the focus - achiever's edition by club ecobizz

8/2/2019 The Focus - Achiever's Edition by Club Ecobizz

1/27

Achievers Edition


2/27

2

From The Editors Desk

IBS Hyderabad

Achievers Edition The Ecobizz Newsletter

Inside the Issue:

1. Trade Mogul (Futures First) -

Abhishek Khosla

2. Tata Consultancy Services

Parth

3. AmulPuneet Kapoor

4. Ogilvy and MatherAbhinav

Kanagat

5. Matrix Laboratories Ltd.Krati

Gupta

6. NISM (SEBI) - Ritesh Marwah

7. D. E. ShawDeepak Khurana

8. Ernst & YoungGautam Mehta

9. ITCYamini Mishra

Hi,

In the hustle and bustle of academics andthe daily grind, the only force that keepsdriving us is the fact that we need tostand out, make a mark and achieve our

goals. So great is the need that were will-ing to go the extra mile, be proactive anddeliver nothing but the best.

Same is the case when it comes to decid-ing on Summer Internships and Events.However, no more shooting in the darkas we, Club Ecobizz have done all the

ground work for you! In this issue we

have compiled in depth interviews ofpeers who have made a mark in the com-pany they interned in to a National leveltrading competition.

Demystify the path to success as you readthrough this issue.

Wishing you all the very best for theSummer & Final Placement Season!

Warm Regards,

Neha Sharma

Editorial Head

Neha Sharma


3/27

3

IBS Hyderabad

Trade Mogul (Futures First)Abhishek Khosla

Winner - M.B.A Batch of 20102012

eventually, it facilitates our decision making

process during the game. There are many

good sites available over the net for charts

like zingle.com

Why did you participate in this event?

Basically to check how good I am in trading

and to prove to myself that I could do much

better than the previous year. Also, quite im-

portantly, the winning amount (rupees 1

lakh) was a huge incentive and morale

booster.

What about the Learning Experience from

the game?

Even though there is a notional account in

the game but it clearly depicts that on a real

time account a lot is at stake. Hence you have

to be very careful. In the trade mogul game

the rates used are of the real time, so theres

no chance of taking decisions earlier. The

game platform was almost identical to the

one used in real life, hence one can learn a lot

about how to operate it in the most appropri-

ate manner. On this I would clearly like to

mention that in trading no one is YOUR

FRIEND.

Before the event what where your expecta-

tions?

I was not playing this game for the first time,

had played it last year also. In 2010 it was a

23 hours window game while this year it was

a 12 hours window and no delivery was al-

lowed unlike last year. The participants could

trade in 4 items which included the all favor-

ite items of Gold and Crude oil. My overall

and basic expectation was to better my last

years result and more importantly keep two

emotions, greed and fear, in check.

Any special preparations required for theevent?

I did no such special preparation and more-

over I feel trading is an ongoing learning

process. No book can teach you how to trade

effectively. I know all this because I have a 5

year experience in trading. Initially I started

trading by taking delivery and soon pro-

gressed into intraday trading, margin based

trading and etc.

What preparations should newcomers un-

dertake?

Charts should be respected from the start as

knowing the trend is very important and ,



4/27

4

stantly checking for updates!!!

What was your strategy while playing the

game?

As the game was an intra day game I essen-

tially concentrated on charts and 3 day mov-

ing averages. I checked 15 minutes interval

charts for trading while 30 minute charts to

confirm the trend which would help me in

decision making. Apart from these technicalaspects, I firmly believe that a trader should

not be afraid of losing money. Like in the 3rd

week of the game I was holding a rank of

5000 with a loss of Rs 45000. Then at the end

of the 3rd week I managed to hold a profit of

What about the level of competition and

what about information sharing ?

The level was quite high and I firmly believe

that with more number of people participat-

ing, the sharing and discussion of informa-

tion can be done in a more efficient manner.

Also with more number of people participat-

ing from our college information sharing

comes in handy as the game is of 12 hourswindow and with classes going on, its al-

most impossible to check for each and every

update. During the competition I would take

my laptop to the class and tell the teachers

that I am trading, hence I need to keep con-

IBS HyderabadIBS Hyderabad



5/27

5

One major thing I learned is that we should

not trade under some compulsion, trade only

when the trade is in our favor, or else just

leave it. For example on the last day I was

holding a considerable profit over the personcoming second but as we had to trade, I did.

In normal scenario I wouldnt have done it.

Also we should try to maintain the profit to

loss ratio which I believe should be 2 :1 .

Advice for budding traders?

As a second source of income its good but as

a career or as a source of income, I feel its

quite risky and should not be undertaken.

Apart from this the game had a lot of young

budding investors who did quite well, like

the person who came third was a student

from Shri Guru Gobind Singh college. Also

budding traders can participate in similar

trading simulation games like SMART IN-

VESTOR where they can gain experience but

the biggest and best teacher is the REAL

MARKET.

A final question, if a student is not from fi-

nance background can he trade effectively?

Absolutely yes. The FM 1 and 2 concepts

taught in our MBA curriculum has no such

relevance here. Anyone who can understand

a chart and can analyze the price trends from

it can do trading. This is a very practical con-cept with theory having very less promi-

nence.

Rs 45000 and subsequently my rank came

down to 66. From the 4th week I had 16 lots to

trade too and soon my rank came down to

33rd position. Also, I had adopted a strategy

of trading in little volumes despite the pres-ence of upward trend. This I did so as to nul-

lify the effect of any fluctuations if they arose.

In which of the items did you trade the

most?

I did my trade mostly in Gold and crude oil,

while the S&P 500 was quiet difficult as it

was news driven. With the window being of

12 hours and with our class running in a full-

fledged manner it was quite tough for me to

follow each and every news pertaining to it.

Thus I traded mostly in gold and crude oil.

How would you advice newcomers in terms

of controlling their emotions while trading ?

Its quiet simple, when you are making

money dont be happy and when you are in-curring a loss dont be sad, just be confident .

