Sonali Singhal

Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Sonali Singhal DB Capital Markets Shonali First Round What will you do if I give you one day free? What excites you? There were no technical questions in this round, but the interviewer asked the following puzzles: What is the square root of 8? What is the square root of 10,000? What is the square root of 10,008? There are two buckets 5litres and 3litres. You need 4 liters of water. How will you collect 4 liters? How have been your experience at ISB?

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview

None

I was confident and relaxed. I felt they were looking for people who were natural in answering and not mugged up the answers. Nothing

Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

Sonali Singhal DB Capital Markets I dont remember his name Second Round What is your passion?

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them)

This was a technical round. The following questions were asked: What is BIS? What is capital adequacy ratio? What are the various components of a banks balance sheet? If we have to reduce the risk of the small debt holders, how will you do keeping the asset side constant? None

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview

None

I was able to answer questions relating to the balance sheet well. DB took out the short-list in the morning and asked us to come in an hour. I had not prepared ant technical questions. Please prepare Basel Accord, Bank of International Settlements well. Sonali Singhal DB Capital Markets Amit Bordia Third Round Why ISB? Why MBA? Did you attend the PPT? Tell me one positive and one negative of the PPT? (This guy came for the PPT, so he asked this) None None

Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share

None

them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview

I think I answered the PPT question well, being an unexpected one. This was a 2 minutes interview. I think it was just an elimination round. Be cool and relaxed. All the Best!!!

Manisha Gudhka
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Manisha Gudka Ernst & Young Role with Lead Advisory (TAS) Navroze Mahudawala, Associate Director, Dhawal Madhlani, Sr. Associate and Mohua Banerjee, HR One and the only round but lasted 45 mins Questions about my interests, family background, about my journey from school to business school on the personal front. How will you handle positions with lesser powers compared to your previous jobs? Questions about my native town what kind of businesses, the kind of spending power of the people there, what business would you start in your town if your dad were to give you Rs. 5 cr, - All this despite the fact that I had moved out of my home town 4 years ago. How do you value real estate stocks, how do you value warehouses, pick a stock for you to invest and for a fund to invest. Why is this stock better than the others. What multiple is a better multiple for valuation compared to other multiples. Tell us about your ISB experiences which have a bearing on your personality. Questions and counter questions on my resume, ELP and some questions beyond the ELP topic but testing corporate finance skills in the sector on which I did my ELP I was able to build a very good rapport and felt comfortable with the panel right in the first 5 mins of the interview. That is very important. Another thing they liked about me, I think, was that I was very honest and did not try to bluff. It is OKAY to say I dont know. If you feel that you are saying I dont know too many times in a row, try to introduce things and aspects you know about the questions asked or the sector referred to. Nothing went wrong.

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview

What do you think went wrong in this interview

S. Mode No. 1 Current Affairs

Resources (with e.g.) Newspapers (ET, FT, WSJ), websites (ft.com); magazines (economist)

Time Required Half an hr a day

Remarks Though I was not regulat with the papers, I made it a point to catch up NDTV profit and CNBC You should be thorough with your core term subjects and you are done.

Macro Economics

GLEC slides and relevance to current affairs

1 day during the interview prep week Half an hr per interview One day during the interview prep week

3 4

Personal Interview Finance

3 Mocks with my quady and one each with a couple of friends in the industry Refreshed all the finance subjects of core and electives

Sector

ELP, Analyst reports, newspapers and TV

Finance is my passion so I used to keep reading throughout the year. Hence there was not much pressure during the interview prep week It helps to have knowledge of a couple of sectors and thorough understanding of the trends in that sector.

It helps if you dont consider interview prep as a separate assignment to be done for placement week; your entire ISB stint is a job/career prep cum interview prep program. I was very comfortable because I knew I am preparing myself for a career and if at all due to the wagery of the placement week, I dont land into a job that leads to the career I want then I can always try outside of the campus because placement week is not the end of the world ! Dont get too much under pressure and your job is half done.

