of Fox My Box shares his unique business idea to be the onestop destination for customising and personalising lifestyle gadgets, and working with big names such as Sennheiser and Xrig.
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I have always loved art and design. During my graduation, I came across airbrushing. It is basically a process through which you can make very intricate designs with a small pen on automobiles. This caught my imagination and then there was no looking back. When I spoke to my parents for the first time about airbrushing as a career, it was a resounding no! But since I had already made up my mind to start my own company, I started digging into the core of the customising industry involving paint and printing industries. After my graduation, I completed my postgraduation in Advertising and Public Relations from Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi. Starting a company is easy, but maintaining it is difficult. I knew I had to focus on understanding not only the design and creative aspects of my company, but also understand marketing, public relations, brand management and technical skill. So I decided to focus on each aspect of the business for one year each. I spent a lot of time researching on material and surface behaviour. In the meantime, I wrote to DuPont to train me with their experts on surface paint processes. After the training, I enrolled myself as a proprietor, and thereafter, into a private limited firm.
Q. Was Colorware an inspiration for you to get into the customisation industry? Colorware is the first company in the world that customised electronics. When I say electronics, I mean mobile, laptop, iPhones and so on. I started doing my homework. I realised every electronic gadget can be customised in hundreds of permutations and combinations of colour, design and techniques. I asked them if I could come and work with them. Unfortunately, I did not have the skillsets that were needed and was quite disheartened. It was then that I decided that since there weren’t any other companies customising electronics, I would build a company of my own. And I started planning from that very day.
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Q. Were there any major hurdles you faced while starting Fox My Box? I wanted to build something from scratch. Clients were difficult to acquire, as nobody really understood the concept. My finances were limited and I had no team. But I never had a backup plan, and so I put everything into my business. Now things are settled and are smoother, and yes there are challenges every day. Hurdles will always be there. It is very reasonable thing to have them and they keep you sharp. Whether you are running a multinational company or a start-up, it is the same thing. Businesses will always have some challenges.
Q. How did you come up with the name Fox My Box? To be honest, I thought of close to 40 or 45 names, but as it was very close to me, I was unable to take a decision. I wanted a catchy name with three words in it. Fox My Box was mentioned by my cousin in a very casual manner and I heard it and said,“Done!”
Q. How was your experience customising gaming cabinets for XRIG? Actually, Hot Wheels was the first one that came out with a car that could change colour. They are called thermo-pigments. They’ve been around for a long time, but in India, nobody tried exploring this. The client I had was XRIG, based out of Kolkata. They manufacture PCs, gaming cabinets and so on. They wanted exclusive gaming cabinets, so I suggested Tesseract themed glowin-the-dark gaming cabinets, and they agreed to experiment. You can have different glow-in-thedark colours like red, blue, yellow and so on. The thermo-pigments react to the heat at a certain temperature. If it is cold, it will go black, transparent if it is hot or even change colour. Once the system is switched on, it generates heat, and the cabinet is heated up to a certain temperature and starts to glow in the dark. It is the world’s first gaming cabinet that reacts to heat and temperature. It is yet to be launched officially. It is the first gaming cabinet that has a functional paint job done.
I never had a backup plan, so I put everything into my business. Hurdles will always be there. It is very reasonable thing to have them. They keep you sharp!
Yes, the team came very late. I started getting interns. In India, I feel the interns are not given a lot of responsibility, just kept on the sidelines for the first few months. During the start-up boom, these firms did not build a lot of trust for the interns. And a lot of good interns would not work with start-ups. So it took me quite a bit of time to filter out and find the right interns for my company. It was a good learning for me, as it helped me understand the kind of interns I would like to have. I have interns with different skill-sets and educational background; for instance, I had a very good intern from the engineering background with an excellent hand for sketching!
Q. What kind of products do you customise? When I started the company, I was very rigid and thought I would only customise electronics. Gradually, I realised that there are so many products that can be customised and it didn’t make sense to limit my skills to electronics. So that
Q. What is the next step for Fox My Box? Do you have any new and innovative projects in mind? I am working on a project that I would like to launch through Fox My Box. About ninety percent of homes don’t have fire extinguishers. And even if they do, you will find them lying around in some
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Q. Tell us a bit about your team. You were working alone for a long time before you had a team, right?
brings in every consumer durable product, making Fox My Box a Boutique Colour Customisation Service provider for all things under the sky! So, other than electronics such as phones, laptops, headphones, music systems, helmets, we also customise refrigerators, air purifiers, cycles, original Zippo lighters, microphones and so on. In the future, we are looking at cameras as well. We recently customised Farhan Akhtar’s microphone as a bespoke partner of Sennheiser. Also, another segment I am planning to cater to is high-end furniture, but only tables for now. However, I will not bring cars under Fox My Box. I would like to take up something which is very adventurous and find a way to bring new technologies, new designs and concepts we see all over the world to my clients.
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forgotten corner or storage area. They are ugly and red and no one wants to keep it in the kitchen or the living room! After doing some research, I figured out that there really is no rule that fire extinguishers need to be red in colour. So by next year, we will start customising fire extinguishers for homes, where they can choose designs like marble finish texture and so on. They can keep it at the bar or in the kitchen. The idea is to create an art piece that also extinguishes fire, and looks good at home!
Q. What do you have to say about design and aesthetic knowledge in India? I’m actually trying to change the perception of aesthetics here in India. It is improving now with maker’s spaces coming up in India in a big way. Aesthetic knowledge in India is very theoretical.We have one of the strongest educational systems and a very strong base, but we are not well versed with the latest technologies. So when designers graduate from colleges, they understand only the theory of design, not the practicality of it. This is what I’m trying to change, and it is a long journey.
Q. What is your take on management education? Do you think it is essential in running a business?
When running your own business, you understand how hard it is to manage people. I understand my boss now. I understand now why my boss would shout at me when I couldn’t deliver something on time.
Management education is important. I come from an aesthetic background and as an artist we don’t think straight! We don’t think business, profits and so on. We think of spending 40 paisa and make sure it comes out beautifully. I have a theory that a management student likes to figure out and organise everything into a structure, without making mistakes, but we as artists love to make mistakes and innovate. Thus, I feel a company should always have one risk taking guy and a management guy who is going to ask questions on every spending and functioning of the company, and that is how a beautiful relationship develops where founders can explore different fields together.
Q. As an entrepreneur, what is your take on the concept of work-life balance?
Q. What advice would you give to future entrepreneurs?
Ethically speaking, there should be a balance, but let’s face it, saying it is always easier than doing it. It never happens. Even when I have consciously tried not to think about work, my mind is constantly engaged.