Apart from that I believe each and every

trader has his own unique technique. A per-

fect example would be that on the last day of

the game I traded and suffered a loss of Rs

70000 which greatly threatened my 1 st posi-

tion, which I was holding on to since the start

of the day. I held on to my ground and by

the end of the day curtailed my losses, whichwas pivotal in making me the eventual win-

ner.

What about the value addition from this

game?

IBS Hyderabad



6/27

6

IBS Hyderabad

TCS Hyderabad (Finance)Parth

SIP Award Winner- M.B.A Batch of 2010-2012

on the basis of specialization, for example

companies say they are offering Marketing

or Finance or HR Profile, but then all these

specializations have so many sub domains,

that distinguishing within them is impor-tant. For that it is very important to attend

the company presentations and get the clar-

ity on the profile. Students can also consult

the concerned faculties and the seniors who

had previously done there SIP with the or-

ganization to get a clarity on the profile.

What advice would you give to the stu-

dents who are still in a dilemma when it

comes to choosing the area of interest?

I would say that dont take impulsive deci-

sions because SIP is the most important as-

pect of your M.B.A Curriculum, this is

where you would get an opportunity to un-

derstand the business world and see the

implementation part of whatever you have

learnt in your M.B.A. Your interest in the

field should be the only deciding factor

when it comes to choosing your area of in-

terest. Dont take decisions based on what

your friends are going for or the stipend

the organization is offering. Like I had said

How to choose an SIP profile?

Brand Name is very important, because it

definitely adds to your C.V. As a fresher I

would suggest that you should not be very

choosy with the organization because youare at the threshold of entering the corpo-

rate world. SIP is the first step that will give

you the glimpse of the business world, and

you have to accept the fact that you cant

mould the organization to suit your needs.

So its up to individuals to trade off be-

tween the brand name and the kind of pro-

file they want to work in.

Apart from academics, what groundwork

is required to get the desired SIP profile?

You have to keep yourself up to date and

aware of everything that is currently hap-

pening in the world especially related to

your domain or the area. Groundwork I

would say needs to be done in terms of

finding out about the kind of profile the

organization is offering.

What are the parameters on the basis of

which you differentiate between profiles?

Usually the profiles are differentiated only

IBS Hyderabad



7/27

7

the Banks

2. Liquidity Position of the Banks

3. Capital Structure of the Banks

Did you work on one task primarily or

was their any type of rotation involved?

My work at TCS was divided into two cate-

gories. The first part was as the organiza-

tion calls it is the Core Work which was

basically for the organization in the depart-

ment called Business Domain Academy. In

this again I worked on two sub categories

namely Asset Review- where I was sup-posed to review the existing 18 types of cer-

tification courses for the Insurance Depart-

ment employees and Asset Development

here the entire team was asked to develop

certification courses for the business ana-

lysts. A total of 6 Modules with 75 ques-

tions per Module were developed by the

team as a whole.The Second Part of my SIP was my Project

on the topic Analysis of BASEL Norms

What challenges did you face while un-

dergoing your SIP?

I had two company guides, one for the

Core work in the Business Domain Acad-

emy department and the other for my Pro-

ject. The Most challenging part for me was

to strike a balance between both these

works and meet the deadlines set by both

the Guides.

In terms of completing my Project it was a

before, consulting faculties or the seniors

who had initially done their SIP in different

domains will be beneficial to get an under-

standing about the kind of work that you

are supposed to do in that particular do-

main.

What were your expectations before the

commencement of the internship and to

what extent were they met?

Being a fresher my expectations were very

realistic, I wanted to get a glimpse of the

corporate culture and learn how do compa-nies operate and the way they function.

Also I expected that I would be given the

freedom to work in my area of interest and

all the support from my company mentor. I

would say that yes all these expectations

were met by the company and I had a great

learning experience during my SIP.

What kind of projects did you work on?

My project topic was Analysis of the

BASEL-3 Norms. I was supposed to ana-

lyze the impact of the BASEL norms on the

Indian Banking Industry. My company

guide suggested this project, because Bank-

ing and Financial Services is the main

source of revenue for TCS, and BASEL-3 is

yet to be implemented in India. I had to

analyze the impact of implementing the

BASEL-3 norms on the banking industry

with respect to the following three parame-

ters:

1. Minimum Capital Requirement of

IBS Hyderabad



8/27

8

Were you treated as an intern or a full

time employee?

I was treated as an intern. There were a few

restricted areas where we could not go that

was due to the fact that TCS deals with

highly sensitive information for its clients

so not everyone is allowed to access the

highly sensitive information. However I

was allowed to access all the facilities like

TCS Library, gym and cafeteria like any

other normal employee.

What was the level of support during your

SIP?

I got full support from my Company guide

in completing my project. The inputs pro-

vided by him were extremely beneficial for

me. I would say that he did a full justice to

his role of being a mentor, and I am thank-

ful to him for all his support without which

it would have not been possible for me to

accomplish such a challenging project.

In finance was their any analytical work

involved or was it the usual data entry

work?

My entire SIP involve only and only ana-

lytical part, there was no data entry worked

involved.

very challenging task as I had absolutely no

idea of the banking Sector and the BASEL

norms, so there was a lot of self study in-

volved on my part in understanding the

terminology involved and how does the

banking sector work. In this respect I got a

lot of help and guidance from both my

Company guide and the Faculty guide.

Also taking the risk of going ahead with the

project on BASEL-3 Norms knowing that

there is no quantifiable data available on

BASEL-3 was a huge challenge in itself for

me.

What value addition has the SIP done for

you?

As a fresher, for me it was a great learning

experience and I got great exposure to the

corporate life ahead and the culture. The

depth of knowledge that I gained working

on my project was tremendous and is a

huge value addition for me as an individ-

ual.

Also SIP gave me an opportunity to make

industry contacts and interact with people

from different departments and with ex-

perience in varied field and learn from their

experience in the industry.

I would just advice all the students going

for their SIPs in a few more months to

come to make the most of this time and

learn and gain as much knowledge as pos-

sible as it is the most important part of your

M.B.A curriculum.

IBS Hyderabad



9/27

9

Amul (Marketing)Puneet Kapoor


position. Get in as soon as there is a profile that is

desired. Thirdly, one shouldnt worry about the

stipend that theyll get. Many companies may

not get you a stipend. For me the criterion of a

stipend was a strict no-no and I wasnt very fussy

about it. Be patient and when the work is good,

go for it.

