A mba april2016

Advanc’edge MBA October 2012 3

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Aditya Prakash IengarEditor

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From the dawn of time, we have always strived to increase our knowledge, and then pass that knowledge down through the generations. In ancient times, when the written word hadn’t been invented, that knowledge was passed on verbally, through songs and stories. Then, Man discovered writing.

In recorded human history, the first ever written story is The Epic of Gilgamesh. It is a mythologised account of an historical figure, Gilgamesh, a ruler of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, believed to have ruled sometime between 2700-2500 BC.

That was when Mankind changed, even though no one might have known it at that time. That was the first chapter ever written — speaking both literally and metaphorically — for Man.

You are now writing that first chapter. In your life, everything before this was a story that was being spoken, but now, as you stand on the threshold of the coveted MBA degree, you are penning the first words that will build your future, and the future of those around you whom you affect. Welcome to the world of MBA.

The magazine you now hold in your hands is our attempt to make the beginning of your journey easier. You are now studying hard for the CAT, XAT, SNAP, NMAT, and other similar entrance exams. After that you will prepare for the various group discussions, written ability tests and personal interviews for the various institutes. This is the first step in your MBA journey, and arguably, the hardest one — getting into your dream business school. And I assure you that if you keep abreast of everything being published in Advanc’edge MBA throughout your preparation phase, you will certainly have an edge in your bid for a B-school admit.

This magazine has several sections that you should keep an eye on. The Corporate World section is perhaps the most important, in which we deal with affairs of the economy of India and the world, as well as the most important and relevant current events. We include some preparatory content for you as well in our Study Hour section, to improve your vocabulary, quantitative aptitude and GK repository. And of course, you will find regular interviews with deans and directors of the best business schools, top professionals in industry and students like yourselves who have gone on to study in the top MBA programmes in the country.

So take up the pen, and start writing the book of your journey to success. All the best!

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.

Payment to be made by crossed Demand Draft/Cheque drawn in favor of “IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd.” For subscriptions and related enquiries write to: Advanc’edge MBA, IMS Publications, A division of IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd., E Block, 6th Floor, NCL Bandra Premises, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai - 400 051.For more queries e-mail: [email protected]

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APRIL 2016CONTENTS

STUDY HOURTest Q&AsWord Dose: That ethereal journeyGlobescanSuDoKu

4346

4850

DIRECTOR SPEAKCHARANPREET SINGHAssociate Dean,Praxis Business School, Kolkata

21

MUST READSThe Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Millionaire Next Door

The Nightingale

20

CORPORATE INTERVIEWJAY MOTWANIMD, TSD Corp

13

COVER STORY MBA: Success beckons here

06

MBA BUZZHow useful is an

MBA degree?

09

COUNTDOWNTop 10 Bosses from fantastic

brands in India

16

CORPORATE WORLDUnion Budget 2016-17 A SnapshotBudget 2016-17: A comprehensive overviewWill the world enter recession in 2016?

3032

36

SNIPPETSNews in brief

40

STUDENT SPEAKSAUNAK BASU

IIM Calcutta

ABHISHEK HARLALKA, IIM Kozhikode

2426

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Advanc’edge MBA April 2016 5

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Advanc’edge MBA April 20166

MBA: Success beckons here

The Advanc’edge Team

Why do you want an MBA degree? Will it help you to propel your corporate career? All these questions, and much more will be answered in this article in brief – everything you need to know as you are about to take the plunge into the amazing world of the MBA.

W elcome to the marvellous world of businesses and corporates. It’s the place where careers are

made and futures built. A place, where innovation of every sort is woven into the very fundamental workings, and which utilises all sorts of skills, from the specific to the broad. This is a world where the great and the awesome hobnob with each other, where economies are sustained, policies of billion dollar enterprises made, synergies constructed across geographies. Welcome to the world of

the MBA!Now that you

have made up your mind and decided to pursue your

MBA degree, you will have certainly started formulating

strategies on how to go about it. To begin with,

the entrance tests are, of course, of primary importance. Cracking them will require

tremendous amount of diligence, discipline and dedication from your end. But before that, it’s time for you to have an idea about the world of management that you’re about to enter.

MBA – Why to go for a management degree?An MBA is not just a degree. It is proof that you have the perfect combination of modern business knowledge and the skills and drive to perform and succeed. It tells the world that you can overcome different kinds of challenges and surpass benchmarks where others cannot. In the modern business environment, standardisation of processes and constant innovation are the crucial factors that drive profit and growth, and it is this quest that has spawned complex, transnational organisations. Naturally, on as large a scale as this, people who can constantly monitor and mentor the progress of the organisation are needed, and that’s where the MBA degree comes in – creating managers and leaders who can handle and control this complex,

competitive environment.An MBA helps you gain

the requisite employability standards – of the highest quality – and that in turn leads to better pay, better prospects and a better career. During the

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course of your MBA programme, you will hone to perfection your communication, goal-setting and decision making skills. You will learn to analyse, plan and execute in innovative manners. You will understand the importance of teamwork, leadership and motivation, and how the people with whom you study will help you gain immense cross cultural exposure.

To cut a long story short, there are several reasons why getting an MBA will give you a leg up in your career.

Deciding on the right pathDuring the course of your MBA, you will be exposed to a wide spectrum of interests, ideas and specialisations. This will help you identify the career path that most interests you. The various clubs, team events and seminars that are a ubiquitous part of every MBA programme will also help you answer that very important question: “What should I do?” The MBA will force you to stray from

your comfort zones and explore, which will

in turn help you identify

your strengths and weaknesses and make you grow as a leader, manager and individual.

Value enhancement in your industryMBA programmes are quite varied in terms of what is taught and the skills you acquire. There is a plethora of MBA specialisations available, like finance, healthcare management, IT, accounting,

media-marketing etc. If you

want to stick on to your industry, but want to move up in the hierarchy and handle more challenging roles and responsibilities, such an MBA will be perfect for you.

Change your career for the betterYou might have been working in a particular industry for a while, but now feel the need to change lines. In doing so, you might find that your existing skill sets are not quite matching up. In such a scenario, both general and specialised MBA degrees will open many new doors for you, and give you additional leverage for a career change. In such a situation, you will also gain several skill sets that will help enormously once you make the

decision to shift industries.

Who are tailor-made for MBA?As far as the Indian context is concerned, there is no restriction. People with work experience and those without can do an MBA, in both public and private B-schools. Internationally, however, management institutes expect their students to have a few years of work experience after their graduation.

MBA programmes are quite varied. There is a plethora of MBA specialisations like finance, healthcare management, IT, accounting, marketing and others.

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MBA programmes are of different durations and kinds; in India, the most prevalent is the two-year full time programme. Of late, several one-year programmes are also gaining ground, designed specifically for those who have had more than five years of work experience.

What you’ll get from your MBAEven though you’re almost a year away from beginning your MBA programme, you should prepare yourself mentally for the experience. For starters, you’ll have to work very hard, probably more than you have till now. You will be constantly delving into new ideas and contemplations and information you didn’t even know existed.

Starting now, learn how to use the resources around you – from your peers, faculty, the libraries, Internet, everything. This will put you in the mode you’ll need to be in during your programme. You can network within your own college (for freshers) or your organisation (for experienced candidates). It’s also a good idea to network with local businesses and entrepreneurs.

As mentioned before, you will also find out about your strengths and weaknesses, even while you’re simply preparing and studying for the entrance tests. Learn from them, and try to identify from them what makes you tick and sets you apart from the crowd. This will help you not only during the GD-Essay-PI rounds, but also during your course. The MBA itself will also help you differentiate yourself, develop and utilise your talents. It will involve integrated leadership training that includes coursework, executive mentorship, online and peer assessments, and regular

coaching support. Your leadership competencies will improve in the areas of teamwork, influence, interpersonal communication, presentation, managing and conflict, for example.

Another huge advantage of the MBA programmes is the way they are taught – quite different from undergraduate studies. Here, you will come across experiential learning – where you will explore case studies, work on live projects, and even collaborate with companies, all as part of your studies. Nothing can trump this kind of learning.

Choosing the institute that’s right for youThis is another critical choice that you must make. Any management institute won’t be the right one for you; you must know which college you want to get into and why. There is no point in joining an institute which is known for its HR specialisation when you want to specialise in Finance – this is common sense, right?

So at this juncture, when you’ve just started preparing for

the institute entrance exams in earnest, it is good to have an idea of which B-school you would want to study in for the next two years. Your choice will shape your career and your future, so ensure that you make the right one. Evaluate yourself and your interests, your profile, the industry and companies you’d like to work for, the cost of the course. Also try and find out as much as you can about the institutes – their reputation, course structure, faculty, and placement records.

Deciding on the testsThere are several entrance tests for management institutes. By far the most famous – and the one you are probably aiming to crack – is the Common Admission Test (CAT). It is purported to be one of the most difficult entrance exams in the country, conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management once a year. Almost all B-schools across the country accept the CAT score, so aim for a high score in the test, and once you get it, you will find more options available to you than you can handle!

Then there are other institute-specific tests, like the XAT for XLRI, the NMAT for NMIMS, SNAP for the Symbiosis institutes, the MHCET for various institutes in Maharashtra, the entrance tests for TISS, IRMA, IIFT and others. Again, depending on the institute you’d like to get into, aim for those specific tests, but it’s a safe bet that getting a good CAT score opens the door to almost all institutes.

As you prepare to crack these tests, you still have a year on hand until your MBA programme begins. Study hard, make sure you know what you’re doing, and above all, have confidence in yourself. Your success begins now. A

An MBA helps you gain the requisite employability standards – of the highest quality – and that in turn leads to better pay, better prospects.

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How useful is an MBA degree?Many people are unsure about why to pursue a management degree. The decision to garner an MBA should be based on how it will develop an individual’s core strengths. Merely to gain bragging rights or make your resume stand out are not good enough reasons.

Dwijendra SrivastavaMentor

How useful is an MBA degree?This is one question that I have been asked thousands of times by thousands of students in the last 19 years of my career in education industry. And my answer today will be the same as it has always been to all these baffled students.

‘It depends’I know what you are wondering. Isn’t it a very subjective and vague answer? For that matter, it is not even an answer! But the fact of the matter is, that ’s how it is. It completely depends on the person. For example, if a person is handling a regular checklist oriented work where he is not expected to use a lot of reasoning but just follow the process. Or it might be that he wants to work in a field which requires very specific technical skills in a particular domain such as developing computer software, entertainment, treating diseases. It might even be that a person wants a relaxed ‘10 to 6’ work profile, then an MBA might not really be required. I would rather

say that an MBA programme will not really help him in his work and growth.The value attached to an MBA can never be questioned. The more important questions to be answered are – • How are you going to use this

value to realise your career goals?

Whatever you learn and experience in your MBA programme, you should be able to use it in the work profile you are handling. Also, you should be able to leverage the network or even the brand name (as an alumnus) you’ve created while doing your MBA.

• Are your career goals aligned with your skill sets and interest areas?

You might want to work in the field of finance and would want to become a successful finance professional, but if math or number crunching is something which does not interest you, it will be very difficult for you in the long run. So it’s essential for you to

introspect, find out your skill sets and interest areas, and look for a career path which is in sync with them.

• What are your reasons for doing an MBA? In other words – what do you expect to achieve after completing the programme?

‘I want to do an MBA because I want to be a team leader rather than being just a team member.’

This is not a good reason for getting into an MBA programme. There might be a lot of managerial roles where you might not even have a team. And if you land up in such a one, you would be very disappointed and demotivated.

Instead of this, a better reason would be, ‘I want to motivate people and coordinate with them to achieve overall business objectives.’

• And most important of all – Will you really be able to achieve those objectives after your MBA programme is over?

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This is very critical to your success and has more to do with the specific MBA programme and its curriculum. So if you want to be on the branding and creative side of marketing a product then the MBA programme you choose should have courses related to it. More importantly, the B-school should be able to provide you an exposure to these areas so that your learning can be well oriented towards your objectives.

Myths about MBAThough there is a variety of reasons, right or wrong, for doing an MBA, there are a few general reasons cited by some students, which I feel are not the right ones.• I will get an MBA degree. It’s

better than a plain graduate degree.

First of all, MBA is not merely a degree or a certificate. It’s a programme, which helps you develop certain skills and knowledge. The decision to pursue an MBA should be based on how it will develop your core strengths. Merely to gain bragging rights or make your resume stand out are not good enough reasons. While it does help to the extent when the minimum eligibility criteria for applying to a job is MBA, in the long run your MBA will help you only if your l e a r n i n g a n d experience during your p r o g r a m m e has been really superior and relevant; more so if you are able to utilise what you’ve learnt during the programme effectively.

• MBA is the most happening thing and it’s essential for success.

If all your friends are doing MBA it does not necessarily mean that you too have to get into it. This herd mentality in many students is detrimental to their growth and achieving their long term objectives. As mentioned earlier also, your reason for doing an MBA is ‘your reason’ – it should be relevant to your career goals and your long term objectives.