Start something of your own only if you are dead sure of it, and always be sure of what you really want to do, and who you will involve in your venture. I have seen many people giving up, and many others keeping backups. They think they will try for a year and do something else if it does not succeed to their expectation. Let me tell you: It doesn’t work that way. You have to dive into the pool and that’s it. That is the only way that you can get something done. If you have a backup, then you know you won’t jump. Don’t hold back, give it your all. You have to give part of your life to it, so that the rest of your life is sorted. A
Q. You worked in corporate firms and now you are an entrepreneur. Any differences?
Being a boss, you have to be very open and give your workforce a chance to experiment. If you don’t, you’re not a good boss.
Q. As an entrepreneur what is your learning when it comes to managing a team? www.advancedge.com
Being a boss, you have to be very open and give your workforce a chance to experiment. If you don’t, you’re not a good boss. Being rigid hampers the functioning of a business. And everybody cannot perform the way you want them to. They will have a different speed, a different view and a different vision to execute a plan. I learned the hard way that you have to give them a chance to make mistakes, so that they learn from it and improve how they work. They may be better than you or worse, but at the end of the day, you can only know which after you delegate the responsibility.
When you are working alone, you get everything your way. But everyone cannot function in that way. You get used to doing things in a certain way and with a new person on board, the way of doing things can get disrupted and that can get uncomfortable.
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NEWS SNIPPETS
News in brief
Here are some interesting titbits from over the last month Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank to be merged
In a recent decision by the government, Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank will be merged. All three banks combined would have a total loan book of Rs 6.40 lakh crore and total deposits of Rs 8.41 lakh crore, making it the third-largest bank in India. Total branches will increase to 9,489. But many of these branches could be overlapping, which means they may have to cut branches that are near to each other. While any merger with a smaller bank is looked at as a negative move for a bigger lender, experts said that merging of two PSBs, i.e., Bank of Baroda and Vijaya Bank with a weaker Dena Bank will not have any adverse effect as it will bring in both diversification and scale to the merged entity. However, in order for this merger to yield the desired results these banks need to look at reducing costs and handle people-issues well.
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Wipro has a multi-year contract with Falck
TVS Motors enters the Mexican market
The Bengaluru-headquartered software services exporter, Wipro has bagged a multi-year business process services and finance transformation contract from Denmark-based Falck. So, as part of the contract, Wipro would help transform Falck’s finance operations and establish a scalable and efficient finance operating model. Falck is an international supplier of ambulance services, employee health care and roadside assistance. Wipro, has been present in the Nordic region for more than a decade and works with customers across the healthcare, manufacturing, energy, natural resources, utilities, financial services, telecom and retail industry verticals. With this contract it would leverage its proprietary digital simplification platform and expertise in robotics process automation and cognitive intelligence.
India’s leading two-wheeler maker, TVS Motor Company, recently announced its entry into the Mexican market. In a move that will help grow its global sales and strengthen its presence in Mexico it has tied up with Torino Motors. Torino Motors is a subsidiary of Groupo Autofin and specialises in automobile and retail finance. It has been in the region for over 40 years. As a part of this association, Torino Motors will distribute the vast range of TVS Motor Company two-wheeler offerings including: TVS XL100 HD, TVS HLX 150, TVS STRYKERT, TVSApache RTR 160, 180 and 200, TVS Apache RR 310T, TVSWEGO, TVS NTORQ 125, TVS ROCKZT and TVSNeo. TVS Motor Company ranks amongst the top ten two-wheeler companies in the world and is one of the leading two-wheeler and three-wheeler exporters in India, distributing to over 60 countries.
Hyderabad-based drug firm to manufacture HIV meds
Nestle and Starbucks seals the deal
The Hyderabad-based drug firm, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd has received approval from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) for its Dolutegravir, Lamivudine and Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate (DLT) tablets. According to the latest WHO guidelines, the approved tablets are the first-line preferred regimen for HIV. It is now one of the first few companies that have received approval for this product.
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Nestle has recently finalised the deal to market the products of US coffee giant Starbucks around the world, outside of its cafes. With this deal, almost 500 Starbucks employees in the US and Europe will join the Swiss company, Nestle. Back in May, this year Nestle, had announced that it would pay $7.15 billion (6.13 billion Euros) for the rights to market Starbucks coffee globally.
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Aditya Birla Group sold ‘More’ to Amazon Aditya Birla Group ends its dream of owning a supermarket chain as it sold ‘More’ to the US online retail giant, Amazon. Although the actual amount of the deal has been kept under cover but it is estimated at Rs 4,500 crore, making it one of the biggest deals in the offline food and grocery segment. Birla had launched the venture in 2007 with plans to set up a network of 1,000 stores. But just over a decade later, Aditya Birla’s retail ambition has been abandoned owing to competition from e-commerce players. According to company insiders, the lack of a long-term strategy also hindered growth for Aditya Birla Retail, which reported a loss of `644 crore in FY17.
Climate change and a steady decline of puffins
Since the 2000s, puffins have been in a steady decline, both in Iceland and across many of their Atlantic habitats. Overfishing and pollution are the main culprits for this. Scientists say that climate change is another underlying factor that is diminishing food supplies and is likely to become more important over time. And the fact that puffins are tasty, and thus hunted as game in Iceland, hardly helps their case. The birds are cherished by Icelanders as part of their history, culture and tourist trade, but unfortunately they are also popular as a delicacy.
Now you can fly a Drone!
If flying a drone was something you always wished for, then it can come true now, of course keeping in mind that it does come with a list of regulations issued by the government. The new drone policy allows recreational, personal or commercial use of drones from December this year. However, in case you were planning to deliver goods, food and other items, with the help of a drone, it is simply ruled out, as the main policy states that the drone can be flown only within the line of sight of the person using it.
PepsiCo’s largest acquisition in 8 years PepsiCo Inc. will buy SodaStream International Ltd., an Israeli company for $3.2 billion in the latest attempt by a major soft-drink maker to harness demand for at-home drink systems to offset a slowdown in soda. This would be PepsiCo’s largest acquisition in eight years. Soft-drink producers have been trying to tap the at-home market amidst a gradual decline in soda consumption and environmental concern. However, success of such a move has been elusive.