Apart from your academics, what groundwork

did you do to get you SIP?

See, the interview may ask you about not just

academic related questions, but also practical

implications and current affairs. Therefore, read-

ing a lot of magazines, apart from courser materi-

als, help. Apart form that, the morning ghostthat come i.e. the newspaper for which you need

to become a ghost buster, in a humorous note. So

two basic things - read a lot of magazines, right

from India Today to Time to Fortune 500, we

have it all in the library, and you just have to find

time and go there to read, and the newspaper.

For marketing students, there is a supplement of

Brand Equity in ET that helps a lot. In addition,

for finance students, it is important to keep track

of the Sensex. As such basic questions will be

asked. The interviewer may not get into the de-

tails of a topic but the basic questions will be

asked like say, why is the market falling, why is

the rupee appreciating etc. Hence, it is important

to be aware of your surroundings.

Lets start with where you did your SIP and

how did you get there?

Initially for the second semester I wasnt here as I

had gone to Adelaide for the scholarship pro-

gram, and due to that I could not apply to a sin-

gle company that was coming to the campus. All

my friends kept telling me about the companies

that kept coming to campus and that built a lot of

frustration in me. Hence, when I came back, very

few companies were left to visit the campus.

Amongst the choices that I had, I said yes to

Amul i.e. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing

Federation, and the location was Hyderabad.

How do you think one should choose an SIPprofile?

I feel the first thing is that one should be sure

whether he/she wants to go for marketing or

finance. As far as my experience goes, when the

second semester was about to get over, I was still

not sure. Now what are the consequences of not

being sure? The consequences are that in the final

interview of your placements, the interviewer

may ask you that you have done your SIP say in

a trading company, but the major electives you

have selected are say, operations or marketing.

So one should be sure of what he/she will major

in. Secondly, one should be very patient as there

are a lot of companies that come for SIP so one

shouldnt jump into a profile just to freeze their

IBS Hyderabad



10/27

10

finance. Do not believe in such myths. I have al-

ways loved marketing. I enjoy talking to people

and sell my ideas. And this is the reason why I

took up marketing. If you are in a dilemma about

what to choose, there are some necessary person-

ality traits needed in each area. For instance it is

important for a person in marketing to be an ex-

trovert who loves talking to people and knows

how to sell his ideas well to people. Similarly for

someone in finance, number crunching ability is

a necessary trait. Also the knowledge of various

financial models and the trends are important.

Such characteristics will tell you that you will be

good in finance.

Apart from these personality traits,

there is this gut feeling which

comes. When we enter the college

in the first year, we really dont

know whether we will end up tak-

ing finance, marketing, operations,

etc. But subsequently as time goes

by, at around the end of the first

year, you develop a gut feeling

that tells you that you are good inan area, say, marketing. So do

what your gut says, rather than

listening to people around you.

Thirdly, please dont listen to any-

body. Do not listen to your peers who themselves

are not very sure. Listen to those who are confi-

dent about their subjects and choices and can

guide you well. Also, there are many experi-

enced faculty at IBS who are more than willing to

guide students in dilemma. They give you the

right opinion without any preconceived notion.

Finally, analyze what you want to do, in case if

everyone tells you that you are good with num-

bers take finance but you want to take up mar-

keting, go with marketing.

What are the parameters on which you differen-

tiated between profiles?

Ill give you an example here; say there is a com-

pany that has come with a marketing profile.

Now which profile its giving is important. It may

say that it is a marketing research profile and

students embrace it; however eventually it may

be only data entry in disguise. Interns from Tier-

1 colleges may be recruited by them to use the

actual tools and do the research. In such a situa-

tion, the student should ask the interviewer di-

rectly whether you will be using the tools for re-

search or not. This will make the profile clear.

Secondly, in case you dont want sales be very

clear and try to get that information

because once in the internship you

may get frustrated in case you are

not interested in such a profile. There

are many caveats that are attached

and therefore it is very important to

be alert and know them beforehand.

Being marketing major, I am not

aware of the finance aspects; how-

ever many of my friends had to ex-perience situations in which they

thought the profile included making

models and doing research whereas

they ended up selling financial prod-

ucts. So yes, it is very important to get as much

information at the initial stage as there maybe

companies with disguised profiles. And that is

how I di fferentiated profiles.

What advise will you give to students who are

still in a dilemma in choosing their area of in-

terest?

I am a student with a CGPA of 9.71. Now the

major perception that people have is that you

have a CGPA of above 9 so you should take up

IBS Hyderabad



11/27

11

(STP). It was a completely research based project.

The techniques used were for segmentation we

used cluster analysis, for targeting we used prob-

ability analysis and for positioning we used

multi-dimensional scaling. The multi-

dimensional scaling technique will be taught to

the first year students in the subsequent semes-

ters in subjects like Marketing Research.

The project also had a sales angle to it. We were

told that in case while getting our questionnaires

filled we come across someone who is interested

in opening an APO (Amul Preferred Outlet), and

we can generate such leads, we have to give that

information to the company.

In our project we did get a lead through which

we opened up an APO. The outlet is generating

around 20 lacs revenue as per the correspon-

dence between me and my company guide. So in

all, it was both research and sales because I am

sure no company will expect you to do the in-

ternship without generating some form of reve-

nue for them.

Did you work on one task primarily or was it arotational based?

It was a rotational project. Say in the first day we

are at a store like Spencers getting our question-

naires filled, the next day we would be on the

field talking to prospective clients and generating

leads for the opening of APO as mentioned ear-

lier. The company gave us around 7-8 leads and

we needed to call them, if they are interested

meet them in person, know the exact terms of

trade and convince them that opening the APO

would be profitable for them. So basically it was

a day-to-day, task changing internship.

What were the challenges faced by you during

the SIP?

What were your expectations before the com-

mencement of the SIP and how far were they

met?