At this point I will also like to clarify that a good MBA programme provides you with certain skills and knowledge that are essential in handling and leading a business. However it is NOT integral to success or vice versa. There are many professionals, business heads, top executives, company heads and entrepreneurs across the world who have been very successful without even seeing the gates of a B-school.

Should I do an MBA?In 2010 I had a student, 50 years old, who wanted to get into an MBA programme. He was also an entrepreneur who provided consulting to real estate

companies and even provided complete project m a n a g e m e n t solutions to a few small start-up clients.

Now this is where the problem started. The new age companies have new working methods, systems, processes, technology and, above all, people with new thoughts.

The reason cited by this gentleman for pursuing an MBA programme was that he wanted to keep abreast with the changing times and learn the new age systems and methods in order to successfully implement the projects. I believe this to be a good enough reason for pursuing an MBA programme.

However, let me also clarify that it was essential for him to map his expectations with the pedagogy of the specific MBA programme that he was targeting.

Another student, who was working with TATA Power in the logistics department, wanted to move out of his mundane operations work and get into a more dynamic risk analysis profile in the finance domain, and apply numerical logic and decision making skills. There are two things that need to be analysed in this example –• The personality type and

expectations were not matching the work profile.

• The student realised what his skills are and therefore wanted to do something more dynamic to make better use of those skills.In order to change his career

track and handle the desired new work profile, it was essential for him to equip himself with the

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of that work, and hence, an MBA was essential.

In short, “I want to work in the field of finance” is not a good reason for doing an MBA since it is very general and broad. If you want to work in taxation or any similar field in the finance domain, then it’s better to be a Chartered Accountant, and an MBA might not really help much, but if you want to work in risk or portfolio management in the sphere of finance, then going for an MBA programme would make a lot of sense.

Hence my suggestion is, find out the right reasons for doing an MBA.

For more clarity, the process flow for taking this decision should be something like this –

What does an MBA programme give you in general?• A holistic perspective of the

business An MBA programme exposes

you to case studies of different kinds of corporations from around the world. You’ll learn valuable and practical business lessons from organisations you might otherwise never encounter. More importantly, you learn all aspects of the business like finance, marketing, HR, operations etc, which help you to look at overall organisational goals and how the decisions of one department will impact the other departments.

• Networking During an MBA programme,

you get to meet a lot of people and learn from them. You are surrounded by professors, faculty, batchmates and industry professionals. Internships, which are an integral required component of most MBA programmes, are a way to get a foot in the door of companies and industries you are interested in. And above all, you are able to connect with the alumni of the college. So go ahead and do a lot of networking.

• Career advancement and increased opportunities

In most cases, if the MBA programme is pursued after a brief work experience it helps in shifting from one industry to another and even from one functional area to another. Also, it has been observed that a good MBA programme helps to develop relevant skill sets, gain more reasoning abilities and confidence, and therefore helps you advance in your own career.

• Practical learning

Most of the good B-schools across the globe have a case study and internship-based pedagogy. This helps you understand real business issues and how to tackle them. One of the main reasons why MBAs are preferred is because of their ability to troubleshoot critical problems, an ability gained from the practical learning methodology during their programme.

• Learning from top executives and successful leaders

Imagine what you would learn if Nandan Nilekani, Indra Nooyi, Mukesh Ambani or other successful leaders like them come and share their experiences with you! One of the best things about these leaders and business executives is that they love to visit B-schools and give guest lectures. These talks are an amazing way to gain insights and advice from people who’ve already done what you want to do. It also takes you away from the mundane theoretical bookish knowledge and makes the learning more interactive and interesting. The value added from these sessions is massive.

• Team work In the real business world you

are expected to work with teams. Management, per se, is a lot about teamwork and collaboration. Most of the courses in MBA programmes include group projects, and you will have several opportunities to master the art of team building. Even if you’re not assigned group work, you may still seek out opportunities to collaborate with your peers. Knowing how to bring people together

Find out your skills, your likes & dislikes and yourstrengths & weaknesses

Map these with what is required to take up the career of your interest

and choice

Decide on a career goal and your long term objective

Now decide whether an MBA will be essential to

achieve this

If the answer to the above questionis yes, then decide about the

B-schools and the MBAprogrammes that will bemost suitable. Otherwise

decide about the next courseof action.

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will be extremely helpful in grooming you into a successful business leader.

• Liberal thinking Planning, strategising,

rationalising, alternative thinking and taking the long view are core to being a successful manager. A good MBA programme helps you develop business related reasoning and the ability to correlate things. It provides you greater breadth as well as depth in creating plans and analysing issues.

• Provides more credibility to your candidature

I am so very tempted to not include this point because it is highly misunderstood by many. So I will mention this as an outcome of your completing the MBA programme, but with a rider. Being an MBA certainly provides more strength to your resume and hence your candidature for a job, but it is not the only thing. Whatever you’ve gained from your MBA programme is far more critical; more importantly, whether you are able to demonstrate

that during your interview or not differentiates you from other candidates. Another very important point is once you’ve completed your MBA programme, the expectations that the interviewers and companies have from you are much higher than those from a non-MBA graduate.

Why companies prefer MBAsAccording to the B-schools that educate them and employers who hire them, MBA grads are sought after for their ability to think critically, deal with ambiguity and solve complex problems. In the broadest sense, the MBA degree represents a way of thinking and not just a set of financial skills and business knowledge. An MBA grad is typically expected to be a strategic thinker who takes an analytical approach.

For example, operations managers who have risen through the company’s ranks are experts at getting things done, but MBA grads from the outside can bring a fresh perspective, like figuring out how to improve key business processes, such as filling

catalogue orders.Companies primarily

prefer MBAs because they are -Professional trouble shootersMBAs are professionally trained in problem solving. They know how to frame problems, ask relevant questions, collect data and come up with multiple solutions. They have developed the ability to deal with ambiguity and introduce changes that help the company compete in the market.Trained critical thinkersAn MBA grad can evaluate a company by looking at

its financials. But that’s not why employers want them. They also ask if the numbers make sense in terms of other realities. The process of earning the degree, which relies heavily on the case-study approach and requires students to evaluate business dilemmas and formulate the best plan of action, teaches them to think critically.

To wrap up, I will go back and ask the same question again –

‘Does an MBA help?’After everything I have detailed above, I will answer the question in the same way as I did for the first time to a student in 1997 –

‘It depends’But now I know that it doesn’t sound subjective or vague to you anymore.All the best! A

The author is an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur and National Manager at IMS Learning Resources. He has mentored and guided over 15,000 students to find successful career paths.

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Keep your dream alive, even in the face of failure

...says, JAY MOTWANI, MD at TSD Corp, India’s first digital identity management startup handling the likes of M.S. Dhoni, V. Sehwag and the Ministry of External Affairs. He shares

with Alolika Banerjee what it takes to have a vision and become an entrepreneur.

Tell us about you and your business enterprise. Our company TSD Corp is a leader in individual digital identity management in the country. We help clients establish their brands on various social media platforms and enable them to interact directly with customers. TSD Corp helps provide social media visibility to brands with professional social media management teams that comprise experts in the fields of social media managing, creative writing,

web designing, marketing and more.

We ensure an active, engaged and strong digital presence. With over 100 million people,

we have a very strong online community in cricket, spo-rts, Bollywood and music.

Our clientele include the Ministry of External

Affairs, Indian Diplomacy, Air India, Delhi Daredevils,

Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals,

Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, M.S. Dhoni, among others.

With India moving towards a digital space along with the entire world, it is a crucial time for individuals and companies to make their presence felt in

the digital world.

How did you get the idea for the business?Initially, digital media presence was limited and there was nothing called social media. Orkut was probably the only medium to connect with people on a social platform. The world wasn’t mobile friendly. Mobile handsets were extremely expensive and call rates were exorbitant. I still remember using mobile phones back when a call was charged `16 per minute! Even incoming calls were chargeable. No one could have fathomed that digial media would be taking over the consciousness of people in the way it has. Back then, my company conceptualised this idea of going digital and we were the first few who dealt with social media.

We connected with celebrities, spoke to a few of them who were doing pretty well at that time in the world of sports, and slowly kickstarted our venture.

Many of your clients are from the world of cricket. Is it a conscious decision on your part to choose clients from cricket?I had worked with Microsoft for 10 years. I handled their telecommunication vertical and I had entertainment outsource as a part of that assignment. At that point in time I worked quite closely with Board of Control for Cricket in India. It was back then that I connected with people from the cricketing world.

In a country of a billion people, it’s the ABCD that sells in India – Astrology, Bollywood, Cricket and Devotional. But we took the conscious decision of not going with astrology and devotional, as these are the topics that generate much controversy. Bollywood is too vast. Every Friday there is one new release or the other. Multiple new producers, directors, actors, newcomers make this field too vast. Moreover, there is no single body to manage the entire film world.

Cricket, for that matter, is far more organised. So

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we thought it would be better to focus on cricket. I think one of the best ways to get into the hearts of Indians is through the game of cricket. When one is doing a business, it is important to choose an area in which you have sufficient knowledge and expertise. This is why we chose cricket.

When we started off, we were the only company in the country offering such services to a niche segment. And that was a conscious decision on our part. We wanted to be a specialist in one thing first and then explore other areas.

These days, people with a few years of experience start companies, but it took you 20 years. Why did you take so much time?When I started my career, I got to work with several prestigious companies. The last company, which I quit to start TSD Corp, was Microsoft, which was considered the best in the world in IT domain at that point in time.

So, while I was working in IT, I felt I was doing something extremely meaningful that could make a difference to the world. My learning curve was immense in my tenure of 9 years at Microsoft. The company’s vision was to bring a computer to every home.

I believe my involvement with such prestigious companies helped me develop a vision for the future, an ideology for my own company, TSD Corp, which I started later. And perhaps this explains why I took so long to finally take the plunge.

I come from a tech background and my dream had always been to connect with a billion people in India. One of the reasons to start my own venture was to make that connect happen. And connecting with a billion people could only happen with the use of technology. I started late since I was busy learning the nuances of technology and business while I was working in other companies. Now that I have sufficient knowledge and started my own venture, it’s time for me to execute that work.

Today almost everybody is in a hurry to start their own company. But who knows, maybe among a hundred, only a handful make a mark.

Start-ups are mushrooming these days. While this is good for the economy, how sustainable do you think they are? The start-up culture is brilliant for our economy. I love the ecosystem now. Start-ups are the way to go if India needs to grow and prosper. I am hopeful that this will spell success for India’s economy for years to come. This start-up culture is also allowing youngsters to come to the forefront and take charge.

How important do you think it is these days to have social visibility? Social visibility is extremely crucial, especially these days. It helps you remain in the limelight even when you are not doing exceptionally well in your career. Everyone has a good day and a bad day. When you are at a high point in your career, you have many friends and well-wishers around you. But it’s during the low phases that you understand the importance of social visibility. That’s when the cameras stop following and you are far away from the limelight.

During those moments, because of your social strengths, you can reach out to the people who are your fans. And that’s not only true for celebs, for everyone as well. Being socially connected is important. It gives a sense of belonging and happiness, which goes a long way with the person.

Tell us a memorable incident with a famous personality, since you must know such celebrities quite closely. I do remember our Indian cricket team captain M.S. Dhoni had disclosed for the first time that he had been a ticket collector. Later, the media came to know about it and there was a major hype following the revelation. I remember how humbled we had been at TSD Corp, when he told us about the incident. It was indeed very memorable for us back then.

What do you think is unique about your

Just a day at work — Jay Motwani giving a presentation to his team

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business that helps you to fetch and retain clients?I feel we started with this line of business quite some time back when the digital boom was just arriving in India. So, naturally, we have a stronghold here. That way we have an edge over others, and that I believe is our USP. We understand how this form of business functions much better than others who are just starting off now. Along with experience, we have a great tech team, so when it comes to technology, we are way ahead of others.

And I feel we have proved our mettle since we have the support of the masses. We handle the circles of cricket, Bollywood, music and politics. We already have the credentials of connecting millions of people. We are the most experienced team in the country probably who offer the kind of services that we do.

How do you select your clients?It is very important for us to identify the right client for our company. We get in touch with them, interview them, share with them our vision, and finally seeing whether our vision matches with the one they envision for themselves. If everything matches, then we finally form the association. Currently, we are handling the profiles of 86 celebrities.

While hiring, what do you mostly look for in candidates? We have certain strict policies when it comes to hiring. We usually have five rounds of

interviews taken by five interviewers with different experiences and

backgrounds. We try and see if the person knows the basics of the job. Willingness to put in hard work is also very important. And in these five rounds, even if one interviewer has a negative perception about a candidate, we usually drop the person.

Usually, we hire anybody who has a vision, who can demonstrate that they are capable of doing something unique with us. Experience is always essential, the right attitude matters in the long run.

How do you think a management degree equips a person to handle the responsibilities of an entrepreneur? There are people who say a management degree is not mandatory. However, I feel there is certainly a need for a management degree. Two years of management education with like-minded people helps you come up with something extraordinary and unique.