Wireless charging networks at Café Coffee Day outlets
Café Coffee Day, the Bengaluru headquartered coffee chain has partnered with wireless power solutions provider PowerSquare to introduce wireless charging network at their cafes across India. About 300plus wireless charging spots are now available across 100 outlets in leading metros such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai. The network will support all smart phones that have wireless charging and will soon expand to 350 plus cafes with more than 2000 wireless charging spots in other metros. With mobile being an integral part of its young consumers’ lives, the café network is strengthening its digital technology to keep its customers connected at all times. After making free Wi-Fi available nationally at several cafes, it is launching wireless charging for the first time. So, now customers with Qi-enabled smart phones can place their phones on the surface and wirelessly charge their phones. Aim is to eliminate the hassle of carrying charging cables.
Vedanta, the metals and mining conglomerate is aiming to triple the representation of women in its workforce over the next two years. Currently, 11% of the company’s 25,000 employees are women, which it aims to increase to 30% in two years. This can be compared with the average female workforce headcount of 3-8% in India’s manufacturing sector. The company aims to achieve this with a combination of policies that include 50% hiring of woman talent from campuses, ensuring a balance in hiring male and female candidates and also building an internal leadership pipeline of women. They will also offer female staff flexibilities in working hours.
Green energy for Himachal Pradesh
Recently, Himachal Pradesh got its first gridconnected solar power plant in Shimla having a capacity of 35 KW, installed on the rooftop of the Department of Environment, Science and Technology. The project was completed by spending around ‘20 lakh and the Department of Science and Technology would save ‘2.6 lakh per annum. The sustainability of the project is for 25 years. The power generated by the solar plant would be consumed by the building and remaining power would be sold to the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited.
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Women power for Vedanta
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Reliance & e-retail: Volatile entry expected? Amidst the battle heating up between Amazon and Walmart-Flipkart in the Indian e-commerce space, Reliance is looking to enter e-retail. RIL’s entry is typically insanely aggressive, visible from the way the new entrant Jio captured a large share of the telecom market. Will we see the same in Indian e-commerce?
Dr Suresh Srinivasan
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I
t is an incredible fact that in India today,there are more than 50 crore online users.That number will increase to close to 75 crore over the next three years, even with a conservative compounded growth rate of 10 to 12% per annum. The size of the ecommerce industry per se is more than `3.5 lakh crore; this again is estimated to double by 2021. Groceries and hyperlocal deliveries as well as fashion are showing huge promise, but still remain substantially underpenetrated, while online ticketing and travel aggregators are reaching scale economies. Online retail, including electronics, food delivery aggregators and cab hailing services, are sharpening their business and revenue models.An exponential growth is expected in the coming years for these segments. Amazon is likely to finish 2018 with a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of around `65,000 crore, and Flipkart at close to `60,000 crore. Other players
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are significantly smaller in size, as compared to the top two players. Today, these two players together control less than 40% of the overall market, leaving sufficient room for other smaller players to grow, but more importantly, for a couple of more new entrants to make an entry. Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) is a term used in online retailing to indicate a total sales value for merchandise sold through a particular marketplace over a certain time frame. Site revenue comes from fees and is different from the value of items sold.
Likely entrants With high penetration and growth rate expected in the
coming years, consolidation among existing players is bound to happen. More interestingly, the potential business on the table over the next three years is quite large, and this makes a business and economic case conducive for new large players to enter the market;this is most likely to happen.
Chinahas an eye open Alibaba is certainly not one to let go of the lucrative Indian e-commerce market. The low profile Jingdong Group (JD) of China, which is believed to be larger than even Alibaba’s e-commerce operations in China, could also eventually find its way into the Indian market.All of this — if it comes to pass over the next three years — will not be unexpected, especiallyon the back of the
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huge potential growth and the doubling of the e-commerce market size.
Reliance riding on Jio Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is also actively pursuing an e-commerce entry. Mukesh Ambani has recently stated that his telecom outfit Jio will be the foundation on which the company’s commerce platform will be built. Primarily, RIL will leverage its Jio assets along with its retail business to develop the e-commerce platform.With the existing retail stores well positioned as pickup points and warehouses, the model should enjoy substantial traction and speed up the scaling, especially when in competition with the two large players, Flipkart and Amazon. In this context, the markets are well aware that RIL has
taken huge bets on what it calls its consumer business, which comprises retail and telecom, and expects this business to contribute around half of its total topline by the next decade. As of now, RIL is primarily an oil and gas company, with miniscule revenue being driven by consumer business. Such a leap into the complex ‘service’ businesses with such aggressive targets — that too to be achieved within a decade — is the height of risk taking. Of course, the company is well backed with rich cash-flow from its core businesses. However, this high risk appetiteis a definite sign of the company’s “entrepreneurial DNA”.
Master plan? For example, Mukesh Ambani mentions as a part of his talk in the recent annual general
meeting of RIL that the company is achieving its target of 99% population coverage with 4G-LTE; its geographic coverage is wider than any other network in the country. Having realised that more than 80% of data consumption is happening indoors through fixed line data connectivity though broadband connections, Jio has poured investments in fibre optic cables laid out to far reaching geographies within the country. It recently rolled out the Giga-fibre plan,its 4G broadband service, across the country, offering 100GB data free for three months, with a refundable deposit to cover the optical line terminal.The target? Five crore homes in more than a thousand cities. RIL believes that to boost its data consumption, such
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Indian M&As cross record $104bn Mergers and acquisitions deals in India have reached record levels of $104.5 billion in 2018. Several factors have contributed to such high M&A activity in the country. Some of these are the implementation of reforms including the new bankruptcy law, e-commerce acquisitions and as wellas Chinese and Japanese investments in Indian startups.
Over 600 companies get acquired annually since 2008 A recent report has revealed that as many as 600 to 750 Indian companies have been acquired annually over the last decade.According to the report Value Creationby Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) ad Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC),the average transaction size of these acquisitions is around `200 crore. More than 3,000 Indian companies, both in public and private sectors, have been active in M&As over the last decade.
Infosys to acquire Fluido
Tata Power, India Power eye Odisha power board Tata Power and Hemant Kanoria-controlled India Power Corporation Ltd have bid to acquire Odisha’s Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU).The latter is being privatised again after 17 years. More privatisation deals are expected in the utility sector, which is largely government controlled.
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Tech and consulting giantInfosys has announced its intention to acquire Fluido for around `550 crore. Fluido is one of Europe’s largest Sales force partners. Infosys’ interest in Fluido stems from this distinction, as well as offering Infosys the opportunity to strengthen its own leadership position in cloud consulting, implementation and training services.
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investments in high speed fixed line broadband is inevitable, especially in the areas of healthcare, education and entertainment, as and when large scale data consumption starts to become reality! Jio has reportedly spent an additional `60,000 crore during the current financial year to execute the broadband plan.