My expectation from my SIP was that I should

get a very challenging job or task to do. People

had told me that there will be companies which

will directly tell you that we have interns from

tier 1 colleges and you will be assisting them in

the project by doing data entry, data correction

and reporting. My expectation was that I will not

be this person doing this particular job only. I am

not saying that this work is menial or anything.

These steps are a vital part of the whole end-to-

end process. But in addition to this work, I also

wanted to do the analysis part of the project.

So I took up a project with my team members,

both were from IBS, and be were solely responsi-

ble for the entire end-to-end process of the pro-

ject. We made sure that will prepare our reports

without any participation of interns from other

colleges. We made sure that our three member

team was self competent. For this we were con-

stantly in touch with our faculty guide, as a com-

pany like Amul, which works more in sales, maynot have people who can take time out to explain

various SPSS tools to us.

Overall my expectation was that I will not let

anyone do the analysis of the data while I run

around and collect that data. And it did get ful-

filled as we, as a team built a firewall and did not

allow anyone from other colleges to get involved

and in case we dont have the required skills, we

will develop it and that is what we did.

What was the project that you worked on?

My project was about the study of consumption

of Amul products, specific to modern format

stores in Hyderabad and Secunderabad region. It

required segmentation, targeting and positioning

IBS Hyderabad



12/27

12

Were you treated as an intern or a full-time em-

ployee at the company?

At one point of time, I actually started behaving

like a full-time employee because my company

guide did have a lot of faith in me and I assisted

him in visiting modern format stores. In some

cases he actually gave me the responsibility of

directly interacting with the store managers on

behalf of the company, and get the real issues on

the floor. And many relevant issues were

brought up in these discussions. So, in general if

you do the work the company will let you take

direct responsibility.

What was the level of support for you during

the SIP?

I think the best support throughout the SIP was

my faculty guide, who was very knowledgeable

in terms of the tools that had to be used and the

methodology. Other than that my team both

from IBS, especially in situations when I was not

well or my bike broke down. I think among all

the people I worked with, my teacher faculty

guide was very helpful.

Any other information that you would like to

tell to the students to help them get insights

into the process of SIP?

One thing is that please do not copy your project

report from anywhere. One may get motivated to

do something like that but we have experienced

that faculty members can catch such practices.

Also, to be very honest, most of us in India are

not concerned about plagiarism; however in

countries like US, UK and Australia there are

laws which prohibit plagiarism. Of course, now

even we also have them. But please do not pla-

giarize your work. You can read from the inter-

net and reference it properly.

One of the challenges was transportation and the

commuting from the company to places and col-

lege. Another was that at times there may be con-

trasting expectations from the company guide

and the faculty guide. In such a scenario, you

have to be a perfect bridge between both. When

you are mailing any content to the faculty guide,

keep the company guide in the loop and mark a

copy to him as well, and vice versa. This is to

ensure that none of them feel that you are keep-

ing any information from them.

Also a bigger challenge was that we had not

learnt techniques like multi-dimensional scaling

in the first year and this technique was the high-

light of my project. So to learn the tool I had to

study it from the scratch from n number of

books.

What value addition has the SIP done to you?

The best SIP award was one of the achievements.

Apart from that I have now learnt to write good

reports. I was completely grilled by my guide.

My report was sent back to me for changes 10-12

times. I had aimed at the SIP award and myguide knew that I was very much involved with

it so she made sure that she grills me to the core.

So now I am good at report writing.

Another thing is team work. Having had prior

work experience it was reinforced to me that in-

dividually you can not achieve a lot and you will

require people with you to help you out. So be

good to the people around, help them, get help

because you cannot know everything.

In addition to this, the whole process required a

lot of presentations that had to be given the

initial presentation, convincing your guide that

what you are doing is correct. So that improved

the communication skills. These w ere the person-

ality related as well as academic value additions.

IBS Hyderabad



13/27

13

Ogilvy & Mather (Marketing)- Abhinav Kanagat

SIP Award Winner - MBA Batch of 20102012

term Corporate Sales, it incorporates a lot of

profiles - selling insurance, product etc. and it is

your team that has to meet the target. But gen-

erally, what happens is you get different pre-

conceived notions. A sale profile is not only

selling, it means meeting targets, communicat-ing. One needs to understand that first. Do

SWOT Analysis and you can be through with

the field.

What advice would you give to students who

are still confused about their area of interest ?

One should always go by his/her interest and

skill combination. Never ever go by peoples

opinion. If youre passionate about marketing

grab it, but dont go by what is currently in

trend if youre not interested. And that youll

probably be clear with after your 2nd Semester

ends.

What were your expectations before the In-

ternship and to what extent were they met?

I expected to work in client servicing. I was ex-

posed to every department. I had to report to

VP, Management head. I wanted to work for

the company, so I proactively took initiatives

and asked for work which other interns never

even bothered to do. This kept me separate

from all other interns working at O&M.


How to choose an SIP Profile?

I think one should be pretty clear about what

one wants; one should be well versed with his

short-term and long-term goals. As in my case,

I am clear of taking up brand manager profile

in the upcoming future. And O&M proved tobe a stepping stone to my future profile. And if

you are confused with various sub industry,

then you need to merge & prioritize your skills

& interest. So Key is to know your strength be-

fore choosing your SIP.

Apart from academics what groundwork is

required to get the desired SIP Profile?

One should be well-read and well-aware of

industries and current trends of the industry.

You cant be a good manager if you dont know

what is happening currently. So reading maga-

zines is like a daily dose for you. Once, VP of

O&M said that MBA is only a degree on paper;

people are designed to throw jargons. But in

reality one needs to use his/her analytical

skills. The Case pedagogy does help students to

brainstorm across domains and understand

companys situations. One develops various

viewpoints by the time he/she steps in as an

intern. You need to be dynamic to keep things

moving.

On the basis of which parameters do you dif-

ferentiate an SIP Profile?

As per the placement scenario, if you go by the

IBS Hyderabad



14/27

14

portray myself in the best possible manner. One

more thing is documenting every 2hr interview,

where you have to pick up only the relevant

points and that requires skill.

What ValueAddition has the SIP done for

you?

I learnt how to write a 3 months work report in

5 pages crisply. I learnt when to talk, what to

talk so this gave me an immense experience as

well.