I myself graduated from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, and those two years in the B-school had been very special indeed. I can say that was the best time of my life. The bond I established with certain special people in the two years has been associations for a lifetime. Those two years give you time to think and come up with something extraordinary, and that is crucial in becoming an entrepreneur later in life .

If you could have welcomed some advice or piece of knowledge when you started out, what would that be? When a you do something unique in life, pitfalls and failures are part of the journey. Success is not always the end result of an endeavour. However, that should not prevent a person from following his or her passion.

When I just started off, I took decisions I now regret. I wish I had better powers of discretion and decided better on certain matters. At this point in time, I wish I had taken better decisions that would have been more useful for my work.

If you were to give a piece of advice to someone who wants to be an entrepreneur, what would it be? If you are trying to be an entrepreneur you should have a strong and concrete reason to become one. You must have a vision to be someone and create something unique. While pursuing the goals, you need to take certain risks and not be disheartened when you fail.

When you start something it is not necessary that you will win every time. But, even if you fail, pick it up from there. Don’t be disheartened. A

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An MBA degree is often considered the ticket to achieve the unachievable. It ensures stability in the corporate prole, a dream job and making possible everything we thought impossible earlier. Here are some faces of this corporate domain, personalities who have accomplished amazing feats, conquered the unattainable, and hence, time and again inspired us to strive for success in order to bring out the best in us.

Here, we list 10 corporate bosses from the most cherished brands in India.

Adi Godrej - The Godrej Group

Chairman of the Godrej Group, Adi Burjorji Godrej is the face of the brand, which is a dream company for many. Listed as the 405th richest person in the world with a net worth of US$4.0 billion, under Godrej’s leadership, the group is also involved in many philanthropic activities. Suave and enterprising with natural leadership skills, Adi Godrej is a role model for millions.

Anil Manibhai Naik - Larsen & Toubro Limited

A perfect example of the rags to riches story, Anil Manibhai Naik hailed from a Gujarat village and had often been ridiculed when he rst came to Mumbai for lacking English prociency. But there is no stopping an ambitious person who is diligent and focussed. He soon rose up the corporate ladder and is currently the Group Executive Chairman of Larsen & Toubro Limited. He had been awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s 3rd highest civilian award, on January 26, 2009.

Shikha Sharma - Axis Bank

An IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, Shikha Sharma, the MD & CEO of Axis Bank, has transformed the company into an organisation with strengths across a wide range of corporate and retail banking products. At Axis Bank, she has focused on strengthening its retail lending franchise, enlarged its investment banking and advisory capabilities and developed a comprehensive portfolio of products in the payments space. An able leader who has nullied all gender stereotypes, Shikha Sharma evokes respect from all quarters.

Mukesh Ambani - Reliance Industries

The 36th richest man in the world, according to the latest Forbes magazine’s list, Mukesh Ambani has taken Reliance Industries to an outstanding high with his sheer hard work, business acumen, grit and determination. Now India’s second most valuable company when it comes to market shares, RIL grew from being a small enterprise under Mukesh Ambani’s father Dhirubhai Ambani to become an indomitable business domain.

Azim Premji - Wipro Limited

Often referred to as the Czar of the Indian IT industry, Azim Hashim Premji, who took over the company at 21, was instrumental in guiding Wipro through four decades of diversication and growth to nally emerge as one of the global leaders in the software industry. A man who has been a source of motivation to millions, Azim Premji has been recognised as one of the greatest entrepreneurs responsible for Wipro emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing companies.

Top 10

Bosses from fantastic brands in India

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An MBA degree is often considered the ticket to achieve the unachievable. It ensures stability in the corporate prole, a dream job and making possible everything we thought impossible earlier. Here are some faces of this corporate domain, personalities who have accomplished amazing feats, conquered the unattainable, and hence, time and again inspired us to strive for success in order to bring out the best in us.

Here, we list 10 corporate bosses from the most cherished brands in India.

Adi Godrej - The Godrej Group

Chairman of the Godrej Group, Adi Burjorji Godrej is the face of the brand, which is a dream company for many. Listed as the 405th richest person in the world with a net worth of US$4.0 billion, under Godrej’s leadership, the group is also involved in many philanthropic activities. Suave and enterprising with natural leadership skills, Adi Godrej is a role model for millions.

Anil Manibhai Naik - Larsen & Toubro Limited

A perfect example of the rags to riches story, Anil Manibhai Naik hailed from a Gujarat village and had often been ridiculed when he rst came to Mumbai for lacking English prociency. But there is no stopping an ambitious person who is diligent and focussed. He soon rose up the corporate ladder and is currently the Group Executive Chairman of Larsen & Toubro Limited. He had been awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s 3rd highest civilian award, on January 26, 2009.

Shikha Sharma - Axis Bank

An IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, Shikha Sharma, the MD & CEO of Axis Bank, has transformed the company into an organisation with strengths across a wide range of corporate and retail banking products. At Axis Bank, she has focused on strengthening its retail lending franchise, enlarged its investment banking and advisory capabilities and developed a comprehensive portfolio of products in the payments space. An able leader who has nullied all gender stereotypes, Shikha Sharma evokes respect from all quarters.

Mukesh Ambani - Reliance Industries

The 36th richest man in the world, according to the latest Forbes magazine’s list, Mukesh Ambani has taken Reliance Industries to an outstanding high with his sheer hard work, business acumen, grit and determination. Now India’s second most valuable company when it comes to market shares, RIL grew from being a small enterprise under Mukesh Ambani’s father Dhirubhai Ambani to become an indomitable business domain.

Azim Premji - Wipro Limited

Often referred to as the Czar of the Indian IT industry, Azim Hashim Premji, who took over the company at 21, was instrumental in guiding Wipro through four decades of diversication and growth to nally emerge as one of the global leaders in the software industry. A man who has been a source of motivation to millions, Azim Premji has been recognised as one of the greatest entrepreneurs responsible for Wipro emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing companies.

Top 10

Bosses from fantastic brands in India

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Chanda Kochhar - ICICI Bank

The MD and CEO of ICICI Bank, India’s largest private bank, Chanda Kochhar is the rare story of how a woman fought her way to reach the pinnacle of success in her professional sphere through uncom-promising determination, brilliance and commitment towards her work and relentless energy. A woman idolised by millions, Chanda Kochhar is one of the most important faces of modern corporate India.

Sunil Duggal - Dabur India

An alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Sunil Duggal is the perfect example of how sheer hard work and dedication towards the job at hand can chalk out a brilliant career path for a person. The current CEO of Dabur, India’s largest Ayurvedic medicine manufacturer, Duggal is an inspiration to people who believe in achieving the unachievable.

Anand Mahindra - Mahindra Group

A group that has its presence in multiple sectors from agribusiness to aerospace, Mahindra Group is considered to be one of the most reputed Indian industrial houses, with market leadership in many business verticals and led by none other than Anand Mahindra. Named one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune magazine, Anand Mahindra is an inspiration to millions for the manner in which he steered his company towards success.

Kumar Mangalam Birla - Aditya Birla Group

Kumar Mangalam Birla took over the reins of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995 at the age of 28 after his father’s sudden demise, with a turnover of only $US2 billion and limited overseas operations. Under his leadership, the group increased its turnover to $40 billion and expanded operations to more than 40 countries, making the company India’s third largest business group. Kumar Mangalam Birla is an inspiration to those who believe dreams can be realised, no matter how difcult are the hurdles ahead.

Arundhati Bhattacharya - State Bank of India

Listed as the 30th most powerful woman in the world by the Forbes magazine, Arundhati Bhattacharya is the perfect example of how a woman born in humble environs can rise up the corporate ladder through sheer hard work and determination. From a probationary ofcer, she became the rst woman to lead an India-based Fortune 500 company; Bhattacharya is exemplary when it comes to inspiring those who want to make it big in the professional world.

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Chanda Kochhar - ICICI Bank

The MD and CEO of ICICI Bank, India’s largest private bank, Chanda Kochhar is the rare story of how a woman fought her way to reach the pinnacle of success in her professional sphere through uncom-promising determination, brilliance and commitment towards her work and relentless energy. A woman idolised by millions, Chanda Kochhar is one of the most important faces of modern corporate India.

Sunil Duggal - Dabur India

An alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Sunil Duggal is the perfect example of how sheer hard work and dedication towards the job at hand can chalk out a brilliant career path for a person. The current CEO of Dabur, India’s largest Ayurvedic medicine manufacturer, Duggal is an inspiration to people who believe in achieving the unachievable.

Anand Mahindra - Mahindra Group

A group that has its presence in multiple sectors from agribusiness to aerospace, Mahindra Group is considered to be one of the most reputed Indian industrial houses, with market leadership in many business verticals and led by none other than Anand Mahindra. Named one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune magazine, Anand Mahindra is an inspiration to millions for the manner in which he steered his company towards success.

Kumar Mangalam Birla - Aditya Birla Group

Kumar Mangalam Birla took over the reins of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995 at the age of 28 after his father’s sudden demise, with a turnover of only $US2 billion and limited overseas operations. Under his leadership, the group increased its turnover to $40 billion and expanded operations to more than 40 countries, making the company India’s third largest business group. Kumar Mangalam Birla is an inspiration to those who believe dreams can be realised, no matter how difcult are the hurdles ahead.

Arundhati Bhattacharya - State Bank of India

Listed as the 30th most powerful woman in the world by the Forbes magazine, Arundhati Bhattacharya is the perfect example of how a woman born in humble environs can rise up the corporate ladder through sheer hard work and determination. From a probationary ofcer, she became the rst woman to lead an India-based Fortune 500 company; Bhattacharya is exemplary when it comes to inspiring those who want to make it big in the professional world.

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Martin Luther King Jr’s scholar Clayborne Carson has constructed a remarkable first-

person account of Dr. King’s amazing life in this extraordinary book, The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Beginning with his boyhood, the book depicts King’s education as a minister, his ascendancy as a leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, his pivotal role in the civil rights demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and his complex relationship with the Kennedy brothers, LBJ, Malcolm X, and numerous other leading

figures of the day. Using Stanford University’s voluminous collection of archival material, including previously unpublished writings, interviews, recordings, and correspondences,

Carson has come up with in this brilliant portrayal, which is a true depiction of the life of struggle of this giant of a man.

This is one book, which will captivate its readers with its breathtaking journey from

the very first page. The beauty of the writing along with an unforgettable storyline makes this book an epic, which is certainly one of a kind.

With the backdrop of World War II, this book shows how the hardships of war are not merely endured by the men folk. An unspoken story of women’s war, The Nightingale tells the story of mothers, wives, daughters and sisters during the darkest part of their lives. So many of them

didn’t just wait for their men to return but took many grave risks to save as many other lives as they could.

A heartbreakingly beautiful novel, The Nightingale celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women in moments of crisis. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

The Millionaire Next Door is built on years of research, on a body of statistics

and case studies. It doesn’t make hollow promises. Instead, it profiles people who have already become millionaires.

Many people who earn high incomes are not rich, the authors warn. Most people with high incomes fail to accumulate any lasting wealth. They live hyper consumer lifestyles, spending their money as fast as

they earn it. In order to accumulate wealth, and become rich, one must not only earn a lot, but also develop frugal habits. Most books focus on only one side of the wealth equation: spending less or earning more. It’s refreshing to read this

aspirational book that makes it clear that both are required to succeed. An interesting read that delves deep into the real life stories of billionaires.

Since you’re planning on doing your MBA, you need to be well read, and not just on current affairs. In this section, we offer you some choices of books that will broaden your perspective, and you will

find that you will never be at a loss in a discussion!

The Millionaire Next Door

Author – Thomas J. Stanley

and William D. Danko

Publisher – Simon & Schuster

Audio Books

Genre – : Non-fiction

Price – ` 1,301

The Nightingale

Author – Kristin Hannah

Publisher – Pan Macmilan

Genre – Fiction

Price – ` 272

The Autobiography of Martin

Luther King, Jr.

Author – Martin Luther King Jr

Publisher – Hachette Book

Group USA Genre – Autobiography

Price – ` 969

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Data will drive the business world This is what CHARANPREET SINGH, Associate Dean at Praxis Business School, Kolkata, feels strongly. In an interview with Advanc’edge MBA, he explains how the Praxis programmes stay relevant in today’s fast-changing world.

Business is said to be going through the most sweeping changes ever. Do you agree? Absolutely. The last time we experienced a similar magnitude of change was perhaps the industrial revolution. But the speed of change today is much higher than ever before. From the way we manufacture to the way we sell and buy to the way we connect with each other – everything is experiencing a metamorphosis. And technology is at the root of this change driving disruptive innovation in business models. The largest private taxi operator in the world, Uber, doesn’t own a single taxi; the world’s most popular media owner, Facebook, creates no content. Who knows what awaits us next!