Jio achieved its planned objectives by gaining a subscriber base close to 215 million, setting global records.
The Reliance approach to market entry To put across the opposite perspective: Is there any reason for RIL — or Jio — not to enter the e-commerce space? Not really. Jio’s approach to entering the telecom industry was very different from the other incumbent players like Vodafone and Airtel —aggressive, counterintuitive, controversial and financially risky. With upfront investments close to `2.5 lakh crore made in its digital business, and having aggressively discountedprices to capture market share, Jio’s market entry strategy was highly perilous. To a certain extent, it can however be said Jio ultimately did a commendable feat in managing to achieve its planned objectives quite well by gaining a subscriber base close to 215 million, setting global records in the process.
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Challenges from within However, to further gain market share especially when it has to move away from its ‘discounting’ model to offering a seamless user experience which would be superior to the competition, the true challengesarenow likely to show themselves. More importantly, incumbents like Airtel and Vodafone are also catching up and perfecting their offerings, and are providing stiff
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resistance to customer swaps. This pushes Jio into a ‘do or die’ mode, wherein it has to drive data consumption into the market by making the customer consume data, provide seamless delivery of data at acceptable speeds, and at the same time, ensure that the customer is eventually paying for the services. Reliance has already extensively invested in content creation and media, along with its discounting game, to support higher data consumption. As the pressure grows to secure a return on investment, challenges are emerging fromtechnology obsolescence perspective, especially since the investments have been primarily made in technology and infrastructure.
Challenges from without Facebook’s Aquila project, which uses unmanned solar powered drones that can stay in the skies for months at an altitude of 65,000 feet, are now commercially used to beam internet to large geographical areas. Google’s Loon project too is looking at similar capabilities. Although Facebook has withdrawn from the project, and will use third party drones, the model is still viable, and will soon see many players using such technologies to beam remote
connectivity. These technologies could provide aerial wireless network for specific geographic areas at 4G-LTE speeds. Such disruptions have the potential to make look Jio’s huge investments futile, within the near to medium term future.
Handshake with Alibaba? RIL is reportedly setting up a joint venture with Alibaba, which again is known to be desperately seeking an avenue to enter the Indian market. Alibaba, a specialist in the online-tooffline (O2O) model, is reported to be seriously considering a partnership with Reliance Retail. Under this model, customers search for the product online but eventually buy it through an offline channel. With Reliance Retail being the largest retail player in the country, the brick and mortar support clubbed with Jio’s technology and customers can provide a viable model for O2O with Alibaba. These require substantially more funding in the next few months.For example, Amazon spent close to around $7 to $8 billion to establish itself into the Indian e-commerce space; this translates to around `60,000 crore. So, to summarise, RIL’s aspirations are very high, expectations are optimistic, actions are extremely aggressive, and all of these are in the context of highly growing market conditions. The question to be asked is whether this position can push the company to its financial edge, or if RIL will ultimately pull through. If you ask me, a financial investor in RIL will certainly be excited, but there will also that niggling worry! A
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Upskilling India: TCS and the IT sector While today it might be one of many mega-firms in the Indian technology space, TCS must be given full credit for building a skilled workforce, as well as India’s identity as a software services hub. After 50 years, let’s take a look at TCS’s contribution to the industry. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
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T
ata Consultancy Services (TCS) recently completed 50 years in business. In the process, the company has achieved many accolades — India’s largest software services company, the largest company in terms of market capitalisation of more than `8 lakh crore, the first Indian company to cross the $100 billion market capitalisation threshold, etc. Today, TCS stands as one of the two biggest companies in the India, along with Mukesh Ambanirun Reliance Industries Limited. Globally, there are no more than 65 to 70 companies at this level of market capitalisation; Appleis the world’s largest company and is leading the pack with a market capitalisation of a trillion US $ (roughly ten times bigger than TCS). What TCS has achieved, therefore, is by no means a meagre feat! TCS’s market capitalisation is in fact more than the gross domestic product(GDP) of many countries like Sri Lanka, Kenya and Bulgaria. While these are manifestations of TCS’s success, how exactly has TCS managed
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to achieve this success? What are some of the factors that helped TCS achieve this? This is an interesting question, and the answers are bound to inspire young managers and the various new start-ups that are springing up across the country.
Skilling the workforce It is often said that India is poor in
manufacturing, and as an exporter, our dedication to manufacturing quality products is dismal, we are not competitive in the global market with our products, etc. One of the main complaints for this is that there is no adequately skilled labour force available for the manufacturing industry to absorb from colleges and universities.
This is one of the main allegations the manufacturing sector makes — we do not have a “manufacturing industry-ready” skilled workforce, and our universities just do not produce them! Similarly, back in the mid-70s and 80s, there was no“software industry-ready” skilled workforce in India. TCS, and other large companies, nurtured and trained the workforce to become software conversant, pretty much from nothing.Seeing India’s opportunity in the global software arena, TCS and these companies slowly but steadily developed a quality conscious workforce that would be ready to take on the challenges. M o r e o v e r, India was, and never is, associated with quality products, and this continues to be the biggest challenge for the manufacturing sector today. But instilling that quality consciousness, which is the heart of software services, in the hearts and minds of the IT workforce has been the single largest achievement of players like TCS.
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Education sector steps in As the critical mass in the IT sector picked up, colleges and universities developed courses like Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) and its subsequent Masters. Six Sigma and black belt certification were rampantly introduced, and the entire workforce and the academic universities were sensitised on the importance to quality and the “conformance to requirements” in the global IT industry. From nothing, TCS, and the movement it created, has been responsible for scaling up the “direct” workforce in the Indian software industry to around 45 lakh. The indirect employment generated can be considered to be around three times that of direct employment, as a thumb rule. This is an amazing contribution to the country. Although many other players eventually joined this
movement, it would be unfair if the lead credit does not go to TCS.
N. Chandrasekaran
Leadership F.C. Kohli, widely considered to be the father of the Indian software industry, spearheaded India’s software journey, and provided the foundation for TCS to reach where it is today.Kohli was at TCS’s helm from 1974 to 1996, and during his journey with TCS, he nurtured a number of young leaders who subsequently moved to other Indian IT companies, jointly creating the so-called Indian IT revolution. It must be remembered that back then, India didn’t really have anything called an “IT industry”. The concept was at a nascent stage, and there were very few players in the country. Kohli and TCS, of course along with Infosys and Wipro at a later stage, created a business model
F. C. Kohli
S. Ramadorai
that delivered software services to international clients, precisely meeting and conforming to their requirements, and exponentially ‘scaled up’ the operations. India eventually became a trusted and dependent global software hub, serving virtually all the key
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Service firm Zendesk acquires CRM co Service and helpline application Zendeskhas announced it has acquired FutureSimple, the company behind Base, which is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. Base is known for building modern, easy-to-use Salesforce automation software designed to help salespeople do their jobs more effectively. The advantage to Zendesk is that with this acquisition, the company can now provide a sales component along with their service offering.