Career Movement S. Qualific No. ation 1 CS, B.Com Prior Experience Organisation Role SUN Group Legal, due diligence, corporate structuring SUN F&C CS & Asset Compliance Management Pvt. Ltd Years 1.75 Placement Organisation Role E&Y Lead Advisory (TAS)

Harshvardhan Lunia
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Harshvardhan Lunia CITI Bank Experienced Management Associate Program. There was a Panel of Interviewers, including Business heads and HR people. First round: One person interview panel. Second round: Two person interview panel (1- Business head & 1- HR) These are PI questions, I was asked in the interviews, not exactly in the same order. 1) Tell me about yourself. 2) Why MBA? Why ISB? 3) Difference that you observed between CA & MBA? 4) Why consumer banking? 5) Why EMA program? 6) Where do you want to be 5 years from now? 10 years from now? 7) Why CITI bank? Few technical questions that I was asked ; 1) What is IRR? What does it mean? 2) What is PLR? (Prime Lending Rate) 3) What is present Savings rate? (I gave him the prevalent FD rates, but the Savings account rate and FD rates are different. He corrected me in this and asked the difference between both of them.) 4) Areas in consumer banking that can still be explored for increasing business? 1) How was your ISB experience? & how has it changed you?

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them)

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share

them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) First Round interview experience. What do you think went right for you in this interview?

1) Tell me about job profile prior to joining ISB? 2) What are the challenges that you observed during your last job? My first round interviewer was a bit pissed off, with delay in arrangements at Placements. The coordinator for CITI bank informed me that he was not that humble with the two candidates that had gone before me. So when I entered the room I tendered an apology for the arrangements and stuff and asked him if he needed anything more. He smiled and responded that he didnt require anything. (Humility helps ) Also during the first round, I realized that I was getting a bit nervous and jumbling things up. So rather than carrying on, I told the interviewer that today being Day 1 of placement week, I was feeling a bit nervous and hope he wouldnt mind if I jumbled few things up. He gave me a hearty smile at this. The conversation than between us was quite cheerful. The second round was with a business head and a person from HR. The interview was kind of a conversation and more towards my fit for the role. I was asked questions like where do I want to go from ISB? Why Banking? Five years down the line? 10 years down the line? Why Citi Bank etc.

Second Round interview experience. What do you think went right for you in this interview?

S. No. 1

Mode Current Affairs

Resources (with e.g.) Newspapers (ET, FT, WSJ), websites (ft.com); magazines (economist) LRC

Time Required 1 month

Remarks One should be update with current affairs of at least last one month. One should be comfortable with all the topics in Vault Guide.

Vault Guide for Finance Interviews Corporate Finance Module Sector reports Finance Interview Questions.

3 4 5

Term 3 hand out. Banking in India and abroad. Finance 2008 Folder.

Additional Comments for preparation:

1)

Mock Interview preparation with friends and co-students is a must. You should be aware of your voice modulation, body language, expressions etc. Practice as many
interviews as you can and work on your soft skills.

2) The basic 25 PI questions should be very well prepared. Normally they are the base of all the interviews that you shall give. 3) Search the company website well and try to view the video of PPT and memorize few important facts for the company. Why our company? Is one of the most favorite question of interviewers? 4) Be very well versed for the areas and the segment in which you are going to get interviewed? Khyati Dattani Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview Khyati Dattani Enam Securities Analyst Dr Subramanium, Head of Investment Banking Only 1 round purely on my resume 1) Tell me something about yourself 2) Why I Banking 3) Why BCOM and CA All technical questions were based on my resume 1) How investments are structured into India through Mauritius due to the DTAA and the tax implications 1) What work I had done for the finance club as well details on the CMC

1) Whether I had attended the Enam ppt and what I liked about it? 2) Why Enam over other I banks? I was confident and knew my resume well. I also answered why Enam over other IBs. It is important to watch the company ppt before the interview to get a perspective. He asked me something technical about my work ex which I couldnt answer very accurately.

Interview Preparation Guide S. Mode Resources (with e.g.) No. 1 Current Affairs Newspapers (ET, FT, WSJ), websites (ft.com); magazines (economist) 2 Macro Class notes Economics 3 Stock market Follow stocks 4 Corp fin Class notes, Brealey & Myers And last years int prep notes 5 M&A Class notes & last years int prep notes 6 Industry Cricinfac reports/investextplus & Damodaran website 7 Deal VC Circle/analyst reports from Reuters 8 Personal Interview Write down own answers

Time Required

Remarks

Valuation and ratios Deal rationale/synergies/valuatio n Most important

Career Movement S. Qualific No. ation 1 CA, BCOM Prior Experience Organisation Role Ernst & Young Executive Years 2.5 Placement Organisation Role Enam Analyst Securities

