Finance Interview Book 2008

Name of student Sonali SinghalCompany interviewed with DBRole Capital MarketsName of interviewer and designation

Shonali

Round and interview number (First, Second, Third)

First Round

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

What will you do if I give you one day free?What excites you?

Technical Questions (with indicative answers – preferably share them)

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?

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

How have been your experience at ISB?

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

None

What do you think went right for you in this interview

I was confident and relaxed. I felt they were looking for people who were natural in answering and not mugged up the answers.

What do you think went wrong in this interview

Nothing

Sonali Singhal


I don’t remember his name


Second Round


What is your passion?


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


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.


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

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

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 Manisha GudkaCompany interviewed with Ernst & YoungRole Role with Lead Advisory (TAS)Name of interviewer and designation

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 don’t know.”If you feel that you are saying ‘I don’t 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.

S.

No.Mode Resources (with e.g.) Time Required Remarks

1 Current Affairs Newspapers (ET, FT, WSJ), websites (ft.com); magazines (economist)

Half an hr a day Though I was not regulat with the papers, I made it a point to catch up NDTV profit and CNBC

2 Macro Economics GLEC slides and relevance to current affairs

1 day during the interview prep week

You should be thorough with your core term subjects and you are done.

3 Personal Interview 3 Mocks with my quady and one each with a couple of friends in the industry

Half an hr per interview

4 Finance Refreshed all the finance subjects of core and electives

One day during the interview prep week

Finance is my passion so I used to keep reading throughout the year. Hence there was not much pressure during the interview prep week

5 Sector ELP, Analyst reports, newspapers and TV

It helps to have knowledge of a couple of sectors and thorough understanding of the trends in that sector.

It helps if you don’t 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 don’t 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 ! Don’t get too much under pressure and your job is half done.

Career Movement

S. No.

Qualification

Prior Experience PlacementOrganisation Role Years Organisation Role

1 CS, B.Com

SUN Group Legal, due diligence, corporate structuring

1.75 E&Y Lead Advisory (TAS)

SUN F&C Asset Management Pvt. Ltd

CS & Compliance

2

Harshvardhan Lunia

Name of student Harshvardhan LuniaCompany interviewed with CITI BankRole Experienced Management Associate Program. Name of interviewer and designation

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?

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

1) How was your ISB experience? & how has it changed you?

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

1) Tell me about job profile prior to joining ISB?2) What are the challenges that you observed during your last job?

First Round interview experience.

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

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 didn’t 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 wouldn’t mind if I jumbled few things up. He gave me a hearty smile at this. The conversation than between us was quite cheerful.

Second Round interview experience.

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

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.

S. No.

Mode Resources (with e.g.) Time Required

Remarks


1 month One should be update with current affairs of at least last one month.

2 Vault Guide for Finance Interviews

LRC - One should be comfortable with all the topics in Vault Guide.

3 Corporate Finance Module

Term 3 hand out.

4 Sector reports Banking in India and abroad.5 Finance Interview

Questions. 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 Khyati DattaniCompany interviewed with Enam Securities

Role Analyst

Name of interviewer and designation

Dr Subramanium, Head of Investment Banking


Only 1 round purely on my resume


1) Tell me something about yourself2) Why I Banking3) 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

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

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 IB’s. 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 couldn’t answer very accurately.

Interview Preparation Guide S.

No.Mode Resources (with e.g.) Time

RequiredRemarks


2 Macro Economics

Class notes

3 Stock market Follow stocks4 Corp fin Class notes, Brealey &

MyersAnd last years int prep notes

5 M&A Class notes & last years int prep notes

6 Industry Cricinfac reports/investextplus & Damodaran website

Valuation and ratios

7 Deal VC Circle/analyst reports from Reuters

Deal rationale/synergies/valuation

8 Personal Interview

Write down own answers Most important

Career Movement

S. No.

Qualification


1 CA, BCOM

Ernst & Young Executive 2.5 Enam Securities

Analyst

Shyam Prasad

Name of student Shyam Prasad.ACompany interviewed with Ambit Eq ResearchRole Eq Research AssociateName of interviewer and designation

Don’t recollect.There was the Head HR and someone from Corp Fin


1


Tell me abt urselfWalked them through my resume, my strengths insisting on the skills reqd for the job and culminated in hobbies

WeaknessToo analysis oriented

Why Eq ResearchTold 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 companyTotal nightmare. Just went blank. Had not prepared the previous day on this qn

Family detailsFollow on goof up. The previous question upset my rhythm.