Amazon, Google, Apple, to register for GST Amazon, Google, Apple and other foreign companies operating in the e-commerce space will have to register themselves for goods and services tax (GST) in all the states of India by the end of September 2018. The government has stated e-commerce companies need to collect tax at source from October 1, 2018.
Birla hungry for more takeovers?
No more free meals on Jet Airways Airlines are facing the brunt of difficult operational conditions, including fuel price hike and cutthroat competition.A direct result is Jet Airways announcing that it will no longer provide free meals for its economy class passengers, but will serve free beverages, including tea and coffee.
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Kumar Mangalam Birla is enthusiastic about more deals, after creating the nation’s biggest mobile-phone operatorby merging Idea with Vodafone.Birla has stated that he is continuing to look for targets in the US, Europe and India that make business sense and are likely to add value to his own conglomerate.
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
CORPORATE WORLD
to be more competitive and promising than TCS, has seen such issues disrupt its progress.Its market capitalisation is around `3 lakh crore, less than 40% of TCS. Make no mistake though, Infosys too is a great company with leaders who can stand tall; but its achievements don’t match up yet to the TCS’s!
Challenges ahead
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global clients across industries. The leadership pipeline in TCS has been quite exemplary — Ramadorai and Chandrasekaran followed F.C. Kohli. Although there were changes in the leadership, the heart and soulof the company had been kept intact as it continued to scale. The people that were nurtured within the TCS umbrella and the culture that was set out consistently over the last five decades is an important success factor, and these leaders must be given due credit. Although the salary levels of the TCS executives cannot be said to be the best in the industry, the culture and motivation levels have been quite unmatched, and this even showed up in attrition levels as compared to industry level benchmarks. In all, the employees and middle management make up an important component of an organisation’s success.
The Infosys angle It is extremely challenging to sustainably and successfully run companies over long periods.
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
TCS, along with Infosys and Wipro at a later stage, created a business model that delivered software services to international clients. Take, for example, Infosys Technologies, which recently crossed 25 years.Infosys has seen a lot of ups and downs in its journey that can be described as extremely volatile. Branded as one of the most successful startups in the country, it reached great heightsand was touted as one of the best functioning companies in the country. However, over the last decade, Infosys’s stellar runwas marred by a number of arguably avoidable controversies, leadership crisis allegations and boardroom battles. The company which, at one point, was even considered
The industry landscape and competition has already moved from just coding and information technology to the core technology space comprising artificial intelligence, social media, machine learning and analytics. TCS, being part of this technology industry, needs to reinvent and transform itself, re-skill its large workforce and managers to continue to be globally competitive; this is an extremely challenging task. Till now, over the last 50 years, TCS has managed to remain relevant, but the challenge now to differentiate itself from the competition will definitely be a major challenge, especially given its size and scale. For now, TCS is the cash cow for the Tata Group. Althoughthe Tata Group has a portfolio of close to a hundred companies, TCS is the largestcontributor in terms of revenue and profits to the Tata Group. The well-being and sustainability of TCS is vital for the survival of the Tata Group as a whole. Within the global IT and technology industry, TCS is still not in the top 5.If it manages to pull through a major acquisition, bold, well articulated, carefully planned and more than anything, seamlessly executed, it has the potential to become one of the largest global technology players. A
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CORPORATE WORLD
Dow Jones drops GE: The whys and hows Although it was known that GE as a company hadn’t been performing well, it was still a shock when the over 120-year old company was dropped from the Dow Jones list. Naturally, it wasn’t an overnight occurrence, but rather a chain of events, some unavoidable, others unfortunate. Dr Suresh Srinivasan
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T
he Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) is a group of 30 company shares that is intended to represent the overall performance of large US companies, in the US stock market. Ideally, the Dow is intended represent stocks across all industry sectors such that the performance of the Dow reflects large capitalised stocks, as a whole. Dow is a price-weighted index, and not a market-capweighted index such as the S&P 500. This means that it places more emphasis on the share price of the stock. In effect, with Dow, member companies with a higher share price will have a larger influence on the index and its movement. General Electric (GE) was part of Dow index for more than 120 years, and was the oldest member of the Dow. In June 2018, GE was replaced by Walgreens Boots Alliance, and GE was kicked out. This is a historic development, where the curtains fall on a stellar legacy. GE enjoyed an extremely unique position in corporate
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America and the world. Considered a hotbed for grooming leadership, GE’s managers eventually took over most of the American corporates; that was the reputation GE enjoyed in creating world class leaders. In fact, there have been several case studies written at universities like Harvard focusing on GE and its managers’ leadership capabilities.
with J.P. Morgan bringing the financial power and expertise, together executed a series of acquisitions that eventually set up the company Edison General Electric Company. This again went through a series of acquisitions, and in 1896, GE was one of the original 12 companies listed on the newly formed Dow Jones Industrial Average Index.
The beginnings
Unfortunately, GE’s performance in recent years has been deteriorating, and the company was no longer being considered to be a good representation of the large capitalised stock market. This is one of the reasons why GE was removed from the Dow index. At the time of removal, GE wasn’t the worst performer within Dow in terms of market capitalisation, but was actually the 8th from the bottom. However, GE had the lowest stock price among all the Dow members. The highest share price in the Dow was Boeing’s, at more than 20 times that of GE. This too was
In 1889, scientist Thomas Edison, along with all his patents and inventions like the electric bulb, a n d
Recent history
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another reason for removing GE from the Dow ranks, as there is a defined extent to which the disparity between the highest and lowest share price is tolerated; obviously, in case of GE, the line had been crossed. Eventually, when removed, GE’s share price was close to $13, and its influence on Dow was less than 0.5%. However, Walgreen Boots, which replaced GE in Dow, had a share price of
close to $70, and its share price movements were quite stable, in contrast to GE’s share price that was showing a deteriorating trend.
The unexpected start of the decline The natural question to be asked is how such a historic company with such a long legacy could have arrived at such a state of affairs.