Shyam Prasad
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Shyam Prasad.A Ambit Eq Research Eq Research Associate Dont recollect. There was the Head HR and someone from Corp Fin 1 Tell me abt urself Walked them through my resume, my strengths insisting on the skills reqd for the job and culminated in hobbies Weakness Too analysis oriented

Why Eq Research Told them abt recognition on name coming in reports, interaction with CEO, in-depth industry knowledge blah blah Why Ambit? What do you know abt the company Total nightmare. Just went blank. Had not prepared the previous day on this qn Family details Follow on goof up. The previous question upset my rhythm. Which Industry do you track? Telecom Tell us about it Told them about the spectrum issue, Nripendra Mishra the TRAI chairmans reservation on this issue, how it is anti competition and about number portability & its impact on Reliance, Airtel likely valuation impact. (This was part of my independent study) Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview Why MBA? Told them career progression, how as a CA, the profile was inward looking and historical. Talked about case studies at ISB. Valuation understanding. Larger picture etc Why frequent job shift? Told them the rationale impressing on career progression and shift. My industry understanding was very good. Despite a disastrous PI, I think this clinched the deal. Also had my work-ex very clear in my mind. 1) Why Ambit was a disaster. I had not prepared for it before the interview. This had its effect on the next qn too. 2) I was too excited as a result spoke very fast.

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them)

Interview Preparation Guide S. Mode No. 1 Current Affairs 2 3 Macro Economic Corp Fin Resources (with e.g.) Newspapers (ET, FT, WSJ), websites (ft.com); magazines (economist) Faculty notes Pls read the prescribed text thoroughly Mansinghka or Bhagwan notes and text book Time Required Daily notes 2 days in term 7 if u r thorough in term 2 3 days in term 7 if u r thorough in Remarks

prescribed Career Movement S. Qualific No. ation 1 CA, B.Com 2 3 Prior Experience Organisation Role Hutchison Sox Compliance Essar Aircel Revenue Assurance KPMG Audit

term 3

Years 0.5 0.75 0.75

Placement Organisation Role Ambit Jr Eq Research Analyst

Sonali Singhal
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Sonali Singhal HSBC Bank Credit & Risk Panel of Three (AVP HR and SVP Credit) First Round: Test Second Round: PI based Interview What type of companies you are interviewing with? Do you know about HSBC and the role? Resume based PI questions Technicals was tested on the basis of the test conducted 4 days prior to the placements week. They had given us an annual report and statement from the relationship manager about a company which wanted a loan. We need to analyze whether we should give the loan or not. None

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview

None

I was confident and relaxed. Nothing

Divya Bijlwan
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Divya Bijlwan Morgan Stanley Analyst, Investment Banking Mr Siddhartha Nahata, Ms Swapna Theendiyath, Mr Asad Husain, Mr Sunil Khaitan I had two rounds with the bank Why Finance? Why Investment Banking? Which sphere of Investment Banking? Interest in any particular sector? We had a discussion on hiring me for Analyst position vs Associate position. Valuations different types. When to use which kind? If two projects of same capacity using same material are coming up near each other, do they have the same valuation? Why or why not? If I have no specific information about a project how will I go about valuing it? Sweeps in Excel and how to address that. Market sentiments and valuation Discussion on Power sector Discussion on Construction sector Discussion on Automobile sector Discussion on Steel sector How did ISB fit into the scheme of things post work? How has it contributed? What would I do differently now? What I learnt in IFFCO? Discussion of various projects I had undertaken. What was the value driver in each of the projects? Things just fell in place that day. The interviewers were very cordial and made me very comfortable. They were asking relevant questions. -

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them)

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview

Interview Preparation Guide S. Mode No. 1 Current Affairs 2 Macro Economics Resources (with e.g.) Newspapers (ET, FT, WSJ), websites (ft.com); magazines (economist) Course MAPI, global Economics Time Required Remarks

Career Movement S. Qualific No. ation 1 CA, B.Com Prior Experience Organisation Role Indian Farmers Strategic Fertiliser Management Cooperative Limited M/S SS Statutory Audit Kothari and Co. M/S Parmod CA Articleship Sharad and Associates Years 2.86 Placement Organisation Role Morgan Associate, Stanley Investment Banking