How does business education address this change?Business education needs to help move its students from employment to employability. The celebrated “placement” paradigm needs to shift from just getting the student a job to equipping the student to remain adaptable and relevant in a rapidly changing environment. For a start, business schools have to effect changes at two levels – in their curriculum design and their pedagogy – i.e., both in the content the institution delivers, and how it delivers that content. For example, companies are rapidly transforming themselves into math houses to thrive in this data and algorithm driven world. Business schools need to recognise that and prepare managers who are equipped to work in this “math house”. Secondly, B-school professors have to read, learn and reinvent themselves all the time – you can’t be serving yesterday’s meal to tomorrow’s athlete.

Is Praxis doing anything different to create relevant managers for today’s industry requirements?Praxis acknowledges the need to frequently revisit its assessment of what comprises effective business education. Our basic assumption is that what worked really well yesterday may not work today and will certainly not work tomorrow. So we have to constantly innovate to remain relevant.

We have introduced two fundamental components. Firstly, we pioneered the formal teaching of Business Analytics in 2011, in recognition of the fact that data and related analyses will play an increasingly important role in a management professional’s career; plus the world will witness a sustained serious shortage of well trained analytics professionals. Secondly, we offer domain-specific options for our students in addition to the regular functional specialisations like marketing, finance, etc. The domains we have chosen (and this may change over time) are analytics, e-commerce, market insights and consumer behaviour, and banking, investments and project finance. We believe that our students should have the option to study, say, marketing or supply chain as applied to an e-commerce context. This enables the student to understand the e-commerce industry and its specific dynamics – and readies them for not only marketing roles, for instance, but also marketing in the context of an e-commerce enterprise which has some very different imperatives.

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Academia -industry partnerships are critical to keeping the curriculum relevant. How does Praxis create that connect? Praxis was co-founded by people from the industry – I was one of them. Each of us had close to two decades of industry experience and we continue to have a strong association with the industry. Our Dean’s Chair is endowed by ICICI Bank and we have ICICI Bank and PwC as our knowledge support associates for our Business Analytics programme. These organisations participate in curriculum design and delivery. We are partnering with industry for each of our four domains as well. These strong linkages with the industry ensure a deeper understanding of current practices and skill requirements – and a good idea of future trends. Thus academia-industry partnership should extend well beyond the occasional guest lecture or seminar, which Praxis has been endeavouring to ensure, with good success.

Praxis’s Business Analytics programme is one of the best in India. What differentiates it from other programmes? We are ranked in the top 2-4 programmes in Analytics by the best analytics communities. We enable a transition into a career in Analytics – an expressed need for a number of aspirants. We differentiate ourselves in three clear ways:a. Curriculum and pedagogy: We offer the most

comprehensive coverage of the Analytics components (in a full-time, face-to-face mode) – statistics, technology and business, along with the techniques and tools essential to a successful entry into the domain. The content gets revised by as much as 30% each time we teach it – as new concepts and tools and techniques gain visibility. The pedagogy includes a mix of lectures, case-studies and labs – you learn by listening, participating and doing. The 500+ hours of classroom delivery is in the hands of an excellent faculty team that blends academic pedigree with significant industry experience.

b. Industry association: We started the Analytics programme as a response to a specific request from our industry associates. About 35% of the classroom training is delivered by practitioners from the industry – they bring real world experiences to the class. Finally, the Praxis faculty has been selected to train executives from firms like Infosys, ICICI Bank, TCG, Abzooba, etc.

c. Placements: The Praxis Placement Program works with the students and industry, and year on year we have helped transition our students into the coveted domain of Analytics. We have added new recruiters every year while leveraging a high level of repeat purchase – placing more than 90% of the batch, year after year.

Do you believe that your pedagogy-related initiatives will have an impact on your industry placements?These initiatives are already having a significant impact. Placements are about two parameters – organisation and

profile (salary is a function of these two). A contemporary curriculum and a strong faculty team ensure that our students get selected in new economy companies poised for rapid growth, and students joining them today can ride the growth curve. The second impact of a strong pedagogy is the enhanced ability of the students to perform in their respective jobs – this also ensures that the organisation comes back to us the following year for recruitment. We keep a close watch on the quality of profiles and the mix of organisations visiting campus – and the Praxis Placement Program has consistently delivered on these two counts.

What advice would you give to an MBA aspirant?Look at skilling yourself in areas that are at the intersection of your interests, your capabilities and market demand. Embrace the entrepreneurial spirit. Read voraciously, and get proficient with data – the business world is going to become progressively data-driven. Develop empathy, humaneness and a sense of commitment to your work. And, of course, choose your business school with care! A

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Life as a ‘Jokar’ is not for the faint-hearted

says Saunak Basu, student at IIM Calcutta, batch of 2017. He feels in a B-school it’s good to have motivation and clear perception about career goals,

rather than continue with the habit of joining the herd.

When I pen down my life at IIM Calcutta (we lovingly call it JOKA), I am a bit conscious not to make it too personal and

keep it as objective as possible. But then whatever might be an individual’s perception, life at Joka is always governed by one word: AWESOMENESS!

IIM Calcutta’s cutting-edge information technology environment offers the latest classroom instructional technology, computing, video conferencing, and integrated collaboration services. Along with the rigours of academics, we always have a lot happening at our campus. In every way, our physical and virtual campus fosters a community of collaboration, respect, stewardship, and responsibility. It is also a place where lifelong relationships are created, perhaps the most lasting legacy of the IIM-C experience.

Multi-tasking is the other name of survivalHowever, to begin with, I believe this place is not for the faint-hearted. While most people are moved by the flashy news of superlative placements and bright career prospects, the stories of hard toil and sacrifices usually go unnoticed. So, firstly you need to have that motivation and clear perception about your career goals, rather than continue with the habit of joining and following the herd. Right from the first week, we were accustomed to the multi-tasking challenges of a B-school life, the longer duration of activities stretching into the nights, less sleep and a wide array of co-curricular activities without concentrating just on academics. The involvement of the senior students from the 2nd year is truly a revelation at the campus. Each of them works hard, mentors us, guides us for group discussions and spends sleepless nights during the placement weeks, as if it is their future and not ours which depends on this process. Their support along with the bonding with peers gives a sense of being part of a family at Joka. It is like a home away from home.

Coolest clubs on campusAs you get settled in campus life, you get beatified in the sacred religion of Joka tribes – the most treasured clubs on campus. Overall we have more than 25 clubs and special interest groups that organise events all around the year. We get the chance to join swimming clubs, engage in boating, take part in quizzes and events organised almost every weekend.

Bonding with the best buddiesWe at IIIM-C don’t believe in stereotyping our course with a particular specialisation and the students have the freedom to choose any elective as per their liking

during the second year. Many of the courses are structured in such a way as to facilitate group

projects. This is another way to learn from

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your fellow students and to work in groups. You also start to trust your teammates to deliver. Some of the friends you make in campus are going to remain your best buddies for life.

Giving wings to entrepreneurial dreamsFor those of us with entrepreneurial aspirations, IIM Calcutta has an ‘Incubation Park’ (which recently hosted “Egiye Bangla” with the Government of West Bengal) to give people with startup dreams wings to fly. IIM Calcutta also has one of the most elaborate student exchange programmes in the country, where each year around 140 students get the chance to taste the life of a global MBA through CEMS and STEP association with the most renowned universities across the globe.

A day in the life of a JokarOne great thing about the life at campus is that nothing is repetitive here. Each day at Joka is a new experience, different from the previous one. Our day starts around 8am in the morning and continues till 4am the next day. In the meantime, we attend classes, work on group projects and live projects, complete assignments, case study competitions, find out time to play basketball or futsal, even a few minutes to cheer our favourite team in EPL, chat a bit on social media and prepare for the impending quizzes and class tests the next day.

Hobnobbing with the celebsAlong with special movie screenings, we even get the chance to interact with celebrities. I had the chance to interact with former diplomat and

Indian politician Sashi Tharoor, the CEO of Vodafone India Sunil Mittal, the Country Director of World Bank Onno Ruhl, noted actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, composer, singer Amit Trivedi and others.

Party animalsParties are an integral part of life of every Jokar. We just need an excuse to party harder. Right from the fresher’s party within two weeks of joining, the badla party, hostel party, exchange students party, Diwali party, Christmas party, the Holi party to the farewell party, we are all thorough party animals. Adding to it our grandest Cultural

Fest ‘Carpe Diem’, business conclave ‘Intaglio’, our very own ‘Joka Futsal League’ and the ‘IIM Calcutta Premier League’ to events like TEDx Talks and E-Cell weeks, each one of us wished that the days had 30 hours instead of the regular 24, so that we could participate in more events and make the most out of the zillions of opportunities that would help us grow into better individuals.

I sincerely believe that the key ingredient that makes the environment in Joka beneficial for me is my constant appetite for self-improvement. Factors like good professors, smart fellow students and wide exposure certainly help.

Finally, to conclude, I would like to mention some of my learnings from the past 10 months. One of my professors once told me, “The real busy person usually finds time for each of his activities and will never feel busy, because he knows how to manage time in the most efficient manner.”

I guess the same goes for the life of every student at Joka. It’s up to you how much you wish to explore in these two crucial years. A

Nothing is repetitive here at campus. Each day at Joka is a new experience, different from the previous one.

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While in a B-school, it’s important to have a clear objective in your mind from the very beginning, says Abhishek Harlalka, student of IIM Kozhikode, batch of 2017. Learn the dynamics of being a manager, explore all the available options and try to maximise the fun and learning in the two years, he adds.

MBA is an amazing journeywith a lotof twistsand turns

L ife at a B-school starts with a lot of excitement. For some it is just an extended college life after graduation, for others

it is a break from the regular job life and for the rest it is a dire need to boost their lagging professional life. But for most of them, it is the last time in their life that they would be a part of the academic institution.

Why I took up MBAIt was the same for me. Bored with a stagnant professional life, with no apparent opportunities to move up the corporate ladder, the only feasible option was the three letter word ‘MBA’. After the taxing CAT examination and the gruesome interview process, I landed at God’s own campus, an institute named IIM-Kozhikode.

The idea of a B-school brings in a lot of imaginative pictures – some very intelligent and clever individuals dressed smartly for presentations, people who are perpetually alert and thoughtful, on their toes, with the clock ticking by. One puts his best foot forward with dreams of studying and becoming a topper, reading lots of books, participating in B-school fests, along with enjoying the last two years of academic life with a good bunch of friends and finally securing a good job in an MNC with a short, followed by medium and long term plans.

The B-school journey beginsThe journey begins with a lot of questions which

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arise in the coming two years. In everyone’s life, as in mine, MBA is a roller coaster journey with plenty of troughs and peaks.

The term begins with an orientation and a batch photo which formally welcomed us into the system of IIM-K. In the initial phases, the excitement comes with an adrenaline rush when we see a place designated for ourselves in the classroom. The fun activities begin with section wars and a lot of events from the first week itself.

Clubs rule the cultureIIM-K lives up to the name of a ‘party campus’. Students are welcomed by a batch party in the first term. Being a student driven campus, it is governed by many committees and clubs, which help to bring out many unknown traits of the students that they are quite unaware of themselves.

Like everyone else, I too wanted to be a part of several committees and clubs which would give me a taste of the world of management. The initial term had a lot to offer with committee interviews, preparation of CVs, regular classes and the most important facet of MBA, networking. From being an early morning bird throughout my life, I needed to switch to being the late night owl. It was challenging as I needed to switch my time table upside down!

How time flies byThe first term flew by with a busy schedule and in no time we had to sit for our next interview to finalise our summer internship. A B-school is the perfect platform to get an idea about whom you stand among the brightest minds of the country. This is a shortcut to success as one can get in touch with corporate leaders. This one year brings numerous openings for every individual but the difference is in the way one prioritises one’s needs.

A better me in one yearIf I look back at this one year, I can see how I have changed

as an individual over this period. There is tremendous improvement in personality development along with a significant difference in the way I present myself to others. The numerous activities, debates, plays, extempore, ensure that all students become smarter and more confident in this period of two years of their management studies. There is ample opportunity for each one of us to work on our shortcomings through learning inside the classrooms as well as the learning that we acquire outside, through interactions with our peers, seniors, exchange

programmes and other activities within the IIM-K campus. It is a place where we enrich ourselves by interacting with excellent teachers, who are some of the finest minds, from different domains and geographic locations, all across the country.

Campus in the lap of natureUndoubtedly one of the best campuses in the country, the late night assignments and projects in college often ended with views of outstanding scenic beauty of sunrise at dawn, in the southernmost part of India. Naturally, our tiredness and fatigue vanish when we are in the lap of nature, feasting on the beauty of what the environment offers.

For the students who will be joining our institute this year, it is important to have a clear objective in mind from the very beginning, learn the dynamics of being a manager, explore all the available options and try to maximise the fun and learning in the two years. It is an opportunity of a lifetime, so try to make it the most memorable one of your life. A

A B-school is the perfect platform to get an idea about whom you stand among the brightest minds of the country.