Were you treated as an Intern or a Full-Time

Employee?

I was treated as a Full time employee duringmy SIP at O&M. It depends from

person to person, as I was putting

in extra efforts and working hours

they respected that willingness to

learn. And so the treatment was

fair to my expectations.

What was the level of Support

during your SIP?

I was given help wheneverneeded. No monetary support was

given during my research work.

In Marketing was your profile confined to

Sales or was it diversified?

I was given a profile of Client servicing during

my Summer Internship program at O&M.

Any Further advice for the potential interns?

During the SIP program, you will learn only if

you put in effort , so its up to you. Its an op-

portunity to understand the corporate culture,

time management and learn a lot of things.

In the initial 2 weeks I was given all kind of

work. But later, they gave me a specific task to

come up with a solution. The task was to find

why Ramco ERP is not popular enough despite

an economic solution. I researched online about

the company, its competitors, ads and various

brands, what O&M did for Ramco, the stringent

policies. I designed a strategy for Ramco ERP

and I came up with the course of action for

O&M. The Statistics about ERP-cloud revealed

that 70% are confused about the product as they

mix up the product with the brand and 90%

dont know the product. So I presented the in-

depth coverage of my knowledge to the O&M

managers to which they were convinced. The

most probable challenge that I

faced during my research was

fixing and scheduling an appoint-

ment with the client.

What challenges did you face

during your SIP?

In the 1st week when you meet

people as an intern you will find

different people with varied atti-tudes. Some will be very helpful,

as most of them know that you

are there for only 3 months. So

understand the workplace, learn

to communicate effectively, un-

derstand the structure. As soon as you will get

work from various departments learn to priori-

tize. Finishing the work on time is the greatest

challenge you learn when working under pres-

sure. While working in Chennai the biggestbarrier with me in field was the language, also

fixing appointments and talking to CEOs and

MD, to keep them engaged in your talk is also

one of the major challenges. I learnt when not to

disclose details to them, how to talk, what to

ask when. After my 6th client I actually learnt to

IBS Hyderabad



15/27

15

Matrix Laboratories Ltd. (Marketing)

-Krati GuptaSIP Award Winner- M.B.A Batch of 2010-2012

pany side would be the understanding of ba-

sic marketing concepts. Your concepts should

be concrete.

On what basis you differentiate betweenprofiles?

As I have said before the first one would be

of course the Company name and then the

profile offered. Established company gives

you the chance to do the actual work and not

any random work at some random morning.

For fresher, SIP is very important .It gives

you the leverage in your placement. It pro-

vides you with some relevant background. So

company name and the Project is very cardi-

nal to talk about in your placement.

What you learnt about marketing or any-

thing else you want to tell us?

In my profile there was every sort of analysis-

situational analysis, competitors analysis,

then forecasting .I learnt how to take deci-sions and then to give a comprehensive po-

tential basket that I think that they should

offer and how they should go for it. Also I

can say that now I know and understand my

company. I have used my concepts and put it

How does u choose a SIP profile when it

comes to marketing?

It is very important to have Focus. Focus on

what is the most important skill you want to

learn about. Whether it is about sales& Distri-bution or whether face to face interaction

with the client is what you are looking at. I

had taken Business development as my pro-

ject. This profile was very comprehensive. It

encompassed everything what I wanted to

learn.

While choosing SIP you need to think where

you want to go. A serious suggestion from

my side would be to please look for the com-

pany name and next important thing is the

profile which they are offering. My profile

had no direct contact with the client as client

were governments, foreign nationals etc.

Apart from academic what is the ground

work needed, to get the desired profile?

You need to know the gist of the companyand the field/area they are working in. One

should have some knowledge of facts and

figures to support their ideas. If you dont

know then say it, admit it. It will show your

confidence. Obvious demand from the com-

IBS Hyderabad



16/27

16

about? What are its objectives and what

would be the complication in which you can

get in? Also it helps to check your own poten-

tial and you get to know how you fit in an

organization? There is a time when you feelthe hierarchical difference and at times you

will feel that there is no hierarchy. In the

company I used to talk to everyone except

my boss as I thought that it could be taken as

creating bias. This was pointed out one day.

So you need to know

how things get differ-

ent in different ways in

different times.

Your project was very

comprehensive but

was it like that u had

to work for more than

one project/target?

No. I had no back-

ground knowledgeabout the pharmaceuti-

cal. Im a B. Com stu-

dent. I chose Business

Development as my project in pharmaceuti-

cals. On the very first day I was directed to

learn about the industry and how it works as

a whole in a weeks time. I had to make a

presentation about my learnings in the sec-

ond week. After approval they handed me asheet which had a detailed explanation and

step by step procedure about what and how

am I supposed to do with enough freedom to

build my own decision. I had a very struc-

tured approach, I can say.

into practice. I got to know about many rules

and regulations which one must need to ad-

here to.

How you decided about your area of interest

and what advice you would like to give to

juniors about how to go about it?

Frankly I would tell you that I was a hard

core finance person. Im good at analytical

concept. Im very strong in accounts and law.

I have very good back-

ground in finance. My

decision of choosing

core marketing came as

a surprise to my teach-

ers. Confusion will al-

ways be there. But I

would like to share that

my experience has

taught me that-its not

about what you are

good at but its aboutwhat you enjoy doing

at. I was always better

in finance but then it

was work for me. I liked and enjoyed doing

marketing.SIP is that place where you can

still decide what to take. I tried my hand at

marketing and it worked for me. This is the

juncture where you can still dabble to decide

correctly.

What was your expectation before SIP

stared and to what extent it got fulfilled?

As Im a fresher I had no expectation. All I

wanted was to just learn. What is a team all

IBS Hyderabad



17/27

17

will just not go.

What was the level of support from your

faculty guide?

I was blessed. My mentor was Romina

Mathew. She is the most comfortable person

to work around with. The average age at

work place was 35-40 yrs, so I was considered

as a Kid over there. There was a joke that

they have adopted me. She used to discuss

about what I have said, what I have done,

what I have not said and what I have not

done. All these small hints were very helpful.