.75 3

Nilesh Manoriya Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Nilesh Manoriya HDFC Bank Sr. Manager, Corporate Banking Jimmy Tata ( VP, Corp Banking), Abhijeet Mishra ( Sr.VP, HR), Vijay Mulagbal ( Regional Head, Corp Banking) First : General PI question Second: Technical Third: Clarification regarding role, location etc. Why Corp Banking, Can you adapt to the HDFC Bank culture given the fact that you are from Public Sector Bank, Why HDFC bank, Question regarding Work-ex ( mainly elaborating on those achievements), Where do you see yourself 5-10-15 years down the line, etc. Which sector do you follow? ( Steel, I said) What is different about the sector in terms of financial parameters (talked about few ratios viz. D/E, Op. Margins etc.) Given these facts, what sort of banking services can be offered to a steel company? ( LC, BG, Term loans etc.) How has the financials of Indian Steel Industry changed after Tata-Corus deal and what is in it for banks?( Advisory services,

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview Interview Preparation Guide S. Mode No. 1 Current Affairs 2 Macro Economics

ECB,CMP, etc.) What is the difference between lending to SME and big corporates apart from the scale? What other factors would you consider for lending to corporates? How ISB helped you in achieving your objectives? (General gyan) Every point on resume was discussed in detail during first interview. Be prepared for: How you did what you did? What was the impact on the company and what you learnt from that? Problems faced and how you overcame them? Preparation on few industry sectors and extensive discussion over it with friends.

Resources (with e.g.) Newspapers (ET, FT, WSJ), websites (ft.com); magazines (economist)

Time Required

Remarks

Career Movement S. Qualific No. ation 1 CA, B.Com Prior Experience Organisation Role MSCI Barra Equity Indices Research PwC Internal Audit & Risk Management Years 1.5 4.5 Placement Organisation Role Ambit Exec Assistant to CEO

Harshvardhan Lunia
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Harshvardhan Lunia GE Commercial Finance Experienced Commercial Leadership Program. There was a Panel of Interviewers, including Business heads and HR people. First round: One person interview panel. Second round: One person interview panel. Third round : Country Head, ECLP & HR person (Video conference) Fourth round : Head PE & Corporate Planning & Marketing (Teleconference) These are PI questions, I was asked in the interviews, not exactly in the same order. 8) Walk me through your resume? 9) We want to interview you both for ECLP & Lateral role, which one would you prefer and why? 10) Why MBA? 11) Why ISB? How have you changed after ISB experience? 12) Why sales? 13) Sales function is very frustrating and more so in GE, would you be able to handle that? 14) Why should we take you? 15) You have only 3.5 years experience; our minimum requirement is 5 years, why did you apply? For lateral role our minimum experience is 8 years and you have applied for that too? 16) Where do you want to be 5 years from now? 10 years from now? 17) What is one thing that your friends like the most about you at ISB? 18) What is one thing that they hate the most about you? 19) What are the few of the major challenges that you have faced in your past experience? How did you overcome them? 20) Any team problems? 21) State one of the most dire situation in which you took a very critical decision? The most important question asked in three of four interviews was: What do you know about GE? About GE CF? And Why do you want to work for GE? Or What does GE signify to you? Technical & Professional experience questions. Few technical questions that I was asked ; 5) What is Credit Risk Management? 6) How did you do the same at Stan Chart?

Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

7) How did you evaluate proposals at Stan Chart? How was it different from HDFC bank? 8) Why it is difficult to lend to SMEs? What additional factors would you like to keep in mind when lending to SMEs? 9) Do you want to know anything about how credit is done at GE? 10) What is one of the strongest points of GE CF? (My answer was its AAA rating as an NBFC. The interviewer was looking for an answer of Capacity to raise funds at cheap rates. He led me to that answer, through few more questions.) 11) Why is it so important for GECF to maintain its AAA rating intact? 12) Where do foreign and Indian banks normally raise money from? 13) Did you have a bad loan during your term, and how did you go about it? Interview Preparation Guide S. Mode No. 1 Current Affairs Resources (with e.g.) Newspapers (ET, FT, WSJ), websites (ft.com); magazines (economist) LRC Time Required 1 month Remarks One should be update with current affairs of at least last one month. One should be comfortable with all the topics in Vault Guide.

Vault Guide for Finance Interviews Corporate Finance Module Sector reports Finance Interview Questions.

3 4 5

Term 3 hand out. Banking in India and abroad. Finance 2008 Folder.

Career Movement S. Qualific No. ation 1 CA, B.B.A Prior Experience Organization Role Standard Relationship Chartered Bank Manager, SME Banking HDFC Bank Relationship Manager, Business Years 2.5 1 Placement Organization Role ICICI Bank Relationship Manager, Corporate Banking, London.