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INDIAN EDUCATION SOCIETY’SMANAGEMENT COLLEGE AND RESEARCH CENTRE

BATCH PROFILE (2014-16 flagship programme)Total no. of students 120Percentage of female students 61Engineering 16Commerce 42Science 12Others BBA/BMS/BMM = 50

FINAL PLACEMENTS (flagship programme) 2013-15Total no. of students 118Students participating in placement process 118

No. of companies 219No. of offers 92Highest domestic salary offered `6.8 lakhHighest international salary offered `12 lakhMedian domestic salary `4.5 lakh

EXPENSES & ACCOMMODATIONTotal Fees (1st year) `3,00,000/- + `5,000/-

(Refundable Deposit)

Total Fees (2nd year) `3,00,000/- + `500/- (Alumni membership chrges)

Library Fee, Computer Deposit, Hostel & Mess Deposit, Mediclaim, Placement Fee, Alumni Membership Fee, or other deposits

Library Deposit - `5000/- Hostel Deposit - `20,000/- + Rent - `3700/-p.m.

Duration 2 Yrs

EligibilityBachelor degree in any discipline from a recognized University with minimum 50% marks in aggregate or equivalent grade.

Tests accepted GMAT,CAT,XAT,MAT,ATMA,CMAT,MH-CET

Selection procedureThe Selection process is based on various parameters to test the personality, interest and ability of the Candidate.

Distribution of forms commences from January 1, 2016

Last date/ month of submission of forms 30th April 2016

Residential No

FLAGSHIP PROGRAMME - ADMISSIONS

INFRASTRUCTURE

INTELLECTUAL CAPITALNo. of full time faculty 34No. of visiting faculty 30

B-SCHOOL DETAILSVishwakarma M.D.Lotlikar Vidya Sankul,791, S.K.Marg, Bandra Reclamation, Bandra (W),Mumbai-400050

S 022-61378325/329/3308 www.ies.edu/management

Private Business School

TEST PERCENTILE CUT OFF

GMAT, CAT, XAT, MAT, ATMA, CMAT, MH-CET

Admissions at IESMCRC are not entirely based on the aptitude test cut – off. Eligibility of the candidate depends not only on the aptitude test but also on multiple parameters like scholastic records, management course aptitude and performance in personal interview etc. Because of this system, it is possible for a candidate with relatively average aptitude test score to stand the chances of selection if he has a fairly good academic record clubbed with good performance in the selection procedure.

SUMMER PLACEMENTS (2015-17 flagship programme)Total no. of students 119No of students participating in placement process 119

Hostel facility YesLibrary No. of books 31,535No of periodicals subscribed 128No. of foreign journals subscribed 19No. of e-journals subscribed 3In-house publications AnveshaComputer centreNo of terminals 182

Internet / Broadband / Wi-fi facility Internet-TATA ILL/WI-FI - 50 MBPS

INFRASTRUCTURE

Flagship Programme Seats

PGDM 120

Other major programmes

PGDM (PHM) 60

Masters In Management Studies 60

Masters In Marketing Management 60

Masters In Financial Management 60

Masters In Information Management 60

PROGRAMMES OFFERED

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A string of proposals to boost the economy The Union Budget 2016-17 proposed to increase foreign portfolio investment limits in state-run companies. A plan was also hatched for bankruptcy code for nancial rms. The Companies Act of 2013 will be nally amended this year to improve ease of doing business. The government also proposed to raise the investment limit for foreign entities in local stock exchanges to 15% from 5%.

Sticking to scal decit targetsThe biggest positive in this budget is the commitment to stick to scal decit targets. The government’s divestment target looks ambitious and if not reached, could have an impact on the actual scal decit achieved. It is interesting to note that in the past, it has always fallen short of the disinvestment targets.

A bolder budget was the need of the hour Acceleration in economic growth and enhanced consumption is of high importance. However, barring allocations to road sector and rural schemes, which could face implementation challenges, there isn’t anything very substantial to boost growth in the economy. Especially with oil price at its lowest, the budget could have been much bolder.

Insufcient allocation to the banking sectorThe budget has fallen short on allocating capital to strengthen the Indian banking sector. Naturally, the sector suffered after being burdened with enormous non-performing assets. Only `28,000 crore were allocated, which is not even 15% of what needs to be injected.

Earning ak from the OppositionThe Opposition has criticised this budget to be “rural focused”, and that the government is trying to change its image of a “pro-corporate” government that ignores the farmers. Critiques also point out that the ulterior motive of this rural focus was because of states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu that are going to elections this year.

Focus on rural communitiesPrimary focus is on rural communities in the 2016-17 Budget. More than `1.2 lakh crore have been allocated for rural communities, including spending on schemes like job creation, farmers’ welfare, credit to farmers and building of rural roads.

7.6% GDP growth rate for 2016-17 While 2015-16 is expected to close with a GDP growth of 7.6%

and scal decit of 3.9% of GDP, the 2016-17 budget is forecasted to achieve a GDP growth rate of 7.0% to 7.5% and a scal decit of 3.5% of

the GDP. This is within the target, set three years ago, for 2016-17.

Tax tussle between foreign businesses and govt The tax dispute between the government and large foreign

companies operating in India has been a concern this year. The Finance Minister has proposed a disagreement-resolution

process that can potentially bring to close many such disputes. The government has committed that it will not

resort to retrospective taxation in future.

TAX OFFICE

TAX OFFICE

Priority to infrastructure creationThis year’s budget has also given priority to infrastructure creation, with an allocation of ̀ 2.2 lakh crore. The main focus of that sum will be towards building 10,000 km of new national highways and upgrading another 50,000 km.

Large scale banking sector reforms

There hasn’t been any disclosure on large scale banking sector

reforms. No concrete timeline for the land acquisition and GST bills are

also shortcomings. Banking sector reforms specically have a major role to

play in driving private sector investments, which is currently seriously lacking.

Union Budget 2016-17 A Snapshot

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A string of proposals to boost the economy The Union Budget 2016-17 proposed to increase foreign portfolio investment limits in state-run companies. A plan was also hatched for bankruptcy code for nancial rms. The Companies Act of 2013 will be nally amended this year to improve ease of doing business. The government also proposed to raise the investment limit for foreign entities in local stock exchanges to 15% from 5%.

Sticking to scal decit targetsThe biggest positive in this budget is the commitment to stick to scal decit targets. The government’s divestment target looks ambitious and if not reached, could have an impact on the actual scal decit achieved. It is interesting to note that in the past, it has always fallen short of the disinvestment targets.

A bolder budget was the need of the hour Acceleration in economic growth and enhanced consumption is of high importance. However, barring allocations to road sector and rural schemes, which could face implementation challenges, there isn’t anything very substantial to boost growth in the economy. Especially with oil price at its lowest, the budget could have been much bolder.

Insufcient allocation to the banking sectorThe budget has fallen short on allocating capital to strengthen the Indian banking sector. Naturally, the sector suffered after being burdened with enormous non-performing assets. Only `28,000 crore were allocated, which is not even 15% of what needs to be injected.

Earning ak from the OppositionThe Opposition has criticised this budget to be “rural focused”, and that the government is trying to change its image of a “pro-corporate” government that ignores the farmers. Critiques also point out that the ulterior motive of this rural focus was because of states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu that are going to elections this year.

Focus on rural communitiesPrimary focus is on rural communities in the 2016-17 Budget. More than `1.2 lakh crore have been allocated for rural communities, including spending on schemes like job creation, farmers’ welfare, credit to farmers and building of rural roads.

7.6% GDP growth rate for 2016-17 While 2015-16 is expected to close with a GDP growth of 7.6%

and scal decit of 3.9% of GDP, the 2016-17 budget is forecasted to achieve a GDP growth rate of 7.0% to 7.5% and a scal decit of 3.5% of

the GDP. This is within the target, set three years ago, for 2016-17.

Tax tussle between foreign businesses and govt The tax dispute between the government and large foreign

companies operating in India has been a concern this year. The Finance Minister has proposed a disagreement-resolution

process that can potentially bring to close many such disputes. The government has committed that it will not

resort to retrospective taxation in future.

TAX OFFICE

TAX OFFICE

Priority to infrastructure creationThis year’s budget has also given priority to infrastructure creation, with an allocation of ̀ 2.2 lakh crore. The main focus of that sum will be towards building 10,000 km of new national highways and upgrading another 50,000 km.

Large scale banking sector reforms

There hasn’t been any disclosure on large scale banking sector

reforms. No concrete timeline for the land acquisition and GST bills are

also shortcomings. Banking sector reforms specically have a major role to

play in driving private sector investments, which is currently seriously lacking.

Union Budget 2016-17 A Snapshot

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Budget 2016-17: A comprehensive

overview

T

Dr Suresh Srinivasan

he Union Budget for the year 2016-17 was recently presented by Finance

Minister Arun Jaitely. The budget is generally preceded by the annual economic survey and the railway budget. We will go over the salient features of all the three documents which are detailed in this article.

Economic review 2016This document is prepared by the Ministry of Finance under the supervision of Dr Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India. It is presented to both the houses of Parliament ahead of the budget. This report is considered to be the

view of the finance ministry on India’s economy and the status of its development programmes, and also provides an outlook of the economy in the short to medium term.

Economic survey 2016The Economic Survey 2016 shows that India grew by 7.2% during 2014-15 and will have achieved 7.6% growth during the previous year, being 2015-16. Although the economic survey in 2015 had set a target for the Indian economy to grow at around 8.3% during 2015-16, India’s growth rate fell short to 7.6%, which, again, will be the highest growth rate achieved by any country in the world. During 2016-17, India is forecast to achieve a

growth rate of 7 to 7.75%, depending on the intensity of the global headwinds.

Dr Subramanian has cautioned the government that there are a number of areas on which India has to focus, which includes investment in education and health where it fares the worst among the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The survey also highlighted that India’s competitiveness in terms of agriculture is quite weak, especially since India is an agrarian economy. With a suboptimal monsoon, India’s investment in agricultural infrastructure, including irrigation, has not been up to the mark.

BUDGET

2016-17

In this article, we take a look at the Union budget 2016-17, as well as the Economic survey 2016 and the Railway Budget, both of which are precursors to the former. How does the government propose to maintain the current level of economic growth, which is one of the highest in the world?

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Bold reforms neededDr Subramanian’s point is that these initiatives are long term and will take three to five years to become productive. The Modi government is already losing time, and focus is required to get these initiatives going as a high priorities. Thus, the economic survey is recommending that the government needs to introduce bold reforms, even if they appear to be unpopular.

Some of these reforms include the Goods and Services Tax (GST), divestment of stakes in public sector institutions where private players will manage such enterprises, and most importantly, strengthening and recapitalising the Indian banking system. However, the survey has reconfirmed that the government is capable of restricting the fiscal deficit targets, which were 3.9% of GDP for 2015-16 and the expected 3.5% of GDPP for 2016-17.

RBI, inflation and interest ratesThe survey highlights that low global crude oil prices will help India contain inflation within the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) prescribed limits of 5% by March 2017. This is also likely to provide room for the RBI to cut interest rates, and thereby increase liquidity in the economy, which will encourage investment flows. This will be very important for India to achieve the 7 to 7.75% GDP growth.

By saying so, Dr Subramanian is signalling to the Governor of RBI that he feels that there is a scope for cutting interest rates (it is to be noted that the RBI and Finance ministry have had opposing views on interest rate cutting decisions, although the RBI has the authority to make this decision).

Pressure on the Indian rupeeThe survey cautioned that the Indian rupee is likely to come under severe pressure, as China could sharply devalue its currency, which

may trigger regional currency wars. The survey reiterated that the government needs to allocate liberal funds to strengthen the capital of banks; Indian banks need around `1,80,000 crore over the next three years. If the government falls short on this front, the economy is at risk, as the banking sector is vital to the economy. The report highlights the strain on banks due to their non-performing assets (in simple words, “bad loans”), arising from wilful defaulters such as Kingfisher Airlines.

The tax-ing pointDr Subramanian’s survey also delves into the collection from taxes during the year 2015-16. More than 80% of the country’s total revenue is from taxes, and more than 25% of this are corporate taxes, which the companies pay on their profits. Tax is, therefore, a vital component of India’s total budgetary revenue. Today, around 5.5% of the earning individuals in the country pay taxes; the survey proposes that this number should go up, and the tax net should widen to capture at least 20% of the earning population. The survey also highlights the need for simplifying tax procedures, reduce complexities arising out of exemptions and thereby enhance tax collections.

The economic survey thus documents that India’s economy is

fragile, a number of key initiatives are pending and the government needs to swiftly move forward, or else these will turn out to be missed opportunities and sharply impact the Indian economy!

The Railway Budget 2016-17The budget presented by Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu was largely optimistic, especially given the weak financial position of the Indian Railways. The 2015-16 numbers in terms of revenue and investments did not match up to the overly optimistic forecasts that were made in 2015 for the previous year 2015-16. The sluggish economy is also partly responsible for such underperformance as a large part of the railway’s revenue is driven by freight income, which again depends closely on the economic activity in the country. The Operating Ratio (OR), which is the percentage of expenses to revenue, was forecast at 88% for the this year, and the railways fell short at 90%.

Boosting revenue for the RailwaysThe biggest challenge that the Indian Railways is facing has been the loss of freight revenue to other modes of transport like trucks. Also currently, freight is primarily a bulk commodity like coal and iron ore, which are low in value, and the Railways is targeting higher value parcels to boost its revenue.

