INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Q1. Tell me about yourself.

My name is Prachi Das. I am born and brought up in Delhi. I have done my graduation in B.COM (H)
from TIPS, IP University and completed my schooling from St. Mary’s School, Dwarka and post-that
pursuing PGPM from ICFAI Business School, Gurgaon specialising in the area of Finance marketing. N
I chose, this field, because I have keen interest and passion towards learning the managerial side of
the business and explore the corporate world at larger extent. Recently, I have pursued a 14-week
Summer Internship Program from Sharekhan Ltd, wherein I got the exposure to live market trading,
learnt about how different accounts that are activated on Sharekhan, why mutual fund is important
and was later assigned the task to cross-sell Demat accounts to different prospects in Delhi NCR.

I have my interest in singing, dancing, cooking and I am also a fitness enthusiast. In my family, I have
my parents and an elder sister. My father is a businessman in the field of fire-fighting systems,
mother is a homemaker, and sister is working with Bharti Axa Life Insurance in the HR function.

During my under-grad, I participated and secured Second Position in Inter College Tug of War Event
of Women.

At IBS, I have received a Merit Scholarship for Academic Performance in Semester 1, I am also part of
the Internship Cell wherein I have connected with eminent speakers and corporates for various
events. Additionally, I am also an active member of the Financial Markets - Core Committee.

In nutshell, I would like to believe, that all these experiences have made me more patient as an
individual, have taught me various skills such as negotiation skills, time management, people
management and I feel more confident, focussed, and committed towards all my endeavours.

OR

Tell me something about yourself which is not there on your resume?

My name sir, as mentioned in the “resume” is Prachi Das. I come from a middle class business family
which has inculcated in me certain values in life which I hold dear, such as commitment to a task,
hard-work, sharing, be respectful and thankful etc. I have done my schooling from St. Mary’s School,
Dwarka and graduation from TIPS, affiliated to GGSIPU, and currently pursuing PGPM course from
IBS, Gurgaon. I like listening to music, reading about financial news, watching movies, travelling,
cooking etc. One of my special moment of my life was, when me and my family went out to
Singapore for a week, after my graduation, which was really soothing and one of the memorable
trips of my life. I am big cynophile, even though I was bitten by a dog in my childhood, despite that I
am still crazy for dogs and hope to adopt one in my near future. Also, during my college days, I have
been the CR of my batch and a member of anti-ragging committee n have represented myself for the
same.

Q2. What are your Learnings from SIP?

From my 14-week SIP, I have learnt about how brokerage is generated for intra-day and delivery
trades; further learnt about how different accounts are activated on Sharekhan, why mutual
fund is important; live example and trading into derivatives and currency, and learning about
 Trade Tiger software, a better and smooth way to carry out trades, i.e., directly from desktop
site.

Apart from this, I have learnt to manage my emotions, stay patient and calm, because stock
market tests both at every second while trading in financial markets.

Also, I have learnt teamworking and people management skills, because once or twice every
week we were supposed to work in teams to discuss and suggest strategies for a better position
in financial market, which requires coordination, team-player spirit, active listening, empathy,
and sense of accountability.

Also, I did earn both profits and losses, due to some good and bad decisions, and I have realized
decisions need to be made analytically without emotions and with critical thinking.

Further, I did cross-sell Demat account to different prospects, from where I developed good
negotiation skills and inter-personal skills and enhance my networking skills as well.

So, I can say, before SIP, I was quite patient but not emotionally strong, and also was unable to
keep track of my past deeds. But with SIP, I was able to orient myself and work on various
aspects as shared.

Q3. Why do you have gap before your pgpm and after your graduation?

After graduation, I had CURIOSITY to learn more and widen my perspective and knowledge base in
the field of laws that govern and ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements.
Since, this involved repetitive attempts, and huge time investment, so I switched to pursue MBA so
as to get managerial skills, networking with PEOPLE, developing and thereby honing my
employability skills and be corporate-ready in new normal times.

Q4. Why MBA?

As a B.COM(H) graduate, I have keen interest and passion towards learning the managerial side of
the business and thereby explore the corporate world at larger extent. It is also important for me,
because as and when I did Internship with Omnis Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd. Wherein I through
cold calling, I was unable to experience and learn about the managerial side of the company, which
then drives me to pursue MBA from a well renowned college/University, Like IBS.

Q5. Why IBS?

IBS offers good campus placement, focusses on placing more than 95% of students, comprises of
50+alumini based professors, provides corporate exposure and experience through 14-week SIP,
prints and publishes case studies, which are used at various top B-schools, institutions, and also has
its own case management centre.

IBS enjoys 50k + alumni base, provides corporate exposure and experience through 14-week SIP,
holistic case-study teaching methodology, offers good campus placement, and focusses on placing
more than 95% of students.

Q6. Where do you see yourself 5 Years from now?

I see myself working for challenging role at a managerial post, where I can add more value to the
organization, exploring myself across various finance domains, and employed for an esteemed and
well recognised organization.

Q7. Why Finance and Marketing?

My interest into finance arose because I like to read about

-economic events

-RBI policies that are formulated with respect to monetary and fiscal policy

-Status of Financial markets, what strategies companies are implementing to tap opportunities

-Industrial sector: How different industries are growing/falling due to global pandemic

-Projects and deals taking place amongst different institutions, governmental bodies

Eg. When I talk about the agm of reliance industries where chairman Mukesh ambani proposes to
invest about 10bn dollars in next 5 years in Green and Clean energy such as solar energy

For this they acquire 5000 acre of land in Jamnagar(Gujrat-where they have their largest oil refinery)

And also in marketing because I have experience into cold-calling, selling and cross-selling insurance
policies and demat account in my internships.

Q8. What is your greatest professional/personal achievement till date?