Banking.

Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

Harshvardhan Lunia ICICI Bank Relationship Manager, Corporate Banking, London There was a Panel of Interviewers, including Business heads and HR people. First round: Three person interview panel. Second round: HR round. These are PI questions, I was asked in the interviews, not exactly in the same order. 22) Tell me about yourself? 23) You were already in banking than why did you decide to do an MBA? Why do you want to go back to banking? 24) Where do you want to be 5 years from now? 10 years from now? Few technical questions that I was asked ; 14) How do you decide the amount of Working capital lending to a company? 15) Have you heard what MPBF is? 16) Do you know about the methods in MPBF? 17) What do you think about the methods? Are they workable or any changes are required in these methods? 18) What is the First way of calculating MPBF? 19) Describe what all things would you look at in a company when deciding whether to lend to it or not? 20) Describe the ratios that you would like to analyze when making Term Lending to a client? How was your year spent at ISB?

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them)

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) First Round interview experience.

1) Few important and different things that you did at Stan Chart? 2) Did you have a bad loan? What did you do in that? 3) Which was the segment that you lent at Stan Chart? Which products did you do? In this interview, I was mainly grilled on the concept of MPBF and working capital lending. Otherwise it was quite a conversational interview. The specific preparations that helped me in this interview were. 1) Ratios & Financial Statement Analysis 2) Fundas of Working Capital Lending. 3) Cash flow Analysis.

4) Proper preparation for my previous job profile and work experience. Second Round Interview experience The second round was just an HR round where they made an offer to me and explained me the job profile.

Richa Arora
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Richa Arora Ocwen financials Practice Manager New opportunities Ashish Pandey First there was a Psychometric test, then a written paper 50 simple questions in 12 minutes and then a technical round. No PI. Just 1 question Why do you want to join this company? This too was just an ice breaker A lot of technical questions Corporate Finance Questions related to Modigliani Miller, market efficiency, APT, etc. Options Black Scholes write the formula and explain completely, trading strategies Calendar spread, bull spread, collars, straddle, etc explain the payoff diagram completely, when do you use them and many questions related to these strategies. Itos lemma and Weiner process Three puzzles some fundae related to Probability and Bayesian theorem. (You should be very thorough with corporate finance, Derivatives and Quant concepts) No questions on ISB

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview

I did not have any relevant professional experience and they were also not interested in knowing about work ex.. But they give a lot of importance to psychometric test. I had not cleared their psychometric test so they asked me some questions related to how I behave in a team, and how I react to different situations to judge if I will be able to work in their company. Luckily I was asked whatever I knew so I was very fast in answering them. I could solve the puzzles quickly, so I think that went in my favor. Moreover they also gave a lot of importance to personality fit. Fortunately they found the fit in me. Many people were rejected even before the technical round on the basis of psychometric test.

What do you think went wrong in this interview

It was a kind of stress interview and he was not giving a lot of time to answer. At times he would disturb you and talk as if he was irritated. I got a little nervous towards the end and that became quiet visible. Dont be nervous. I think it is their style of taking the interview. They did the same with everyone. Keep your cool and answer all this questions.

Interview Preparation Guide S. Mode No. 1 Current Affairs Career Movement S. Qualification No. 1 Computer Science Engineer Prior Experience Organisation Role D.E.Shaw Software Developer Years 2.7 Placement Organisation Role Ocwen Practice Financials Manager New Opportunities Resources (with e.g.) Newspapers - ET Time Required Remarks

Atul Saraogi
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Atul Saraogi JM Financial Investment Banking Corporate Finance 5 of them 3 in Panel 1 (Sherill - MD, Bhavesh and HR) and 2 in Panel 2 Interview 1 and 2 combined You have 5 mins to pitch for yourself and time starts now (make sure you cover the points you want to convey and keep time in mind else it will the interviewer the opportunity to put you down) Why I-Banking I related it to my prior experience How your prior experience is helpful in this role linked my experience in diligence to corporate finance What qualities you have (and you dont have) that are required for this kind of role just make key pointers with some relevant examples from past experience Whom did u interview with on Day 0 All consulting companies. I told them that it was my Plan B. Why did you interview with consulting firms How would you pitch to a client for offering CF service What things would you cover in the pitch book? How would you negotiate on behalf of your client How would you value a company Explain the 3 traditional methods Whats sensex trading at today?