If I had done SWOT analysis then she would

ask how this is different if I would have

asked you to do it in class and if you are now

doing in a company. She would direct me to

make it more practical by involving and in-

teracting with other employees and depart-

ments. My PowerPoint Presentation skill has

improved due to my company guide (Dheeraj

Gupta). My Project was very comprehensivebut then also I made ppt in 15slides which

included- forecasting, Tuberculosis, what dis-

ease is all about, options, patents, entry strat-

egy, heading and title page and then Conclu-

sion. He also direct me about different direc-

tions needed. He used to tell that krati I know

you are happy working with this person but

chill out. Listen more while you are convers-

ing then you will gain many things.

What challenges did you face while doing

your SIP?

I had zero knowledge about the pharmaceuti-

cal and I had to do many comparative analy-

ses. It forced me to have the know-how of

required technical jargons. It was also re-

quired to know what other person is talking

about as their sentences were bombarded

with these jargons. I had gone there through

Contacts and I was working in the subsidiary

branch. So those people who knew about this

treated me with very kind and helpful nature

but others were indifferent. You should know

what type of conversation you need to make

in an office and with whom. You also need to

know where to cut shot your statements. A

person seriously learns how to handle people

when they venture in an organization.

What value addition did SIP bring?

You need to maintain a relationship with eve-

ryone but then you have to define its bounda-

ries. Work does talk but its not the only

thing. Communication plays a major role.

Another most important thing for a market-

ing person is PowerPoint Presentation. You

can do fabulous work but if your final pres-

entation is not good then it will not work but

vice-versa can happen. During your presenta-

tion you need to give emphasis on how to

stand, whom to address first, whom all to

address, whom all not to address. Also you

need to keep in mind that you are not an in-

dividual over there. You represent a com-

pany as a whole. Any mistake on my part

IBS Hyderabad



18/27

18

National Institute Of Security Markets

(SEBI, Mumbai)Ritesh Marwah


terviews. For Finance students, I would suggest

that having certifications like C.F.A are an added

advantage.

Apart from this finding out the information

about the company in terms of its offerings, pro-

file and the domain in which the organization is

offering the SIP is equally important because that

will ultimately help you to decide whether you

really want to go for it or not. I would also sug-

gest that the students talk to their seniors or the

faculty members to gain a better understanding

of the profiles.

What are the parameters on the basis of which

you differentiate between profiles?Frankly speaking I would say that its a little dif-

ficult to judge the profile based on the descrip-

tion given by the organization and also there is a

vast difference between what the organizations

say in their profile when making a presentations

and what the student is actually supposed to do.

The company might say that the profile is of Risk

Management but then its the responsibility of

the student to clarify where exactly the company

is putting up the intern.

What advice would you give to the students

who are still in a dilemma when it comes to

choosing the area of interest?

One simple advice that I would give to all the


The two most important things are:

Brand Name: A stronger brand name will

always give you an edge over others

when it comes to interviews for place-

ments and will definitely help add

weight to your C.V.

Profile: Choose the profile in which you are

able to apply your basic theoretical

knowledge and are able to l earn the im-

plementation part of the concepts.

Also from the perspective of placements, even if

you are not able to properly explain your project

the essence of your project gets lost in the inter-

view, a bigger brand name always helps, as mostof the interviewers are already aware of the kind

of products the company is dealing with. Ulti-

mately there has to be a trade off between both of

them to strike a balance.

Apart from academics, what groundwork is re-

quired to get the desired SIP profile?

The most important thing is the C.G.P.A, Because

the company in NISM (SEBI) where I did my SIP

shortlisted the initial candidates based on their

C.G.P.A. Apart from CGPA Brushing up the con-

cepts that you have learnt in FM-I & II and MM I

& II is again important as most of the companies

conduct written tests based on which they again

shortlist the candidates for the final round of in-

IBS Hyderabad



19/27

19

this project we used softwares like SAS, R.

This project was based on the concept of Shadow

Portfolio, where I try to mimic the insiders trad-

ing activities, and then see whether or not the

person is making abnormal returns. I also

worked on the Econometric Time series Analysis

for my project.

Did you work on one task primarily or was

their any type of rotation involved?

I basically concentrated only on my project.

There was no rotation in the work involved.

What challenges did you face while undergo-

ing your SIP?

The most challenging task for me, during my SIP

was to learn coding. Being a biotech graduate I

had absolutely no knowledge of coding the pro-

grams that were required to generate the algo-

rithms. But then I started to learn by reading e-

books, and taking help from my SIP mentor, and

the hard work ultimately paid off.

Also Even before my SIP began, I was given

books and publications on SAS, Econometricsand research papers which I had to study before

joining the organization, so reading and under-

standing those concepts on your own was a huge

task in itself.

Another challenge was to live up to the high ex-

pectations of the company guide. The working

hours were hectic as well; there were times when

I had to work for 15-16 hours straight to com-

plete the coding.

Also I was working on a true research, in which

neither there is any pre-defined path nor any

guarantee of the outcome of the research, so at

every stage of my project there was a huge chal-

lenge on how to proceed with the work, which

ultimately will shape your project.

students will be go for your area of interest. By

the end of the second semester most of us are

clear about which subject interests us the most.

Or in plain simple words I would say If you can

read a subject book, without getting bored, you

know that is wh ere your interest lies

Also I would advice the students not to take up

Finance or marketing just because of the package

it will fetch you and not just because you have a

good CGPA, its ultimately the flair for the sub-

ject based on which you should decide where to

go and where do you want to head.


mencement of the internship and to what extent

were they met?

Actually It was the other way round, because I

had heard from the seniors and other faculty

members that its a very good organization to do

your SIP with and that I would get to learn a lot

so in fact I was little worried whether I would be

able to meet the expectations of the organization

or not.

Also for the last four years who ever did their SIPat NISM, have won the best SIP Award, and I

wanted to carry on the tradition. All these factors

just made me focus on what was expected out of

me instead of focusing on my expectations from

the company.


My project was on Algorithm to Detect Insider

Trading but after sometime I had to change my

SIP project was a true research and after a period

of around 20 days I reached a dead end, and

there was no way for me to proceed further with

the project, So after consulting with both the

company and the faculty guide I changed my

Project to Information On Insider Trading For

IBS Hyderabad



20/27

20

allowance.