My greatest achievement till date has been through 14-week SIP experience which I got after I was
trained at Sharekhan ltd., wherein I got the exposure to live market trading, doing regular trades,
that made me more patient, quantitative and logical.

Q9. Why should we hire you? OR What will you bring to the table?

You should hire me because, I can be a valuable resource for the company, as I am committed
towards my role, take full responsibility for my job, flexible and adaptable in different environment,
take appropriate steps, give priority to work ethics, and always keep improving and enhancing my
skills at all times.

Q10. Why should we not hire you?

Because I have inability to say no.

Q11. Do you believe that only an MBA can do managerial/administrative work? Are engineers not
capable enough to do it?

I guess they are, but then, an MBA can look into a situation through different scenarios and arrive at
a appropriate solution.

Q12. Are you a team player?

Yes.

Q13. How many friends do you have?

Q16. Can you talk of an incident when you demonstrated that you have the ability to get along with

Weakness
Strengths Sensitive(eg. When
Sensitive(eg. When someone shouts or
someone shouts or speaks
speaks loudly
loudly inin conversation,
conversation, ii tend
tend toto
Perseverance(eg. I participated in Cultural Fest organised at IBS online, feel aa little
feel little low
low and
and apologetic;
apologetic; but
but ii am
am learning
learning the
the skill
skill to
to just
just concentrate
concentrate on on
facts that
facts that are
are there
there for
for my
my development,
development, and and take
take comments
comments of of people
people in in
but couldnt win, but still i paricipate) positive wayway for
for mymy development)
development)
positive
Flexible and Adaptable(eg. i have made amny projects in groups and Inability to say 'no'(eg. Whenever I hang out or get a project, i
Inability to say 'no'(eg. Whenever I hang out or get a project, i am unable to am unable to
also went on trips in groups with different people, either in family, or say no
say no for
for payments,
payments, or or for
for responsibilities
responsibilities which
which come
come along,
along, due
due toto which
which my my
during grad/post-grad, but i got along with everyone, and never gave work-pressure increases,
work-pressure increases, but
but ii m
m now
now learning
learning to
to swiftly
swiftly and
and in
in aa logical
logical and
and
any chance of complaint) more reasonable
more reasonable way way say
say no)
no)
Patience(eg. During grad, i did Happiness program-AOL Course, which Leadership(eg., when
Leadership(eg., when group
group projects are given
projects are given by
by faculties,
faculties, ii am
am unable
unable to to lead
lead
made calm n composed, developed patience and also, after SIP in FM, i or guide,
or guide, butbut ii am
am aa teamplayer,
teamplayer, because
because ii get
get along
along with
with everyone
everyone easiliy
easiliy and
and
do all
do all tasks
tasks effectively
effectively on
on time,
time, and
and suggest
suggest measures
measures better
better to
to everyone
everyone to to
became more logical and calculative) perform better)
better)
perform

SWOT
SWOT

Opportunities Threats
Mock GD/PI/Extempore
Stay in trend with news associated with domain knowledge
Revise learned skills
Keep track of Domain-specific companies and their profiles

anyone?

Q17. Think of an instance of conflict that you have experienced during your pgpm/sip. What
initiatives did you take to resolve that conflict after resolving the conflict, how was your relationship
with the team or person with whom you had the conflict?

Q18. Have you ever faced a situation where your views/beliefs were against those of your co-
workers. how did you handle the situation?

Q19. SWOT

Q20. Your favourite subject

Fintech

Top 5 companies with valuation(1-2 companies full detail like founder name, key investors, product,
growth) +1 global company

a) Paytm- parent company of One97 Communications

-Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma

-Valuation: $25 billion to $30 billion

-Key Investors: Softbank, Ant Financial, AGH Holdings, SAIF Partners etc.

-Growth: 1.2 Bn Monthly Transactions, 15% Monthly Growth

-UPI transactions hit an all-time high in June, registering over a 10 percent increase after witnessing
a consistent decline in April and May.

-UPI transactions hit an all-time high in June, registering over a 10 percent increase after witnessing a
consistent decline in April and May.

b) Bill Desk

-parent Company: IndiaIdeas.com Ltd.

-Indian online payment gateway company based in Mumbai, India. 

-Founder: M.N. Srinivasu; Ajay Kaushal; Karthik Ganapathy

- Valuation: $1.8 billion in February last year

- Key Investors: General Atlantic, TA Associates, Clearstone Venture and Temasek
Holdings.
- Growth: generated 65.5% of the topline through electronic transaction processing
fees, which grew by 19.8% from Rs 993.5 crore in FY19 to Rs 1,190.3 crore in FY20.
c) Pine Labs(The company connects financial institutions and consumer brands to empower
merchants to deliver value to their retail customers)
d) LendinKart(online financing company that provides short-term working capital loans to
SME borrowers)
e) Ant Financial(based in Hangzhou city, China; owns several financial services
heavyweights, including Alipay, the largest online payment platform, and Yu'e Bao;
Founder: Jack Ma; Founded: 16 October 2014; Value: about $220 billion)

Latest Investment and deals/m&a

Govt Policies/Regulations

Q21. If you could change one incident from your life.....

Q22. Why a particular organisation?

Eg. Because Deloitte is one of the big 4 companies in consulting and audit domain- providing audit &
assurance, tax, legal, risk and financial advisory and consulting services, where I will get opportunity
to showcase my skills learnt in my expertise area-finance.

Q23. What is your opinion about-Virtual mode of education?

Q24. How many times do the hands of clock cross?

In case of 24hrs

22 times, 12pm, 12am, 1.05pm, 1.05am

Q25. How many flights take off from Delhi airport everyday?

Q26. Sell Yourself.

Skills

Objective

Long-term Goal