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) -

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

Whats the PE of sensex (both current and forward earnings) Where do u think markets are heading? I said its relatively undervalued when we compare the PEG ratio with other emerging economies (especially BRIC) - If you are given tomorrows newspaper today, how much would you pay for buying it? - Why JM - Questions on Sector you track (it was real estate for me) - How would you value a real estate company? How did your experience at ISB made you a better fit than wat you were before coming here? Talked about my office bearing position, change in perspectives and backed it with an example. What things have you done at ISB that helps to stand out?

Kanika Berry
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Remarks Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Kanika Berry HDFC, Citibank, Barclays Treasury, Senior Manager I had got offers from Citibank (EMA Program), Barclays (Product Manager) and HDFC (Treasury) so I would be covering a bit of all the interviews. HDFC had 1 round, Citi had 2 rounds and Barclays also had 2 HDFC: My background. Asked me why am I so aggressive? Strengths and how I leverage them. Citibank: Tell me something about yourself, What do I like doing in my free time?, Strengths and weaknesses, Why Citibank, Why this program, Why me. HDFC:What all Greek letters I know about, asked to explain them and how they affect investment decisions, Asked me to explain the technicalities involved in the Sub Prime crisis and then asked to explain the whole crisis in a lay mans language. Gave a situation and asked to use one spread technique to hedge my risk. Citibank: What is a bank rate? What all tools can the government use to curtail inflation? Asked me the prevailing rates. Asked if savings bank account rate is regulated or discretionary? HDFC: I have acted in a movie which was produced and directed by one of the students. He asked me about the movie, about my character. About my learnings from different finance subjects. Citi: What is different about the Kanika who joined ISB and the Kanika who would be passing out in a months time?,

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

What do you think went right for you in this interview

What do you think went wrong in this interview

Barclays: Skill set acquired? What do I like about ISB, What Would I want to be changed in the course? Why did I decide on ISB for my MBA? HDFC: How do I manage customer relationships? I had exceptional achievements with respect to my sales target at HSBC so he asked me about what is that I did to manage such numbers, Citi: If I have a weak link in my team how will I mange it? When will I make the use of a pink slip and would I even do that. If a project is not being completed on time what explanation will I give to my supervisor? If I have time and again tried contacting my supervisor to check on the progress of the project but he has not paid any attention, and now that the project is 90% complete, he tells me that everything needs to be re worked from the beginning , then how will I react and handle the situation?. There were more questions similar situations. Barclays: Is retail banking Marketing or Finance? How will I explain the difference to fellow ISBians? HDFC: I was taken aback by his comment on my being aggressive as I have always believed that I was anything but aggressive, but what worked was that I did not react to the comment and answered it well. Also the interviewer kept on insisting on the fact that I have no prior experience in Treasury but I insisted that learning of a financial product is never too difficult , what is difficult are the soft skills which in this case would be the ability to sell and I had tested skills in that. Citibank: My past experience helped me answer all the questions, and I was the Citi scholar so already shared a rapport with them. Barclays: Connected well with the interviewer, he floated an idea that he wanted to built on and I was able to help him with the pros and the cons and immediately offered me a job to built and develop that idea and become the product manager for that. HDFC:I was able to answer the sub prime part, was also able to answer3 Greek letters but when he asked for more, I wasnt well prepared. So technical questions is where I goofed up.

Interview Preparation Guide

S. No. 1 Mode Current Affairs Resources (with e.g.) Newspapers (ET, FT, WSJ), websites (ft.com); magazines (economist) Time Required Read on ft.com every alternate day Remarks It helps but towards the end I realized that there were sites that could have helped build sectoral perspectives: Knowledge @Wharton is a very good site. The revision of the slides will also do There is a 60 page document on valuation that will help. Revise 2 subjects that you can talk about if required. I revised F&O, Fixed Income, Corp Fin and Investment Valuation.