Jeff Immelt took over GE after Jack Welch as the CEO of the company in 2001, four days before the 9/11 attacks. The GE Immelt inherited from Welch was a highly diversified company in a conglomerate form, including financial services as a large business. All these businesses were, in a combination, performing well as a conglomerate. However, things started to change quite dramatically and swiftly after 9/11. The terrorist attack on New York’s twin towers sent the global economy into a virtual spin. The GE businesses were one of the worst hit — the airplanes, one of them powered by GE engines, crashed into the World Trade Center towers, which were insured by GE Capital. Air travel demand contracted violently, crippling GE’s business as the world’s largest lessor of
INDIA INC: AT A GLANCE Walmart seniors join Flipkart group After initiating the acquisition of Flipkart that is ongoing, four senior leaders from the US retail giant Walmart have been appointed at the Flipkart India Group level. Walmart’s head of mergers and acquisitions Emily McNeal will join the Flipkart Group as senior vice president and group chief financial officer.
NCLAT to Walmart: How will you do business in India? The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has asked US retail major Walmart and e-commerce major Flipkart to explain their way of doing business in India. This is with reference to a query raised by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).The NCLAT has also asked trader’s body CAIT, which has filed an appeal before NCLAT challenging the go-ahead by the CCI on the Walmart-Flipkartacquisition, to file its understanding of Walmart’s business deal.
Singapore wealth fund firm buys stake in Four Seasons parent co
Big acquisitions likely for India tech space India’s technology industry will see more billion-dollar acquisitions as the next big battleground for foreign Internet companies, according to the advisory firm Raine Group LLC. This is likely to happen especially in the areas of e-commerce, financial technology and emerging media sectors.
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GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is acquiring a significant minority stake in Provenance Land, the developer that first introduced the Four Seasons brand into India. Provenance Land owns over four acres of prime freehold land in Worli in central Mumbai.
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aircrafts. All other industrial businesses took a steep dive and did not recover for the next 24 to 36 months. The performance of many big corporates declined, and GE bore the brunt on account of being a very highly diversified company.
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Risk mitigation didn’t help Immelt tried hard to unwind the excessive diversification of the company from the Jack Welch days. He divested the plastics business, home appliances and financial capital businesses. Not only were these considered good and bold moves, but they also brought the company into the more focused industrial identify that Thomas Edison would have been proud of. Such divestures which Immelt spearheaded were bold and highly challenging, but expectedly got the wrath of shareholders, employees and the markets as a whole, all of whom did not appreciate the downsizing of the company. Immelt also carried out a number of technology acquisitions to support GE’s industrial capabilities, including the Alstom acquisition. However, some of his smaller acquisitions were criticised for being paid an exorbitant price. Particularly, his acquisition of explosive detection company Ion Track, subprime mortgage firm WMC, his many oil and gas acquisitions including Baker Hughes, were severely criticised for very high payouts,
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
which the shareholders were unhappy about. These large scale divestments, high priced acquisitions and poor performance resulting from poor cash flows exerted severe liquidity issues. However, Immelt must be admired for executing deals worth $100 billion of buying and divesting businesses, which very few other CEO, if any, would have ever done in his career.
rated triple-A, the gold standard, when Immelt became chief, were now rated five tiers lower at A2, and being traded at prices more consistent with a Baa rating, just one notch above junk bonds. Finally Immelt had to leave, and it was very unfortunate that the shareholders, investors and the market celebrated on the day of his departure announcement, with even GE stock prices going up on that day.
The coming of the inevitable
The current reality
It is well known that the risk in every such high stakes deal is significant, and even though
However, the downfall had already begun, and with the new leadership of John Flannery, the company continued to lose. Flannery is suggesting that GE might be more valuable in pieces, and has recommended that the company be broken down and run piecemeal, which could possibly unlock value better than as an integrated unit. Although it is a sad moment for GE enthusiasts, these events provide enormous learning for corporates and management students. Your success in the past is by no means an indicator or barometer for your future well-being. Companies have to strongly reinvent themselves for decade after decade, and cope successfully with changing market conditions, address new customer requirements and embrace evolving technologies ahead of the competition. A
GE’s bonds, which were rated triple-A, the gold standard, when Immelt became chief, were now rated five tiers lower at A2. the number of deals and the direction they took the company were celebrated, a few deals didn’t turn out to be healthy, and elicited the dissatisfaction of the shareholders. The not-so-great performance of the company in difficult market conditions did help Immelt either. The markets were also unhappy with the fact that under Immelt, a succession plan was not transparent. Given that he had been leading the company for over 16 years, the markets wanted to know who was being groomed to take over from Jeff Immelt. GE’s bonds, which were
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 Professor (Strategy & Accounting). He is also a management consultant.
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Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
STUDY HOUR
Are you a Brainiac? In this section, we shall explore several different types of questions from the various areas of entrance exams like the CAT, CET, GMAT, etc, and how to best solve them.
Quant DIRECTIONS for questions 1 to 3: Answer the questions independently of each other. 1. What is the least integer which when added to both terms which are in the ratio 3 : 7 will make the ratio greater than 11 : 13? Exp: If x is the integer,
39 + 13x > 77 + 11x 2x > 38 x > 19 The least integer greater than 19 is 20. Therefore the required answer is 20.
2. Two shots are fired from a stationary gun carriage with a gap of 25 minutes between the two shots. A motorist moving away from the gun carriage heard the second shot 27 minutes after the first one. What is the ratio of the speed of sound to that of the motorist?
1] 25 : 2
2] 49 : 1 3] 50 : 1
4] 27 : 2
Let the man hear the first shot at A and the second at B. Time taken by the man to travel the distance AB is 27 min and for the sound to travel the same distance is 2 min.
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1] Rs.65
2] Rs.45
3] Rs.35
4] Rs.50
Exp:
CP of the item to B is Rs.75
i.e., the SP of A = Rs.75
A had profit percent equal to CP
Let y be speed of sound and x be the speed of man, 2y = 27x
Hence, [4].
=
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
where x is the CP to A.
75 – x =
x2 + 100x – 7500 = 0
We have, x = 50 or –150
but x cannot be –150
Exp:
3. A shopkeeper sold an item to A who sold it to B. If the shopkeeper had a profit of Rs.15 and A had a profit percent equal to the cost price of that item to him, find the original cost price of the item if the cost price to B is Rs.75.
x = 50
Thus, original cost price of the item is
50 – 15 = Rs.35
Hence, [3].
STUDY HOUR
Verbal
1. A. For most of us, or perhaps all of us, its impossible to imagine B. a world consisting of more than three spatial dimensions. C. Are we correct when we intuit that such a world couldn’t exist? D. Or is it that our brains are simply incapable to imagine additional dimensions – E. dimensions that may turn out to be as real as other things we can’t detect?