There is immense potential to monetise the real estate surrounding the railway stations and tracks, estimated at close to 50,000 hectares, which the minister has not yet initiated in a big way. Another challenge facing the railways is the neglected maintenance of tracks, bridges, structures, stations and the wagons. All of these require funds, a gap that the railway budget had been unable to bridge, and this year’s budget is no exception!

Indian banks need around `1,80,000 crore over the next three years, without which the economy is at risk.

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INDIA INC: AT A GLANCEFed stays interest rate hikeThere is a lot of curiosity surrounding the US Federal Reserve’s posture on interest rates. In a recent statement, Fed officials maintained the target interest rate in the range of 0.25 to 0.5%, without increasing the interest rates, acknowledging that the global economic and financial developments continue to pose risks to the US economy.

India still high on Alibaba’s priorityChinese e-commerce major Alibaba is aggressively betting on India. Its earlier equity investments in Snapdeal and Paytm, and its current direct entry as an e-commerce player in the Indian market, is intended to surpass Amazon and gain leadership

position in the Indian market. This will also help Alibaba grow in the midst of the Chinese slowdown.

Airbus invests `260 crore for Delhi training centreAircraft manufacturing giant Airbus is investing `260 crore in a training centre in Delhi. Facilities are being created for four A320 aircraft simulators in the first phase. The centre will have a capacity to train 8,000 pilots and 2,000 maintenance engineers over 10 years. There are 210 Airbus aircraft in service in India and a firm order for another 520 planes.

Growth for RailwaysThe railway budget for 2016-17 is proposing a 7% growth in revenue, far less than the over-11% growth achieved in the previous years. Such an increase will be grossly inadequate to absorb the 8th Pay Commission recommendations of salary increase, which will impact the 13 lakh railway employees and an equal number of pensioners, whose salary outgo could increase significantly from `20,000 crore to around `33,000 crore. The railway budget will require a budgetary support of around `45,000 crore from the government over and above another `40,000 crore that it will need to raise from external financing institutions.

Union Budget 2016-17: Revenue and expenditureFirst of all, it is important to understand the budget financial numbers at a very high level.

India’s overall budgetary revenue for 2016-17 is pegged at `14.5 lakh crore. This is made up of

`16.3 lakh crore from tax revenues (`5.7 lakh crore of this is given away to state governments) and includes tax on companies, on individuals, indirect taxes like excise tax, customs and service taxes. Non-tax revenue, made up of interest and dividends received on investments, is `3.9 lakh crore. This adds up to a total revenue of `14.5 crore.

The Indian government’s total expenditure is `19.78 lakh crore, made up of routine expenditure to pay interest on loans taken by the government, run various departments, provide healthcare to the public, protect the country, etc. Of this, `14.28 lakh crore and `5.5 lakh crore are targeted to be spent under different projects that will enhance India’s competitiveness. This means that if we leave out the interest payments and other routine operating expenditure, India has very little levy to spend on developmental programs — a very concerning fact!

The fiscal deficitAs per the figures above, the

fiscal deficit is `5.3 lakh crore (the difference between revenue of `14.5 lakh crore and expenditure of `19.8 lakh crore). India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is around `151 lakh crore. Hence, the fiscal deficit works out to be 3.5% of the GDP. The government is now required to finance this deficit, and is proposing to do so by drawing down `0.13 lakh crore from its cash balance and to go to the market and raise loans to the tune of `5.17 crore in order to bridge the total deficit of `5.3 lakh crore.

The government has managed to keep the fiscal deficit target to 3.5% of the GDP. The revenue estimates include ambitious targets of more than `0.7 lakh crore from the government’s sale of its stake in public sector organisations. If this fails to materialise, the deficit could widen. In the past, the government has always fallen short of its disinvestment targets!

Rural development and welfareThe primary focus in the 2016-17 Budget is the rural communities. More than `1.2 lakh crore has been

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allocated for rural communities, including spending on a job creation scheme, farmers’ welfare, credit to farmers and building of rural roads. The rural programmes also consider the setting up of a dedicated irrigation fund and allocation towards crop insurance schemes that are likely to benefit the farmers.

The Opposition has criticised the government, stating that such a “rural focused” budget is targeted to alter its “pro-corporate” image that completely ignores the farmers! Critiques also point out that the government’s agenda is focused on states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu that are going to polls this year.

Focus on infrastructureThe budget has also given priority to infrastructure creation — `220,000 plus crore has been allocated for creating infrastructure assets. The main focus will be building 10,000 km of national highways and upgrading another 50,000 km. Road networks are the lifeline of any country and if the Make in India initiative has to take off, this is a must.

Allocation spread not idealHowever, there are a number of issues and initiatives in which funds have not been allocated, due to other constraints and commitments of the government, such as interest and loan repayments that the government needs to honour.

Banking, for example is a vital area which has not received the needed allocation. With a large share allocated towards rural agenda and infrastructure creation, the budget has fallen short on allocating capital to strengthen the Indian banking sector, which is burdened with enormous non-performing assets.

Only `28,000 crore was allocated, which translates to not even 15% of what is required to be injected! The banking sector reforms especially have a major role to play in initiating private sector investment, which is currently seriously lacking.

No boost to economy?What India desperately needs is acceleration in the economic growth and to steeply enhance consumption. This is a prerequisite to achieve the 7 to 7.75% growth in GDP for 2016-17. Unfortunately, this budget doesn’t have anything substantial to boost such investment-triggering

initiatives. Barring allocations to road sector and rural schemes, which again could face implementation challenges, there does not seem to be anything very substantial to boost growth in the economy. Especially with oil price at its lowest, the budget could have been much bolder!

ReformsOn the reforms and predictability front, tax disputes between the government and large foreign companies operating in India have

been a point of concern. The finance minister has proposed a dispute resolution process that could potentially bring to close many such disputes. The government has committed that it will not resort to retrospective taxation in future.

It has been proposed that the foreign portfolio investment limit in state-run companies will be raised. A bankruptcy code for financial firms has been proposed. The Companies Act, 2013 will be amended to improve ease of doing business.

The gover nment also proposed to raise the investment limit for foreign entities in local stock exchanges from 5% to 15%. However, what with the land acquisition and GST bills still pending in Parliament,

these have to be taken with a pinch of salt. The absence of a concrete timeline

on the introduction of the land acquisition and GST bills are major shortcomings

that will seriously impact international

investor sentiments and Indian industry perceptions.

Overall, the government has put

together a forecast for the next year ensuring that

the fiscal deficit does not exceed the targeted 3.5% of the GDP mark. There are a number of ifs and buts that can be dynamic and that will be triggered by global economic developments, which are extremely difficult to predict at this stage. The only control the government has is to pass the pending reforms in both the houses of Parliament. These are inevitable, and if not done successfully, and in a timely manner, this has the potential to negatively impact a generation of young Indians, in terms of lost opportunities! A

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Will the world enter recession in 2016?

Given that the global economies and geopolitical stability are both in question at the moment, is the world actually facing a recession? Can such a recession be predicted? In this article, we

explore the current state of the world economy, and what the future might hold.

F

Dr Suresh Srinivasan

or the global economy, 2016 started out on a rather discouraging note.

There was turmoil everywhere. Headwinds facing the world economy have been quite strong. Unusually, the ray of hope seems to be bleak, barring India and, to a certain extent, the United States.

Current global outlookAsia is facing a severe slowdown, at the forefront of which is the now-legendary Chinese slowdown; no one precisely knows the potential impact of the Chinese state of affairs on the global economic health. Brazil is in the middle of a political and economic crisis, and its economy has been in a slow down mode since 2014. With inflation at over 10% and unemployment rate inching towards 10%, the currency was devalued significantly, and the stock markets experienced major falls.

The Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, is experiencing unprecedented economic woes, triggered by the sharp fall in the prices of crude oil. The geopolitical issues between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been devastating the economic stability of the Middle

East and dividing the region, and the resurgence of terrorism is becoming a major threat to the region — a threat that is already spilling over to the other parts of the world.

Europe is limping along, although Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain are a bit silent — there are major problems brewing. Japan is still struggling — its economy contracted during the last quarter of 2015, with private consumption remaining weak. The bleak outlook for global demand this year is predicting the economic contraction to widen during 2016. With all these factors, can we say that the global economy will enter into a recessionary phase during 2016, and there just might be a repeat of the 2008 crisis?

What is a recession?T e c h n i c a l l y , “recession” has been defined as the decline in a nation’s

gross domestic product (GDP) for two consecutive quarters. Hence, to answer the question as to whether an economy has entered recession, is an answer that has to be in the past tense (two consecutive quarters of negative growth). One cannot, therefore, confirm that the economy is in fact entering a recessionary phase. At the most, one can make an assessment as to whether an economy is likely to enter into recession!

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INDIA INC: AT A GLANCECisco continues to bet big on Digital IndiaCisco has been one of the early aggressive collaborators to complement the Prime Minister’s (PM) Smart City projects. Its next biggest operation outside the US is in India. The company recently announced investments close to `700 crore in the Digital India initiative. Cisco has

time and again shown enormous interest in India and the PM’s smart city and digital initiatives.

Tata slams aviation’s 5/20 ruleChairman emeritus of the Tata conglomerate Ratan Tata recently criticised the clause widely known as 5/20 rule part of India’s aviation policy. The rule stipulated that an airline must have a minimum experience of 5 years and a minimum of 20 aircraft in order to qualify to fly internationally. The case in point is Vistara, Tata’s joint venture with Singapore Airlines, is

wanting to grow aggressively but is restricted due to the 5/20 rule.

A little backgroundNow let’s look at the question: Will 2016 likely to be the year of the next recession?

Over the last 80 years, there have been 12 global recessions that have impacted economies of countries around the world — the great depression of the mid 1930s, 1945, 1949, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1969, 1973, 1980s (double dip recession, which means entering a second recessionary phase without fully recovering from the first recession), 1990s, early 2000s and the very destructive recession of 2007-08, which too has been termed a “great recession” by many economists. A close observation of the periods affected by recession indicates that once every 5 to 7 years, the probability of a potential recession to hit the global economy turns out to be fairly high! Also, it is now close to 10 years since the global economy was hit by the recession back in 2007!

Can a recession actually be predicted?There are certain common threads that are seen during the period an economy is actually entering recession. The decline in economic activity is quite visible with key economic indicators like GDP, level of investments, corporate profits, and personal income fall. The inflation in the economy is generally low, and the unemployment rate generally increases disproportionately. Cases of bankruptcies shoot up, and many business houses otherwise considered rock solid start collapsing during the period, leading to recessions.

What can drive the world economy towards recession?Let us go over some of the factors that could potentially drive the global economy to a recessionary phase during 2016.

The Chinese bubble is a major concern, and has a

devastating potential to trigger a recession. The economy is struggling to transform itself from an “external focus” to an “internal consumption” driven one. It is now facing the realities of “excess capacity”, created over the last few decades. The reality is harsh — stock markets are falling, industries are slowing down, corporate profits are dropping and the structural reforms required are phenomenal. China is unable to accept such harsh realities, and is attempting to cover up the facts, but it hasn’t really been successful in doing so.

The European situationIt is bad news to the global economy, especially since China is entrenched across global economies, be it through exports, currency, commodity consumption or trade surplus. The European situation is a major threat.

Tata Motors appoints new chiefTata Motors has newly appointed Guenter Butschek as its chief. Butschek comes in with

enormous responsibilities of transforming and turning around the company. His brief includes a complete relook at brand positioning, revamping products and increasing its global footprint, in order to be “future ready”.

Airtel acquires Videocon’s spectrumBharti Airtel has indicated that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Videocon Telecommunication to acquire its 1,800 MHz spectrum for around `4,400 crore. This will

include spectrum in six zones — Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UP (East), UP (West) and Gujarat.

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After Greece defaulted on its debt service commitments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2015, the problem has been, at the most, only temporarily fixed, with no viable long term solution in sight. More importantly, Greece’s economy is tiny, when compared to other problem states like Portugal and Italy. The commodity crisis and the crude oil situation could drive some of the countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia to become desperate and flare up geopolitical issues.

US outlookSome concerns still exist within the US economy. Recent reports have highlighted the decline in service sector businesses, more or less for the first time in the last three years. The Purchase Manager’s Index (PMI) is also giving an indication of a contracting economy during the first quarter of the year 2016.

What can prevent the world economy from entering recession?A number of lessons have been learnt from the recessions in the past. The technical analysis is also much more sophisticated, and becoming more so with every passing year. Aside from the “stories” unfolding in the global economy as explained above, some finer economic data is beginning to show some eerily similar patterns that have predicted recessions in the past. Retail sales have dropped the most since before the last recession. The same is true with wholesale sales. US factory orders fell in December of 2015 by the most in a year, according to the US Commerce Department. Real US GDP growth is slowing. US export growth has been weakening. Corporate profits are declining.