What was the level of support during your SIP?

I would say that my company guide helped me

in every possible way. There was 100% commit-ment from my company guide to help me with

the suggestions on how to proceed with my pro-

ject. He got me a prowess license to work upon,

there were times when I could not download

certain files

from the inter-

net, and he

would do it.

He also helped

me in under-

standing the

coding part of

the program.

I would say

that I was

really very

lucky to have

had such a

great mentor.

In finance, was their any analytical work in-

volved or was it the usual data entry work?

Like I said before my entire project was totally

analytical based. The data I used to work on my

project was available in CDs which were pro-

vided to me by NISM.

What value addition has the SIP done for you?

The most important value addition for me was

the knowledge that I gained during my SIP. I

would say that till now whatever knowledge I

have gained 90% is what I have learnt during my

SIP. Also undergoing such rigorous training

helps you get a glimpse of corporate life and

mentally prepares you for the placements and

ultimately the

corporate li fe.

Another im-

portant value

addition dur-

ing my SIP

was the certifi-

cations I got.

The first one

was Summer

School of

E c o n o m e t -

rics, which

was a 12 day

workshop con-ducted by

NISM itself.

The best part

was that I being an intern did not have to pay

any certification course for the same. In all dur-

ing my SIP I earned myself 5 Certifications and

that too free of cost.

Were you treated as an intern or a full time em-

ployee?

I worked as a full time employee, where I had

access of all the additional benefits a normal em-

ployee of the company would get. Although the

company didnt pay me any stipend, they pro-

vided me accommodation, and transportation

IBS Hyderabad



21/27

21

D. E Shaw(Finance)Deepak Khurana



I would suggest such students to analyze them-

selves, read a lot about their area of interest to

identify best suitable area for them.


mencement of the internship and to what extent

were they met?

I kept minimum expectations and kept my mind

open. I wanted to accept things the way they

come and therefore I wasnt disappointed with

my work. The take away was much more then

what I expected.

What kind of projects did you work on?I was not given any project by the company.

They had asked me to choose one for myself.

Hedging risk was the topic of my project. It in-

volved current client transaction; maintaining

minimum balance and other risk related affairs.

It revolved around the risk which on e faces while

investing in oil shares in three economies i.e. US,

China and India.

From where did you get the required informa-

tion for your project?

I referred to various books. I also gathered some

information from the company data. Lastly

Google helped me a lo t.


It depends upon the inclination and area of inter-

est. My inclination was always towards finance. I

wanted investment banking(IB) as my profile but

had other options in kind as well so when I dint

get IB in JPMC I switched to D.E. Shaw which

was offering financial - operations profile.

Apart from academics, what groundwork is re-

quired to get the desired SIP profile?

Watch movies and read books which are related

to your area of interest. Warren Buffet is my idol

and I make sure that I followed him all the time.

One should be updated with the current sce-

nario. I feel presence of mind is very importantand one should learn from practical examples.

What are the parameters on the basis of which

you differentiate between profiles?

One needs to be very clear about his/her area of

interest. I loved numbers which created my inter-

est in finance. One should look for a profile

which gives them scope to implement past

knowledge and skills (Graduation Knowledge).

Most importantly one should analyze themselves

and focus on what they want to become 5-10 yrs

down the line.



IBS Hyderabad



22/27

22

ployee?

I was treated like a full time employee. Was

added on the company mailing list, had access to

data. Things like this depend on your manager.

You need to follow certain guidelines mentioned

by the company and you are treated as a part of

the company.

In finance, was their any analytical work in-

volved or was it the usual data entry work?

First half of my project was more of reading and

gathering information second half was com-

pletely analysis. And as far

as my work is concerned it

was mixture of data gather-

ing and analysis.

How did you get the PPO?

There are two reasons:

Firstly I was in Finance &

Ops section and in Deshaw

this sector has more require-

ments.

Secondly I fulfilled managers expectations. In-

volved myself in daily operations and helped

them reduced time to complete tasks.

Any Tips for juniors?

Juniors should not become very choosy about the

profile and the location. They should not worry

about stipend at all. Be clear with concepts. Be

updated with the currents activities about the

industry. Take initiative once you are in the com-pany .Last but not the least try specialization in

one-two sectors

What was the level of support during your SIP?

My mentor was Jojo sir. He was strict about

guidelines but very cooperative. He visited the

company whenever required and helped us

throughout.



The work and the project I was working on were

entirely different. Since my project was not given

by company the two things had no connection.

So as far as my project goes I was working on

one area while my real time

working involved rotation.

What challenges did you

face while undergoing your

SIP?

First challenge was choosing

a project because in my case

company did not give one.

Second very important thing

is scheduling and prioritiz-

ing. You will have deadlines both for college sub-missions and towards the company therefore, it

is essential to schedule yourself.

What value addition has the SIP done for you?

I was exposed to things which are industry spe-

cific. Exclusive training was given on few topics.

I got fair idea of subjects like FRM and IB which

were to be taught in my upcoming semesters so

there was an academic learning. I was exposed to

international working. Most importantly I spe-

cialized in a sector across 3 countries which be-

came my point of differentiation. It made me

confident for my placements

Were you treated as an intern or a full time em-

IBS Hyderabad



23/27

23

Ernst & Young (Finance)

To interact with the seniors

The student should know what he/she is

best at, in which profile does he/she want

to work in future

Do not get influenced by what the seniors

are saying, the student should have their

own opinion from the advice of the seniors

Try and get to know what profiles come to

campus

Also by interacting with faculty members,

the student will get a very good input


mencement of the internship and to what

extent were they met?

The main expectation was to work in one

particular project and get to learn as much

as possible. Most of the expectations were

met in those 3 months.


Renewable energy projects

M&A valuation

I was into Transaction Advisory Services

(TAS) division of E&Y

I was into making a business model for

renewable energy projects

It involved estimations related to how

quickly and consistently the revenues are

earned, amount and timing of the cash in-

flows to the firm


Initial research has to be done about the

company

Based on the field in which one wants to

work, the short listing of the companies

has to be made

Through the company website, get to

know everything about the company and

the different services which the company

offers to its customers

Then apply to the company in which you

want to work through contacts

Apart from academics, what groundwork is

required to get the desired SIP profile?