Which Industry do you track?Telecom

Tell us about itTold them about the spectrum issue, Nripendra Mishra the TRAI chairman’s 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)


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.

Interview Preparation Guide

S. No.

Mode Resources (with e.g.) Time Required Remarks


Daily notes

2 Macro Economic Faculty notes – Pls read the prescribed text thoroughly

2 days in term 7 if u r thorough in term 2

3 Corp Fin Mansinghka or Bhagwan notes and text book

3 days in term 7 if u r thorough in

prescribed term 3

Career Movement

S. No.

Qualification


1 CA, B.Com

Hutchison Essar

Sox Compliance 0.5 Ambit Jr Eq Research Analyst2 Aircel Revenue

Assurance 0.75

3 KPMG Audit 0.75

Sonali Singhal

Name of student Sonali SinghalCompany interviewed with HSBC BankRole Credit & RiskName of interviewer and designation

Panel of Three (AVP HR and SVP Credit)


First Round: TestSecond Round: PI based Interview


What type of companies you are interviewing with? Do you know about HSBC and the role?Resume based PI questions


Technical’s 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


None


I was confident and relaxed.


Nothing

Divya Bijlwan

Name of student Divya BijlwanCompany interviewed with Morgan StanleyRole Analyst, Investment BankingName of interviewer and designation

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 valuationDiscussion on Power sectorDiscussion on Construction sectorDiscussion on Automobile sectorDiscussion 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 interviewer’s were very cordial and made me very comfortable. They were asking relevant questions.


-


S. No.



2 Macro Economics Course – MAPI, global Economics

Career Movement

S. No.

Qualification


1 CA, B.Com

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited

Strategic Management

2.86 Morgan Stanley

Associate, Investment Banking

M/S SS Kothari and Co.

Statutory Audit .75

M/S Parmod Sharad and Associates

CA Articleship 3

Nilesh Manoriya

Name of student Nilesh ManoriyaCompany interviewed with HDFC BankRole Sr. Manager, Corporate BankingName of interviewer and designation

Jimmy Tata ( VP, Corp Banking), Abhijeet Mishra ( Sr.VP, HR), Vijay Mulagbal ( Regional Head, Corp Banking)


First : General PI questionSecond: TechnicalThird: 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,

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.



S. No.



2 Macro Economics

Career Movement

S. No.

Qualification


1 CA, B.Com

MSCI Barra Equity Indices Research

1.5 Ambit Exec Assistant to CEOPwC Internal Audit &

Risk Management

4.5

Harshvardhan Lunia

Name of student Harshvardhan LuniaCompany interviewed with GE Commercial FinanceRole Experienced Commercial Leadership Program.Name of interviewer and designation



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)



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?

7) How did you evaluate proposals at Stan Chart? How was it different from HDFC bank?

8) Why it is difficult to lend to SME’s? What additional factors would you like to keep in mind when lending to SME’s?

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?


S. No.

Mode Resources (with e.g.) Time Required

Remarks


1 month One should be update with current affairs of at least last one month.

2 Vault Guide for Finance Interviews

LRC - One should be comfortable with all the topics in Vault Guide.

3 Corporate Finance Module

Term 3 hand out.

4 Sector reports Banking in India and abroad.5 Finance Interview

Questions. Finance 2008 Folder.