Role of central banksThe central banks have not been very transparent, and have not been coordinating with their respective counterparts across nations in bringing together coordinated monetary policy initiatives that could drop interest rates and spur investments. Such uncoordinated initiatives are now being flagged down, and central banks of advanced and developing countries have started coming together to mitigate. Although this may be marginal, it is widely accepted that central banks have no more room to lower interest rates further.

In conclusion, the global economy is delicate, and is close to the next recession. India is considered to be one of the bright spots in the global economy, at least as things stand now. But the question is whether the Indian economy can weather a headwind of such magnitude from a gloomy global economy. A

INDIA INC: AT A GLANCEBanks take hit in stock marketsThe last few weeks have seen banking stocks being battered in the stock markets due to their high levels of non-performing assets and poor financial position. Their share prices fell steeply, showing a complete loss of confidence by the investors in the public sector banks and its management. Poor performance of steel, power and infrastructure companies are also compounding the problem.

Govt implements 49% FDI policy Finally, the government has implemented the announced policy of relaxing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector by permitting overseas companies to buy 49%

in domestic insurers without prior approval (an increase from 26% currently). There are more than 50 insurance companies operating in India, both in life and general insurance categories.

Telecom cos to blame for call drops: GovtThe issue of “call drops” has seen widespread discussions in recent days. The government had squarely blamed the telecom companies, while there have been mixed responses to such allegations. The lack of spectrum with increasing subscriber base, insufficient towers due to fear of radiation poisoning by residents, and illegal boosters by residents are some of the reasons being pointed out for call drops.

Cirrus India bets big on low-cost aircraftCirrus India foresees huge demand for its small aircraft, which costs only `3.5 crores. It is a certified plane with a parachute, and the company has vowed to make flying more affordable. There are about 7,000 Cirrus aircraft in service worldwide. It is now competing with high end cars, which are almost priced at the same level as Cirrus aircraft.

Dr Suresh Srinivasan is a Chartered Accountant, has an MBA (Bradford UK) and a Doctorate in Strategy. He is a Professor of Strategy in Great Lakes Institute of Management and a management consultant.

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Communication Skills Builder + Quantitative Skills Builder + Enhance Your English Proficiency

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Newsin brief

Here are some

interesting

titbits from

over the last

month

AirAsia registers losses worth `38.2 crore Popular airlines, AirAsia India has almost doubled its quarterly net loss in October-December. Higher costs

have been cited as the main reason for this abysmal loss. However, even if AirAsia India registered the loss, its main shareholder AirAsia Berhad swung to a profit.

The carrier, its Malaysian shareholder’s joint venture with Tata Sons, posted a net loss of 23.4 million Malaysian Ringgits (`38.2 crore) from a net loss of 12.7 million Malaysian Ringgits (`20.8 crore), according to AirAsia Berhad’s filing with Bursa Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur based stock exchange.

Viacom will soon be launching a Hindi movie channel

Viacom 18 is gearing up to enter the Hindi movie channel segment. The media house, which owns channels such as Colors and MTV, had put this plan on hold, because of bad market conditions.

The 50:50 joint venture between US broadcasting major Viacom Inc and Reliance Industries-controlled Network 18 Group will launch Hindi movie channel Rishtey CINEPLEX in the first quarter of the next financial year.

Raj Nayak, who is the chief executive of Hindi general entertainment channels Colors and Rishtey, will be heading the channel.

Train blankets washed once in 2 months, reveals minister in Rajya SabhaIn a startling revelation at the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said during Question Hour on February 26th, that blankets are washed once every two months. However, he specified that bed sheets, bed roll and pillow covers are washed every day.

His shocking disclosure came after a few questions were raised by various members of the Upper House regarding the quality and hygiene of laundry and linen supplied by the Indian

Railways on trains. Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari quipped that the earlier system of passengers bringing their own linen and pillows for train journeys was better.

India’s internet usage shaped by its mobile growth: Google India ReportGoogle India has come up with a report which captures the incredible pace of Internet growth that India is witnessing, after outlining the key consumer trends based on the

enormity of the impact of smartphones across industries.The report captures how mobile is influencing and in many cases defining Indian users’ first experience with

the Internet. Calling out mobile as the growth engine for the Internet industry, the report outlines how mass adoption of mobile phones is driving adoption of newer services, becoming the primary screen for consumption of media and defining the new user experiences.

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Ratan Tata invests in NestAway, a home rental network Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata has invested an unspecified

amount in NestAway Technologies Ltd, the leading home rental network firm has announced.

“As a pioneer in home rental network, NestAway promotes furnished and managed apartments and provides them at affordable prices to about 5,000 verified tenants in six cities across the country, including Bengaluru, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Noida and Pune.”

The start-up has raised $13 million in two rounds from marquee investors such as IDG Ventures India to which Tata is an advisor.

Google speeds up its mobile delivery of news articles

Starting March 2nd, whenever you search something on Google, you will get a horizontal carousel of news articles, each with a little lightning bolt icon and the letters AMP at the bottom. Click on any one of the articles, and it will come up immediately with a horizontal carousel of news articles, without any further delay.

This fast-loading format, which has been developed by Google with input from a wide range of publishers, is the latest effort by online publications to solve a problem that is the bane of smartphone users since most mobile Web pages take very long to load.

Flipkart’s share value marked down 27% by Morgan StanleyA mutual fund managed by Morgan Stanley has marked down the value of Flipkart’s shares by 27%. The global investors believe the marking down signals that India’s largest

internet company is overvalued. The markdown comes even as mutual funds slashed the value of some of Silicon Valley’s most high-profile

startups like messaging app Snapchat and data-analysis company Palantir Technologies Inc.As recently as last week, Flipkart had said in a press statement that it is valued at $15.2 billion right now. A 27%

fall in Flipkart’s share price would imply Flipkart’s valuation now is around $11 billion.

IT sector in the midst of a slowdown, after the weak December quarterIn the information technology (IT) services sector, the

December quarter is a seasonally weak one, with a higher number of holidays as well as furloughs taken by clients. In 2015, things were expected to be worse because of the severe floods in Chennai, where many Indian IT companies have large delivery centres.

The actual performance was however even weaker. Analysts at Religare Capital Markets Ltd wrote in a note to clients that the 14 IT companies tracked by it reported a 2.1% sequential growth in revenue in rupee terms, lower than its estimate of 2.6% growth.

Maharashtra govt penalises e-commerce giants for selling medicines sans valid licencesE-commerce giants Snapdeal, Amazon and Flipkart have borne the grunt of the Maharashtra government

for selling medicines online without valid licences. Health minister J P Nadda mentioned in a written reply, “Food and Drug Administration, Maharashtra has

taken regulatory action against Snapdeal, Amazon and Flipkart which were found to be selling or distributing medicines to consumers through internet without valid sales bill and requisite licences.”

He said in accordance with provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules, the sale of drugs in the country is regulated by state licensing authorities.

Search interest for Union Budget overtook Oscars on GoogleIn the big battle between the

88th Academy Awards and India’s Union Budget 2016-17, March 29th saw the victory of the Budget over the Oscars on Google, in terms of real-time search interest.

Search interest for the budget peaked at 12:46pm immediately after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley wrapped up his budget speech, while for the Oscars it was at 10:30am, about half-an-hour after the ceremony ended. On Twitter, as of 3:43pm, #Budget2016 reigned over Oscar-related trends, both in India and globally.

On March 29th, The Revenant was searched for the most in the movie category on Google.

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Times Internet’s first international acquisition, acquires Willow TV International Times Internet, India’s largest digital network and part of The Times of India Group, acquired Willow TV

International, a leading cricket broadcaster in the US. The acquisition is part of Times Internet’s first international acquisition. For Times Internet, Willow is complementary with its recent acquisition of Cricbuzz, the world’s largest online cricket destination. Last year, during the ICC World Cup 2015, Cricbuzz saw over 1 billion visits in a span of 40 days, 96% on mobile.

Dale Carnegie Training India Report: 4 in 10 women disengaged at workA Dale Carnegie Training India’s ‘Employee

Engagement Whitepaper’ report shows that nearly four in 10 women feel disengaged at work in India. This is the reason companies must engage women in the first five years of their career to boost their work involvement.

The report also shows that the lack of involvement reflects in the fact that 26% of the women who feel disengaged at work would leave for just a 5% hike, compared to 17% of disengaged males. Though enlightened organisations have been providing multiple benefits, the engagement level is lower in women.

Amazon ropes in girls for delivery in Kerala, ChennaiIn an initiative to bring in more

women in delivery jobs, Amazon India is piloting women-only deliveries in Chennai and Kerala. This will help to create more jobs in a field, which is predominantly considered male-dominated. The programme was debuted in January in Kerala and extended to Chennai.

Under this initiative, the women will deliver packages to offices within 2-3 km of the delivery station on two-wheelers. They will be delivering around 40 packages a day in multiple trips. Samuel Thomas, director of transportation, Amazon India said that their research has shown a lot of women are interested to do deliveries and so they were ready to break barriers as long as the customer experience is not subdued.

Deloitte survey: 76% Indians plan to change jobs for pay hike by 2020

A global survey on attrition rates by Deloitte said as many as 76% of Indian youth plan to quit their jobs for better paying ones by 2020. The survey said this compares to 56% in Japan, 51% in Belgium and 52% in Spain.

Only 16% of youngsters world-wide see themselves with their current employer a decade from now, said Deloitte after interviewing 7,700 millennials (in the 22-34 age group) in 29 countries. “This remarkable absence of loyalty represents a serious challenge to any business employing a large number of millennials, especially those in markets – like the United States,” said Deloitte in its 2016 report.

India’s Jitu Rai won World Cup gold in men’s 50m pistol shooting India’s Jitu Rai won gold in the men’s 50m pistol shooting event World Cup in Bangkok

on March 4th. Twenty-seven-year-old Jitu scored 191.3 points in the final round, while former World and Olympic champion Pang Wei of China took second place with 186.5. Olympic medallist from China, Wang Zhiwei, finished third with a final round score of 165.8. India’s Prakash Nanjappa shot 549 in the qualification round to be placed 17th.

Born in Nepal, but brought up in India, Jitu did not start strongly enough in the final. However, the Indian army shooter maintained a top three position throughout.

Robotics firm Systemantics gets funding from Nandan Nilekani

Systemantics, the Robotics firm, which builds industrial robots for the manufacturing sector, has raised another round of funding from venture capital giant Accel Partners and Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani.

The company had received the funding a few years after it received backing from investors such as Blume Ventures. Systemantics, which was founded by IIT-Madras alumni Jagannath Raju in 1995, raised the latest round a few months ago.

The latest investment in Systemantics will mark at least the seventh venture that has been backed by Nilekani.

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Quant

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.

Q.1 Find the sum of the first 15 terms of the series.

1 + , , , , ......

1] 2]

3] 4]

Solution

The terms of the series are:

1 + , , , , ...

The terms are in G.P. with the first term,

a = 1 + and the common ratio r = .

The sum of 15 terms of the series

=

=

=

=

=

=

Hence, [3].

Q.2 The probabilities of a student passing in four subjects are 0.56, 0.33, 0.25 and 0.18. The student gets a carry forward for next year if he fails in 1 paper and passes in 3. If he fails in more than 1 paper, he is declared to have lost the year. What is the ratio of the probability of a student getting a carry forward for next year to that of him repeating the year?

1] 2] 3] 4]

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VerbalDIRECTIONS for questions 1 and 2: In the following questions, there are sentences that form a paragraph. Identify the sentence(s) or part(s) of sentence(s) that is/are correct in terms of grammar and usage (including spelling, punctuation and logical consistency). Then, choose the most appropriate option.

Q1. A. Lessons learnt from crashes such as the crash of Swissair 111, which pitched into the sea off Canada in 1998, is a painful way of improving air safety.

B. The plane’s flight recorder stopped working six minutes before impact, though the aircraft lost power.

C. New Scientist called for black boxes in aircraft to have back-up power.

D. In 2005, the Federal Aviation Administration decreed that black boxes should have batteries

E. that could keep them working for at least 10 minutes after a crash.

Solution P(student gets a carry forward for next year) = (1 – 0.56) × (0.33) × (0.25) × (0.18) + (0.56 × 0.33 × 0.25) × (1 – 0.18) + 0.56 × 0.33 × (1 – 0.25) × 0.18 + 0.56 ×

0.25 × 0.18 × (1 – 0.33)

=

=

=

= = 0.086867 0.087.

P(Student loses a year)

= 1 – [P(he passes) + P(he gets a carry forward)]

P(he passes) = 0.56 × 0.33 × 0.25 × 0.18.

= = 0.0084

P (Students loses a year) = 1 – 0.087 – 0.0084 = 0.9046 0.905

Required ratio = .

Hence, [3].

Q.3 In ABC, BC = 15 cm. D and E are midpoints of AC and AB respectively. BD and EC intersect at F. Find ratio BF : FD.

1] 2 : 1 2] 1 : 2 3] 3 : 1 4] 1 : 3

Solution BD and EC are medians. F is the centroid. F divides BD in the ratio 2 : 1 i.e., BF : FD = 2 : 1. Hence, [1].