Good contacts

Person should be careful in terms of apply-

ing for the desired profile

Do the required research well



What do you really want to do in future

How well you can make good network

Does the company has a good brand name

in the market

Bigger the company, bigger are the con-

tacts


who are still in a dilemma when it comes

tochoosing the area of interest.

IBS Hyderabad

Gautam Mehta




24/27

24

that any thing can be learnt by struggling

Were you treated as an intern or a full time

employee?

I was treated more than a full time em-

ployee. But it was fun working there. I got

to learn a lot.

What was the level of support during yourSIP?

The main issue which I faced during my

internship was coordination. It used to be

very difficult to coordinate with different

teams to finish of the project on hand. But

the support which I got from my company

guide was awesome. He helped me in suc-

cessful completion of my project. Difficult

to coordinate

In finance, was there any analytical work in-

volved or was it the usual data entry

work?

It was both analytical and data entry work.

Always be with a mindset to be ready to

do any kind of job.

The template developed was used for all

the other renewable energy projects



Rotation was involved and I used to work

on multiple projects in one day (2-3 pro-

jects)

What challenges did you face while undergo-

ing your SIP?

The biggest challenge was how to operate

MS Excel. I just had the basic idea but after

working there my knowledge of MS Excel

has improved a lot. The other major chal-

lenge was to revive some of the accounting

concepts which were left at my graduation

level. What value addition has the SIP done for

you?

Gives you a result oriented approach and

You will get to know how to c reate a given

project from the scratch. It will give a good

direction towards career and I Got to know

IBS Hyderabad



25/27

25

IBS Hyderabad

ITC Mumbai (Marketing-Sales)

very clear I would advice them to keep an

open mind and do not restrict themselves to

just one domain. There is a possibility that

once you start your SIP you might start liking

the kind of work that you are involved and

ultimately develop interest in one particular

area.

What were your expectations before the

commencement of the internship and to

what extent were they met?

My only expectation was that I should get a

good project where I will get an opportunity

to apply my theoretical knowledge into prac-tice. And I was lucky that both my expecta-

tions got fulfilled.


My Project Title was Study the Grocery,

Bakery and ISS channels with respect to their

consumer profile, Category and Method of

Service empowerment and recommend the

service pack for ITC covering both Sell-in and

Sell out Aids.

This basically involved visiting the retailers

and collecting the data from them based on

the questionnaire, and then mapping the data


According to my personal experience I would

say that its the brand name that matters. But

then there is no surety if you could get a great

project in a big organization. Its entirely upto

a students personal choice to decide the

trade off between the Brand Name and the

Profile.

Apart from academics, what groundwork is

required to get the desired SIP profile?

The students need to study about the organi-

zation and should try to find out what exactly

is the work involved in the profile.



Apart from the Brand name, the kind of ex-

posure that yo u will get while working in the

organization is an important differentiating

factor while deciding on the profile to go for.




See, by the end of second semester most of

us have a clear understanding of what our

areas of interest are, but for those who are not

IBS Hyderabad

Yamini Mishra




26/27

26

the recommendation made was another huge

challenge for me.

What value addition has the SIP done for

you?

I would say that SIP helped me understand

the gap between the theoretical knowledge

and the practical aspect of the implementa-

tion of the concepts. Also SIP gave me a

chance to get a better understanding and ex-

posure on how do organization work. I

would say it was a great learning experience

for me.

Were you treated as an intern or a full time

employee?

I was treated as an Intern.

What was the level of support during your

SIP?

I would say that I owe my Best SIP Award to

my company guide. It was my companyguide who suggested me the project and

helped me at every stage of my project. I was

not very confident if I would be able to meet

the objectives by this project, but it was his

faith in me that gave me the confidence to go

ahead with the project.

In marketing was their any analytical work

involved or was it the usual data entrywork?

My project was more about collecting the

data, and analyzing it. There was no data en-

try work as such.

collected against the data already available

with the company, with he help of which the

loopholes in the delivery system could be

analyzed.

The recommendations made after the analy-

sis were then put to pilot testing with ITCs

largest distributer in Mumbai, and it was

found out that the time taken in the recom-

mended model was actually less than the cur-

rent model being used, but due t the space

and transportation constrains in Mumbai, the

model could not be adopted for the city.



I worked only for my project, but lots of

groundwork for the project were involved for

which I had to work within the organiza-

tions day to day activity.

What challenges did you face while under-going your SIP?

The first and the foremost challenge for me

was the profile itself which was Sales. I was

not at all inclined towards it, but I had to go

ahead with it as it was the demand of my

project.

Another major challenge for me was to visit

the retailers all over Mumbai and get the in-

formation from them in terms of filling upthe questionnaire, not all of them were coop-

erative and I seriously had a tough time deal-

ing with them.

Also convincing the delivery people to adopt

a new model of delivery for the pilot run of

IBS Hyderabad



27/27

27

For Readers

Dear Readers,

I believe you appreciate the transformation of The Focus. Your praise and encouragement

has always been a source of motivation for us. Therefore, in case you have any comments orsuggestions for improvement please leave them in the COMMENTS section our website

www.ecobizz.weebly.com or Stu-z. We at Ecobizz will be more than happy to incorporate

your suggestions.

Further, those of us with a flair for writing and are seeking an opportunity to see their

thoughts in print. Here is your chance to let your dreams to turn into reality. We publish

articles from our readers; you could be from any walk of life within or outside of IBS, Hy-

derabad, a student, a faculty, a professional, a homemaker or a self employed entrepreneur.

We believe that every individual must get an opportunity to express oneself. The article

should be of around 1,000 words concerning economics, politics, social issues, management

or business. You can e mail your contribution to [email protected].

Regards,

Team Ecobizz

IBS Hyderabad
http://www.ecobizz.terapad.com/http://www.ecobizz.terapad.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.ecobizz.terapad.com/

the focus - achiever's edition by club ecobizz

Documents