Career Movement

S. No.

Qualification

Prior Experience PlacementOrganization Role Years Organization Role

1 CA, B.B.A

Standard Chartered Bank

Relationship Manager, SME – Banking

2.5 ICICI Bank Relationship Manager, Corporate Banking, London.

HDFC Bank Relationship Manager, Business

1

Banking.

Name of student Harshvardhan LuniaCompany interviewed with ICICI BankRole Relationship Manager, Corporate Banking, LondonName of interviewer and designation



First round: Three person interview panel. Second round: HR round.



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?


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?

First Round interview experience.

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 Analysis2) Funda’s of Working Capital Lending. 3) Cash flow Analysis.

Second Round Interview experience

4) Proper preparation for my previous job profile and work 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 Richa AroraCompany interviewed with Ocwen financialsRole Practice Manager – New opportunitiesName of interviewer and designation

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. Ito’s lemma and Weiner processThree 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


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.


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. Don’t 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.


S. No.


1 Current Affairs Newspapers - ET

Career Movement

S. No.

Qualification Prior Experience PlacementOrganisation Role Years Organisation Role

1 Computer Science Engineer

D.E.Shaw Software Developer

2.7 Ocwen Financials

Practice Manager – New Opportunities

Atul Saraogi

Name of student Atul SaraogiCompany interviewed with JM FinancialRole Investment Banking – Corporate FinanceName of interviewer and designation

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 don’t 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 firmsTechnical Questions (with indicative answers – preferably share them)

- 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?- 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 Kanika BerryCompany interviewed with HDFC, Citibank, BarclaysRole Treasury, Senior ManagerRemarks 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?,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 wasn’t well prepared. So technical questions is where I goofed up.


S. No.



Read on ft.com every alternate day

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.

2 Macro Economics The text book The revision of the slides will also do

3 Corporate Finance The book needs to be revised There is a 60 page document on valuation that will help.

4 Futures and Options

Revise 2 subjects that you can talk about if required. I revised F&O, Fixed Income, Corp Fin and Investment Valuation.

Rekha Ranganathan

Name of student Rekha RanganathanCompany interviewed with Deutsche Bank Role Global Banking Associate (Corporate Finance) Name of interviewer and designation

a) Jaideep LakshminarayananHead – Infrastructure, Transport and Consumer Investment Banking, Asia

b) Deepak DangayachAssociate – Debt Products, Asia


First round, first and only interview

Personal Interview questions 1. Tell me something about yourself

(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?Technical Questions (with indicative answers – preferably share them)

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 company’s 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?Questions related to ISB experience (with indicative answers if you wish to share them)

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.)


Sanjay AgarwalHead, Corporate Finance, India

Piyush Gupta, Global Banking, Asia<< Don’t know the designation >>


Second round, first and only interview


1. Tell us something about yourself2. Questions about hobbies3. 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


I was honest about the fact that I did not much about current deals etc. I told them that I don’t 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)

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.


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 goals3. 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 DB’s various businesses, my expected career path, work-life balance, DB in India, etc>>


None


None


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 What do you think went wrong in this interview

Nothing.


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.


S. No.


1 Corporate Finance Class notes. That’s all. Very very very important. Be clear on fundamentals.

2 Current Affairs The Economic Times No need to over-prepare. Just be aware.

3. Finance and related news

Discussions with friends and classmates

This is more useful than newspapers!

Career Movement

S. No.

Qualification


1 CA, B.Com

RSM&Co. Assistant Manager, International Tax and Transfer Pricing

1.25 Deutsche Bank

Associate, Global Banking (Corporate Finance)

Qualified Assistant, International Tax and Transfer Pricing

2

Note: Combine rows if required (as done in the e.g.)

Vignesh Shankar

Name of student Vignesh ShankarCompany interviewed with Kotak MahindraRole Investment BankingName of interviewer and designation

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

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

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.


- 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. No.

Qualification


1 CA, B.Com, M.Com

KPMG Statutory Audit 4.0 A.T.Kearney ConsultantGrant Thornton Corporate

Finance0.3

Note: Combine rows if required (as done in the e.g.)

Finance Interview Book 2008

Documents