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1] A, B & C

2] B, C & E

3] B, D & E

4] C, D & E

In statement A, there is a subject-verb mismatch: the subject of the main clause is ‘lessons’, so the verb should be ‘are’ not ‘is’. B makes no logical sense: the flight recorder would have stopped working because the aircraft lost power, not ‘though’ it lost power. Note that ‘aircraft’ is both the singular (as in B) and the plural (as in C) form of the word. Therefore, only statements C, D and E are grammatically and logically correct. Hence, [4].

Q2. F. Although half of the world’s people now live within a hundred miles of an ocean, a few today have a working knowledge of the sea.

G. As a science, oceanography is still in its infancy.

H. ‘More is known about the dark side of the moon than known about the depths of the oceans,’ writes the sea explorer David Helvarg.

I. Yet large numbers of people know the sea in other ways, through the arts and literature.

J. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, fiction has been imagining undersea worlds that explorers were unable to reach.

1] B, D & E

2] A, C & E

3] C, D & E

4] A, B, C & D

The conjunction ‘although’ in statement A indicates that the second half of the sentence should have an idea contradictory to the first. Since the first half is positive, the second should be negative. But ‘a few’ has a positive connotation (meaning at least a small number), while simply ‘few’ has a negative connotation (meaning ‘not many’). So the correct term should be ‘few’ not ‘a few’. In C, there is a parallelism error: the forms of the verbs after ‘more’ and ‘than’ should be parallel, i.e. ‘than’ should be followed by ‘is known’. The rest of the sentences – B, D and E – are correct. Hence, [1].

DIRECTIONS for questions 3: Each question has four sentences pertaining to a subject, which may or may not be in sequence. One of the sentences is contextually/logically incorrect. Choose the option corresponding to the sentence that is incorrect or inappropriate.

Q3. 1] The Zhou centuries were a seminal time for China’s civilization, yet they get short shrift in some history books.

2] The third and the last of the pre-imperial ‘Three Dynasties’ (Xia, Shang, Zhou), the Zhou, supplanted the Shang as the supreme power in the lower Yellow River basin in c. 1045 BC, and would still be there nearly 800 years later.

3] None of China’s subsequent ruling lineages would last more than half as long; in fact the Zhou probably hold the world record for dynastic longevity.

4] In the course of this dynastic marathon, some thirty-nine kings followed one another, mostly in orderly father-to-son succession.

Sentences [2], [3] and [4] – which can be arranged in the order [2]-[4]-[3] ¬– all speak about the longevity of the Zhou dynasty, while [1] speaks of the importance of the time period, and its neglect in history books. Therefore, [1] does not fit into the context. Hence, [1].

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WORD DOSE

M AT C H T H E W O R D S W I T H T H E I R M E A N I N G S

That ethereal journey

a. All the visible features of an area of land, which can be seen from a single view-point and often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.

b. A wide continuous area

c. A large, imposing building.

d. Dark or poorly lit, especially so as to appear depressing or frightening.

e. Dark marks or stains, usually those that stand out on a lighter background.

f. An area of fairly level high ground.

g. To lie or be at rest, as from work, activity, etc.

h. A gentle sheen or soft glow.

i. A fertile spot in a desert, where water is found.

j. A small valley, usually

among trees.

k. Torecogniseorfindout.

l. A hole or tunnel dug by a small animal, especially a rabbit, as a dwelling.

m. The darker stage of twilight.

n. The highest point of a hill or mountain.

o. Kindness or tolerance to-ward others.

p. Move or fall downwards.

q. To light up.

r. A very large, impressive, or stately residence.

s. A photograph or picture developed or executed in black and white or in varying tones of only one colour.

t. Transform into something more beautiful or elevated.

The dusk had thickened into darkness while they thus conversed,

and the outline and surface of the mansion gradually disappeared.

The windows, which had before been as black blots on a lighter expanse of wall,

became illuminated, and were transfigured to squares of light on the

general dark body of the night landscape as it absorbed the

outlines of the edifice into its gloomy monochrome.

Not another word was spoken for some time, and they climbed a hill,

then another hill piled on the summitofthefirst.Anadditionalmileofplateau followed,

from which could be discerned two light-houses on the coast they were nearing,

reposing on the horizon with a calm lustre of benignity. Another oasis was reached;

a little dell lay like a nest at their feet, towards which the driver pulled the horse at a

sharp angle, and descended a steep slope which dived under the trees

like a rabbit’s burrow. They sank lower and lower.

Excerpts from Thomas Hardy’s A Pair of Blue Eyes

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1. Dusk – (duhsk) (n)

2. Mansion – (man-shuh n) (n)

3. Blots – (Blot) (n)

4. Expanse – (aek-spans) (n) 5. Illuminate – (ih-lyoo-muh-neyt) (v)

6. Transfigured–(trans-fig-er-ed) (v)

7. Landscape – (land-skeyp) (n)

8. Edifice–(ed-uh-fis)(n)9. Gloomy – (gloo-mee) (adj)

10. Monochrome – (mon-uh-krohm) (n)

11. Summit – (suhm-it) (n)

12. Plateau – (plat-oh) (n)

13. Discerned – (dih-surn-ed) (v)

14. Reposing – (ri-pohz-ing) (gerund)

15. Lustre – (luhs-ter) (n)

16. Benignity – (bih-nig-ni-tee) (n)

17. Oasis – (oh-ey-sis) (n)

18. Dell – (del) (n)

19. Descended – (dih-send-ed) (v)

20. Burrow – (bur-oh) (n)

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A quiz to boost your General Knowledge

1. Ather Energy, a Bengaluru based hardware start-up, has launched the country’s first electric scooter. The scooter covers the distance of 60 Km in one single charge and has Lithium Ion battery pack IP67. What is the name of the scooter?

a. P474 b. S340 c. A999 d. I667

2. The World’s first fast-acting anti-rabies drug “Rabies Human Monoclonal Antibody (RMAb)” will soon be launched. Name the country where it will be launched first.

a. China b. USA c. UK d. India

3. She created history in Chennai on March 16th, when she became the first woman umpire to officiate in the ICC World Twenty20 by umpiring in the women’s match featuring Pakistan and Bangladesh. Name her.

a. Sue Redfern b. Clarie Polosak c. Kathleen Cross d. Jacqueline Williams

4. Name the bank that has been awarded the prestigious Green Bond Pioneer Award for being the ‘Pioneers in Emerging Markets-India’ in an award ceremony at London Stock Exchange (LSE), London.

a. ICICI Bank b. Yes Bank

c. Axis Bank d. Bank of Baroda

5. Name the cricket team that won the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy Title.

a. Mumbai b. Railways c. Saurashtra d. Vidarbha

6. Name the person who has been honoured with the Aryabhata Award 2013.

a. A.S. Kiran Kumar b. R. Chidambaram c. Narayana Murthy d. Avinash Chander

7. The World Spice Congress is an event that is jointly organised by the Spices Board, the Cochin Hill Produce Merchants’ Association, and India Pepper and Spice Trade Association. Name the city that will be hosting it this year.

a. Kochi b. Simla c. Ahmedabad d. Jaipur

8. Name the state that has launched the ‘Niramaya’ scheme for distribution of free medicines.

a. West Bengal b. Odisha c. Kerala d. Andhra Pradesh

9. Chapchar Kut is a spring festival celebrated in March in this state in India. Name the state.

a. Mizoram b. Manipur c. Assam d. Nagaland

10. Santiago Calatrava, the Spanish-Swiss architect, designed this train station, which is considered the most expensive one in the world. After designing it, he called it a gift of love to the city. Name the city.

a. London b. Tokyo c. New York d. Paris

11. Who is the ace India shooter who won the Gold medal in the 50m pistol men final event at the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup held in Bangkok, Thailand?

a. Jitu Rai b. Abhinav Bindra c. Ronjan Sodhi d. Karam Lehal

12. The World Wildlife Day is observed to raise awareness about the dangers faced by the planet’s fauna and flora. The 2016 theme is “The future of wildlife is in our hands”, with African and Asian elephants being the main focus of global campaigns. When is the day observed?

a. March 1 b. March 2 c. March 3 d. March 4

13. Name the author who has won the 2016 Windham-Campbell in the fiction category?

a. Kiran Nagarkar b. Rohington Mistry c. Stanley Crouch d. Jerry Pinto

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14. This renowned playwright and director will be conferred a Lifetime Achievement Award in the 11th edition of the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) 2016. He is a theatre guru and current chairman of the National School of Drama. Name him.

a. Ratan Thiyam b. Girish Karnad c. Khaled Chowdhury d. Badal Sarkar

15. What is India’s position in the latest Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report?

a. 80 b. 90 c. 100 d. 110

16. The President of India Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the first National conference of Women legislators titled “The Role of Women Legislators in Nation Building (Mahila Janpratinidhi – Sashakt Bharat Ki Nirmata)” in New Delhi. What is the theme of the first National conference of Women legislators?

a. Building Resurgent India b. Rising Women Power c. Unite Women of India d. Women’s Role in Building

India

17. The National Safety Day/ Week Campaign is observed in India every year to highlight the importance of Safety in all spheres of life so as to prevent mishaps and accidents resulting out of neglect or lack of awareness. On which day of the year is it observed?

a. March 3 b. March 4 c. March 5 d. March 6

18. Raymond Tomlinson, who died recently, was related to which field?

a. Computer programming b. Journalism c. Archery d. Swimming

19. This Indian airline has operated the longest all-women crew flight from New Delhi to San Francisco. The flight returned to New Delhi on March 8, 2016, to commemorate the International Women’s Day. Name the airline.

a. Vistara b. Air India c. Indi Go d. Jet Airways

20. How many times has the Indian cricket team won the Asia cup T20 trophy?

a. 4 b. 5 c. 6 d. 7

21. The International Women’s Day is observed every year on March 8 to highlight the achievements of women while calling for greater equality. What is the campaign theme of the 2016 International Women’s Day?

a. #PledgeForEquality b. #PledgeForParity c. #PledgeForFreedom d. #PledgeForUnity

22. Name the bank that has launched iWork@home programme for its women employees.

a. Axis b. SBI c. HDFC d. ICICI

23. A 108-feet tall idol of Lord Rishabhdeva, the first

Teerthankar of Jains, carved out of a single rock, has entered the “Guinness World Records” as the world’s tallest Jain statue. Name the state in India where it is located?

a. Gujarat b. Maharashtra c. Rajasthan d. Uttarakhand

24. Who has been appointed as the new chairman of Bombay Stock exchange (BSE)?

a. Sudhakar Rao b. Prem Kumar c. S Ramadorai d. Sethurathnam Ravi

25. This classical musician was invited by Secretary-General of the United Nations, U Thant to give a special concert at the UN. This was the first performance by any Indian classical musician at the UN. Name the musician.

a. Pt. Jasraj b. Ustad Jakir Hussain c. MS Subbulakshmi d. Pt. Bhimsen Joshi

26. Which of the following two seas surround the Crimean Peninsula?

a. Wadden Sea and Black Sea b. Caspian Sea and Sea of

Azov c. Black Sea and Sea of Azov d. Black Sea and

Mediterranean Sea

27. AlphaGo is a computer program developed by Google DeepMind in London. It has defeated human champions of the game and is considered a breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence. To which of the following is it related to?

a. A board game of China b. Music and Media search c. Live video streaming d. Search Engine algorithms

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How to PlayFill 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.

SuDoKu

For more similar puzzles, visit:www.sudoku.com

ANSWERS

GLOBESCAN

1. b 2. d 3. c 4. b 5. a

6. d 7. c 8. b 9. a 10. c

11. a 12. c 13. d 14. a 15. b

16. a 17. b 18. a 19. b 20. c

21. b 22. d 23. b 24. a 25. c

26. c 27. a 28. c 29. a 30. d

31. a 32. b

WORD DOSE

28. She is an Oasis-class cruise ship With a gross tonnage of 227,700 GT, she is the largest passenger ship in the world, surpassing her older sisters MS Oasis of the Seas and MS Allure of the Seas by some 2,000 gross tons. Name her.

a. Legend of the Seas b. Splendour of the Seas c. Harmony of the Seas d. Grandeur of the Seas

29. What is the approximate contribution of real estate in India’s national GDP?

a. 9% b. 59% c. 19% d. 29%

30. India and this country have launched the Fulbright – Kalam Climate Fellowship that enables Indian research scholars to work with institutions of the country in the field of climate change. Name the country.

a. Australia b. France c. UK d. USA

31. Name the country that hosted the 2016 World Congress of Biosphere Reserves.

a. Peru b. Switzerland c. Belgium d. USA

32. The World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is observed every year as an occasion of solidarity among consumers for promotion of the rights of consumers and to ensure that consumers are protected from unscrupulous traders and their consumer grievances are redressed. When is the day observed?

a. March 14 b. March 15

c. March 16 d. March 17

1. m 2. r 3. e 4. b 5. q6. t 7. a 8. c 9. d 10. s11. n 12. f 13. k 14. g 15. h16. o 17. i 18. j 19. p 20. l

A mba april2016

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