2 3

Macro Economics Corporate Finance

The text book The book needs to be revised

Futures and Options

Rekha Ranganathan
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Rekha Ranganathan Deutsche Bank Global Banking Associate (Corporate Finance) a) Jaideep Lakshminarayanan Head Infrastructure, Transport and Consumer Investment Banking, Asia b) Deepak Dangayach Associate Debt Products, Asia First round, first and only interview 1. Tell me something about yourself

Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions

(with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them)

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

2. Resume-based questions about hobbies, academic performance, etc 3. Why do you think you did well in your academics? 4. Why do you want to pursue investment banking? 5. What do you think distinguishes a career in consumer banking from a career in investment banking? 1. How would you value any company? 2. How would you value a BPO? (In the work-experience section of my resume, I had mentioned about one of my clients who is a BPO) 3. How would you project the companys cash flows? 4. What are the factors that would affect the projections? 5. How would the valuation differ if the company was a captive BPO v/s a third-party BPO? 6. What are the key drivers of the business of a BPO? 7. How would you estimate the cost of capital? 8. What is the beta? How would you estimate it? 9. Estimate the cost of capital for the BPO valuation we just discussed. State your assumptions and give us ONE SPECIFIC number. 10. Why do valuations differ between different bidders? 11. Why would the valuation differ between two bidders if they have similar risk profiles and similar estimated synergies? 12. What, apart from synergies would you consider for valuation? 13. What do you think makes or breaks a deal? 14. Why do you think bidders are ready to pay unimaginable sums of money for their targets? None

1. Elaborate on this assignment that you have mentioned on your assignment. (This was an income-tax consulting assignment that I had done about which Jaideep posed in-depth questions) 2. What was so special about this assignment? What was the challenge (Technical challenge, not people-related challenge)? As you would have noticed, the technical questions were very simple and fundamental. Clarity on basic corporate finance concepts is key. I was not at all prepared for the personal questions. (This was the first interview that I appeared for on campus and interview prepping was still a month away.)

What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview

Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation

Rekha Ranganathan Deutsche Bank Global Banking Associate (Corporate Finance) Sanjay Agarwal Head, Corporate Finance, India Piyush Gupta, Global Banking, Asia << Dont know the designation >> Second round, first and only interview 1. Tell us something about yourself 2. Questions about hobbies 3. What do you know about a career in investment banking? 4. Give us top 3 reasons why we should choose you over the other applicants (This came at the end of the interview) 1. Do you read financial newspapers? 2. Do you follow deals? 3. Can you describe any IPO or M&A deal that you have recently read or heard about? < I took up the Kingfisher-Air Deccan deal> 4. Where were the synergies expected to come from in this deal? 5. What could have been the deal rationale? 6. Why did KF take up only 26% in Deccan? 7. Do you think airlines are profitable? 8. Do you know of any profitable airline companies? 9. What are the key drivers of the airline industry? 10. Have you heard of real options? Give an example. 11. What do you think are the problems / challenges in corporate finance? 12. What are the key assumptions in CAPM? What did you do differently at ISB? How did ISB contribute to your personality? None

Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them)

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview

I was honest about the fact that I did not much about current deals etc. I told them that I dont read newspapers much. But I offered to discuss the deal rationale and the strategic drivers of the KF-Deccan deal. They were happy with that. Also my clarity in basic corporate finance concepts helped (as it did in Round 1)

What do you think went wrong in this interview

My answer to Personal Question No. 4 was clear and concise, though I was unprepared. I could have kept myself up-to-date with financial news. It would have made a stronger impression.

Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

Rekha Ranganathan Deutsche Bank Global Banking Associate (Corporate Finance) Sanjay Agarwal, Piyush Gupta, Jaideep Lakshminarayanan, Deepak Dangayach Third round, first and only interview 1. Tell us some interesting experiences from your previous workplace 2. Tell us about your short-term and long-term career goals 3. What do think could be your challenges? 4. Are you fine with working for crazy hours? How do you expect to deal with it? 5. Are you fine with working abroad? 6. Are you fine with working bottom-up you will have to spend a lot of time learning the routine, boring work before you progress to more interesting work 7. Do you have questions for us? << I asked them 4-5 questions related to DBs various businesses, my expected career path, work-life balance, DB in India, etc>> None None

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview

None

I was very confident. Had nothing to lose. Told them that I am interested in both Investment Banking and Consulting. They said that they liked my honesty. I also managed to ask good questions Nothing.

Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them) Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview What do you think went wrong in this interview

Rekha Ranganathan Deutsche Bank Global Banking Associate (Corporate Finance) Sanjay Agarwal, Piyush Gupta, Jaideep Lakshminarayanan, Deepak Dangayach Fourth round, first and only interview 1. Why DB? 2. Which other companies are you planning to apply? 3. What do think is the difference between a career in Management Consulting and a career in Investment Banking? None None

None

It was a short interview. They were keen to know whether I am genuinely interested in working with them. My enthusiasm helped. Nothing.