1] A, B & D 3] C, D & E
In A, we need the contraction ‘it’s’, not the determiner ‘its’. There is a verb error in D: after‘incapable’, the verb should be in the ‘-ing’ form not the infinitive form, and be preceded by ‘of’ – i.e. it should be ‘incapable of imagining’. The other three statements, B, C and E, are correct. Hence, [4].
2] A, B & E 4] B, C & E
DIRECTIONS for question 2: In the following question, a word has been used in sentences in four different ways. Choose the option corresponding to the sentence in which the usage of the word is incorrect or inappropriate.
2. SCORE
1] 2] 3] 4]
He has written the score for the latest blockbuster film. Score of people gathered around the accident site. The knife was so sharp, that it left a score in the surface of the table. She was rejected at the audition on the score of her poor singing voice.
‘Score’ can mean the background music for a film or play, so [1] is correct. It can also mean a notch or scratch, so it fits in [3] as well. ‘On the score of’ means on account of, so the usage in [4] is also correct. But in [2], the correct phrase should be either ‘a score’, meaning twenty, or ‘scores’, meaning many, not simply ‘score’. Hence, [2].
DIRECTIONS for question 3: The question has a paragraph from which the last sentence has been deleted. From the given options, choose the sentence that completes the paragraph in the most appropriate way.
3. Colour is mostly irrelevant at night. Because of how the eye sees, even the most incendiary reds and oranges turn into a monochrome of silvers and greys under the waning moon. The retina, the sensitive lining of the eye’s interior, is layered with photoreceptive cells called rods and cones. Rods, which detect the intensity of light, can sense low levels of illumination. But cones, which distinguish colour, require a threshold of light higher than that provided by the fading moon.
1] Only in light brighter than moonlight can we see colour. 2] In the absence of that threshold, colour washes away. 3] Yet, when we look at a moonlit landscape, we don’t get the feeling of looking at a black and white world. 4] But the rods help us see sufficiently well enough that we don’t notice the muted colours. Option [3] starts a new topic, i.e. why we don’t get the impression of seeing in black and white in moonlight. The penultimate sentence of the given paragraph states what the rods do, and the last sentence contrasts that with the function of the cones, with a sentence starting with ‘but’. So option [4], which also starts with ‘but’ and goes back to the function of the rods, is both logically and stylistically inappropriate. While both [1] and [2] are logically correct, [2] fits better stylistically, as it repeats the word ‘threshold’ from the last sentence of the given paragraph, and it continues the idea of when we don’t see colour rather than when we do see it. Hence, [2]. www.advancedge.com
DIRECTIONS for question 1: In the following question, there are sentences that form a paragraph. Identify the sentence(s) or part(s) of sentence(s) that is/are correct in terms of grammar and usage (including spelling, punctuation and logical consistency). Then, choose the most appropriate option.
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
WORD DOSE
STUDY HOUR
The Greek turnaround On the night of 3 July 2015, Alexis Tsipras, prime minister of Greece and leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, addressed a large crowd that had coalesced in front of the Greek parliament in Syntagma Square. Since the beginning of the country’s debt crisis six years earlier, Syntagma Square had been the frequent site of irate anti-austerity demonstrations, many of which dissolved into street skirmishes between riot police and anarchists slinging chunks of marble hammered from the paving in the square. Now, however, the mood was jubilant. There was music and dancing. People waved Greek flags. The crowd yelled in ecstatic unison: ‘Oxi! Oxi! Oxi! Oxi!’ By this point, anyone following the Greek government’s stand-off with its creditors from the EU and the IMF knew that ‘Oxi’ is Greek for ‘No’. Six days earlier, Tsipras had announced a referendum on whether the government should accept the onerous conditions demanded by its creditors in return for a bailout that would allow it to continue paying off loans due that summer. Without the new loans, Greece would be forced to default and leave the Eurozone.
MATCH THE WORDS WITH THEIR MEANINGS 1. Coalition (koh-uh-lish-uhn) (n)
7. Skirmishes (skur-mish-ehs) (n)
14. Stand-off (stand-awf) (n)
2. Coalesced (koh-uh-lesd) (v)
8. Anarchists (an-er-kists) (n)
3. Irate (ahy-reyt) (adj)
9. Slinging (sling-ing) (participle)
15. Referendum (ref-uh-ren-duh m) (n)
4. Austerity (aw-ster-i-tee) (n)
10. Hammered (ham-erd) (adj)
5. Demonstrations (demuh n-strey-shuhns) (n)
11. Jubilant (joo-bih-luh nt) (adj)
6. Dissolved (dih-zolvd) (v)
13. Unison (yoo-nih-suh n) (n)
a. Angry, enraged, furious b. I nvolving a great deal of effort, trouble, or difficulty, including heavy obligations c. A deadlock between two equally matched opponents in a dispute or conflict d. S imultaneous performance or uttering of speech e. U sing a sling to throw stones or other objects
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f. C hange gradually from one state to another g. F ail to fulfil an obligation, especially to repay a loan h. A public meeting or march protesting against something or expressing views on a political issue
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12. Ecstatic (ek-stat-ik) (adj)
i. A general vote by the voters on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision j. D ifficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public expenditure k. Persons who believe in using violence to destroy all constituted forms and institutions of society and government, with no intention to establish any alternate system of order; persons who promote disorder or excite revolt against any established rule, law, or custom l. F eeling or expressing overwhelming happiness or joyful excitement
16. Onerous (oh-ner-uhs) (adj) 17. Bailout (beyl-out) (n) 18. Default (dih-fawlt) (v)
m. A brief conflict or encounter; an episode of irregular or unpremeditated fighting n. A n act of giving financial assistance to a failing business or economy to save it from collapse o. C hipped or prised or struck out small pieces from a larger piece p. A n alliance, often a temporary one, for combined action, especially of political parties forming a government q. Come together to form one mass or whole r. F eeling or expressing great joy, happiness and triumph
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STUDY HOUR
October 2018 only. April 2018
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
STUDY HOUR
A quiz to boost your General Knowledge 1. Renowned aerospace scientist Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy, who is scientific adviser to the defence minister, has been appointed as the new chairman of which of the following? a. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) b. Indian Space Research Organisation c. Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) d. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)
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2. India has signed an MoU with this country for the construction of a 5000-metric tonne temperature controlled warehouse in Dambulla. The purpose of the warehouse is to store fruits and vegetables in case of surplus production, and will help reduce postharvest losses. India’s overall commitment of funding to this country is a massive US$3 billion. Name the country. a. Bangladesh b. Bhutan c. Sri Lanka d. Nepal 3. This Indian airline successfully conducted India’s first-ever test flight using biojet fuel between Dehradun and Delhi. Derived from the jatropha crop, the biojet fuel, which has been developed by the Dehradun-based Council for Scientific and Industrial Research along with Indian
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
Institute of Petroleum, reduces carbon emission and increases fuel efficiency. Which of the following airlines conducted the flight? a. Vistara b. Indigo c. Jet Airways d. SpiceJet
4. The mandate of India’Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) is to improve safety and operational performance of a total of 198 dams located across 7 states, and the safety of downstream population and property in case of a dam failure. The cost estimate of its functioning is `3,466 crore, of which `2,628 crore is to be provided as financial support by which of the following global financial institutions? a. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) b. Asian Development Bank (ADB) c. World Bank d. International Monetary Fund (IMF) 5. Space debris, such as the debris of rockets, should be removed from the orbit of the Earth to avoid collision with which of the following? a. Comets b. Spacecraft and satellites c. Meteorites and asteroids d. Incoming transmission from other possible life forms
6. The world’s first blockchain bond “Bondi” was recently launched, and will be created, allocated, transferred and managed through blockchain’s distributed ledger technology. Bondi, an acronym for Blockchain Operated New Debt Instrument, will be issued solely by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Which of the following organisations launched Bondi? a. International Finance Corporation b. European Investment Bank c. International Monetary Fund (IMF) d. World Bank 7. India Post Payments Bank has tied up with which of the following insurance companies to provide life insurance solutions right till the doorstep, solutions that will eventually be available at all the 1.5 lakh+ post offices across the country? a. Bajaj Allianz b. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) c. New India Assurance d. Oriental Insurance Company 8. Gopal Bose, who passed away recently in England, was the first sportsman from Bengal to play England in 1974. With which sport was he associated? a. Football
STUDY HOUR
b. Cricket c. Tennis d. Hockey
9. India is sixth in the world in terms of solar power capacity, coming in after China, EU, US, Japan, Germany and Italy. Counting both large scale installations and rooftop solar projects, what is the total installed capacity of solar power generation in India? a. 22 GW b. 25 GW c. 19 GW d. 55 GW 10. The Ironman triathlon is considered to be one of the world’s most gruelling races, comprising three consecutive events: 3.8 km of swimming, 180 km of cycling and 42.2 km of running. The stipulated time within which a participant must finish the event to qualify as completing the race is 17 hours. Who among the following, who is also an IPS officer and a police commissioner, completed the France Triathlon in August 2018? a. Vikram Dogra b. Anju Khosla c. Ravinder Kumar Singhal d. Milind Soman 11. Bollywood celebrities Anushka Sharma and Varun Dhawan have been roped in as ambassadors for which among the following missions, for which they will be seen in “Sui Dhaaga – Made in India” a. Skill India b. Make in India c. Swachh Bharat d. Beti Bachao 12. Which of the following railway stations is the first in
India to be redeveloped into a truly world class railway station, along the lines of Germany’s Heidelberg railway station, the work for which is currently ongoing? a. Old Delhi Railway Station b. Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu c. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai d. Habibganj, Bhopal
13. Dolagobinda Pradhan, who passed away recently, was a veteran freedom fighter and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. He left school to join the Quit India Movement, and was imprisoned by the British for over three years. He was elected to his state’s Assembly twice, and was a minister of this state government from 1989 to 1990. Which state did Pradhan belong to? a. West Bengal b. Tripura c. Odisha d. Jharkhand 14. A recent study has found that the Ganga River is drying up during summer due to depletion of groundwater, and will eventually lead to disastrous consequences on the ecology as well as for the over 1 crore people living in the river basin. Which of the following conducted the study? a. Vishwabharati University b. IIT Kharagpur c. IIM Calcutta d. E n v i r o n m e n t a l Department, Government of West Bengal 15. For the first time in history, an Indian shuttler reached the badminton finals in the Asian Games, though ultimately losing to China’s Tai Tzu Ying.
Name the shuttler. a. Sameer Verma b. B Sumeeth Reddy c. Saina Nehwal d. P.V. Sindhu
16. Project Navlekha was recently launched to enable Indian vernacular news publishers to take their content online, without having any technical knowledge of web publishing. Currently only available in Hindi, the project is expected to help close to 1.35 lakh publishers get their offline content onto the Internet. Which of the following companies has launched Project Navlekha? a. Google b. Infosys c. Wipro d. Microsoft 17. This IAS officer was India’s first woman civil services officer post independence. She served in the Madras cadre, under the then chief minister, has worked with Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, and was responsible for building the country’s first computerised port Nhavasheva. Name her. a. Isha Basant Joshi b. Anna Rajam Malhotra c. Sowmya Raghavan d. Sarojini Naidu 18. India’s first exclusive and certified dog part is spread over 1.3 acres and was built at a cost of `1.1 crore. The park has training and exercise equipment, pools, lawns, separate enclosures and other facilities. In which city has this dog park been built? a. Mumbai b. Pune c. Rajkot d. Hyderabad
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Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
STUDY HOUR
19. It is generally accepted that the extinction of dinosaurs and other millions of species at the time was due to an asteroid impact. Which is the second most popular theory that disproves this using geological evidence and the fossil record? a. Mass volcanic eruption b. Freak genetic mutation c. Sudden reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles d. Outbreak of incurable virus
1. a
2. c
3. d
4. c 5. b
6. d
7. a
8. b
9. b 10. c
11. a
12. d
13. c
14.b 15. d
22. c
For more similar puzzles, visit: www.sudoku.com
7. m 2. q
13. d 8. k 3. a
14. c 9. e 4. j
15. i 10. o 5. h
WORD DOSE
1. p
21. a
18. d 19. a 20. c
6. f
16. a 17. b
12. l
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11. r
Advanc’edge MBA October 2018
GLOBESCAN
18. g
22. In the 2018 ranking compiled by World Bank and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, which of the following states came first in ease of doing business? a. Karnataka b. Gujarat c. Andhra Pradesh d. Telangana
ANSWERS
17. n
21. As a part of several reforms in the public sector banking segment, the Government of India has proposed that Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank be merged with which of the following banks to create India’s third largest lender? a. Bank of Baroda b. Allahabad Bank c. Saraswat Bank d. State Bank of India
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.
16. b
20. Which of the following state governments has banned, with immediate effect, the manufacture, sale and possession of e-cigarettes, along with the advisory that these cause adverse health effects due to exposure to metals like nickel and chromium? a. Gujarat b. Madhya Pradesh c. Tamil Nadu d. Telangana