Interview Preparation Guide

S. Mode No. 1 Corporate Finance Resources (with e.g.) Class notes. Thats all. Time Required Remarks Very very very important. Be clear on fundamentals. No need to over-prepare. Just be aware. This is more useful than newspapers!

2 3.

Current Affairs Finance and related news

The Economic Times Discussions with friends and classmates

Career Movement S. No . 1 Qualifi cation CA, B.Com Prior Experience Organisation Role RSM&Co. Placement Years Organisation Deutsche Bank Role Associate, Global Banking (Corporate Finance)

Assistant 1.25 Manager, International Tax and Transfer Pricing Qualified 2 Assistant, International Tax and Transfer Pricing Note: Combine rows if required (as done in the e.g.) Vignesh Shankar
Name of student Company interviewed with Role Name of interviewer and designation Round and interview number (First, Second, Third) Personal Interview questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

Vignesh Shankar Kotak Mahindra Investment Banking Udai Dhawan Senior VP Investment Banking, Yogesh Srivastava Senior VP & Head HR Investment Banking First round (only one interview) - Tell me a little bit about yourself - A few resume based questions (specific to work experience bullet points) - Why did you come to ISB - Why do you want to do i-banking? - What do you want to do in i-banking specifically (i.e., sales/trading, corporate finance, etc.)? Why? - Why are you interested in Kotak? The interviewer asked me technical questions again based on the resume points I had put down. - I had some corporate finance experience prior to ISB, in which I had worked on a fund-raising deal. I was questioned on how I went about executing the deal that I had mentioned in my resume (i.e., preparing teasers/flyers, getting in touch with potential investors, preparing information memorandums, etc.). - How did you undertake valuation in the aforementioned deal? - What sort of PE/VC contacts did you build in the process of

Technical Questions (with indicative answers preferably share them)

Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

Professional Experience Related Questions/Other questions (with indicative answers if you wish to share them) What do you think went right for you in this interview

executing the deal? - Technical questions on an independent study in Real Estate that I had done - Valuation based questions on work I had done for a business plan competition As above. Sorry to have put in everything together (without a proper split up). The fact is that the interview went back and forth between various ISB and experience points, and so it is actually hard to draw a distinction. As mentioned above, I was asked a lot of technical questions based on experience at ISB as well as professional experience. As above.

What do you think went wrong in this interview

- I always maintained a very good rapport with the interviewers. - I was fairly well prepared on all points on my resume. I believe that that helped build a lot of confidence with the interviewer. - I did not handle specific questions on Why Kotak? very well. In order to show specific interest in a particular company, it is important to be well prepared for this question.

Second interview: I mention this separately as this was not an interview, but a Group Discussion. Out of the 10-odd candidates who went to the second round, 2 groups were formed. My group was asked to do a GD on a situation, as follows: You are a buy-side advisor to Client A. The target company that has been identified for your client has a value, in your view, of say, $70mn. However, the target company claims a valuation of $100mn. How will you handle this discrepancy and the situation? After the above round, I was made an offer in the Investment Banking Financial Sponsors Group (this group is involved in private equity deals).

Ambit Scholarship Interview Experience The Ambit scholarship interview experience was completely PI based. It was conducted by Mrs. Shalini Kamath, Director HR & Corp Communications. - I was asked questions on my family background and where I am from (native) - Why did I want to do an MBA? Why ISB? How have I found ISB so far? What do I like/dislike about it? - What have my favorite subjects been? - Specific questions on my business plan competition work, independent study, ELP.

- Specific questions on my previous work experience these questions were built up from the bullet points I had put down on my resume. For example, Can you please explain this point a little more, What did YOU actually do here, What was the result, What did you learn from this, Why did you shift from Job A to Job B, How was Job B different, What sort of contacts did I build there, etc. - Specific questions on my extra-curricular activities. As can be seen, the interview was basically a thorough run-through of my resume, plus a few other questions. I think it lasted about 15 minutes. It was extremely conversational and friendly.

Career Movement S. Qualific Prior Experience No. ation Organisation Role 1 CA, KPMG Statutory Audit B.Com, Grant Thornton Corporate M.Com Finance Note: Combine rows if required (as done in the e.g.) Years 4.0 0.3 Placement Organisation Role A.T.Kearney Consultant