Umang Gupta | CA AIR 3 | Marico | IIM Bangalore Co22

How did land up in the CA CS world

Mantra for AIR 3 CA Final | CS Final

 Management Development Programme (MDP) for CA Rank holders - how was it

Why quit a Marico job - opportunity cost

CAT Strategy

 IIMB has a special criteria of calling the top10 rank holders in CA/CS/ICWA. - pls explain

dream life

words of advice to youngsters

Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai | Corproate Chanakya | How to apply Chanakya's learnings in your life

Q1. In your formative years, one incident which changed your outlook towards life Q2. In India, why does a B. tech in Computer Science mostly goes unutilised in the career journey – it just becomes a gateway to cracking CAT Q3 You stated to us in an earlier interview on #mymbastory that MBA is like a crash course in survival. What exactly should a youngster be mentally prepared for? Is it a lot of initial stress? Q4. In 1996, iInstead of an IT Services firm from MDI campus, you joined a friend who was setting up real estate startup –Colliers Jardine. It was almost like entrepreneurship over job. How did you convince your parents? Q5. A lot of us are often confused between a) Whether to continue to be a slave to the Corporate World’s fixed salary and fancy designations? b) Plunge into the risky and turbulent waters of entrepreneurship How does one choose between job and entrepreneurship Q6. The inflexion point, the pinnacle of success? Q7. How was the India’s oldest and premier business magazine BW at one point of time and then purchasing the company, along with Vikram Khanna? Q8. Biggest failure of life and how you overcame? Q9. Your hobbies that help you unwind. Your fitness regime Q10 What advice will Mr Batra give to his younger self – the Annurag Batra aged 20?

Radhika Gupta - CEO Edelweiss AMC | The girl with a broken neck 

In this 35 minute conversation, she speaks about why she was gifted with the title "the girl with the broken neck", experiences in studying from marquee institutes, Mckinsey, Wall Street, her entrepreneurship experience and now as CEO of Edelweiss AMC.

 1) The girl with a broken neck has worked at McKinsey, Wall Street, set up India’s first domestic hedge fund, became India’s only female head of a major asset manager, launched India’s first ETF. Looking back - do you still get the feeling ''Why Me'?   

2)  From Wharton, you graduated umma cum laude - an honor awarded to a student whose GPA is between 3.80 and 4.00A. A lot of said about the importance of MBA from storied institute. What difference does it make in real terms - campus placement, networking, presentation skills? is a lot of it general hype about MBA  

3) After being rejected at 7 firms, having suicidal thoughts , ambulance and psychiarty - you landed in that interview with Mckinsey and bagged the offer - a substantial part of that interview was bridge since the partner was a tournament level player and you were playing bridge since you were 13. Was the confluence of interest in interest, a stroke of great luck ? And how was life at Mckinsey? What did clients like about you? Were working hours very very long?  

4)  From working at Wall Street - AQR Capital to setting your own firm -Forefront Capital in Mumbai - why entreprenurship? Whay dd you feel there was a market for AIF in India? Did the sales/business development cycle shatter your ego initially? From 25 lacs to 200 crores, what were the Inflexion Points of that venture ? Now in a simialr fashion, would you envision Edelweiss'growth   

5) Amidst all the frenze about flaunting success on social media, about the rat race ( say Alpha, AUM , Number of Folios, in your case), how does one celebrate his/her own uniqueness  

6) What would you advice be to Radhika at the age of 20

Life lessons from Prakash Iyer - IIMA, former MD - Kimberly Clark,  Best Selling Author  1. Drawing cues from your TEDx talk, Go fly a kite! In your early career days, who was the one who held your kite and hoisted it?  2. You entered IIMA in the year I was born – 1984 – was MBA in vogue then as much as it is today? CAT percentile cut-offs  Memories from the red bricks. Favourite Professors  3. 3 decades leading efforts for Marketing & Sales of everything from soaps at HUL to colas at Pepsico, to yellow pages at Infomedia and Huggies diapers at Kimberly, what were your key learnings? Is this career suitable for everyone? Who are the people who succeed in it? Their key attributes? 4. Bidding Adieu to a corporate career for being a Motivational and Keynote Speaker, what was the trigger for this major transition? Is inspiring people more fulfilling than a corporate job?  5. Your favourite reads  6. Mantra for fun and fitness 7. Advice to youngsters  8. And maybe your thoughts on your recent tweet in wake of SSR - We live in interesting times. People have a million friends and followers on social media.  And no friends in life. We all need someone who smiles. Cares. Makes us feel good.

With Fatema Hunaid- Transfer Pricing Specialist at Walker Chandiok & Co LLP  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fatema-hunaid-6033b321/

Fatema is the Business Unit Leader for Technology in South for the Firm. She is also accredited as a Culture Change Facilitator at the Firm by Senn Delaney and has had the opportunity to facilitate culture change within the Firm through several ‘unfreezing workshops’.  Named as one of the Women Leaders in Tax in the 2018, 2017 and 2016 editions of the International Tax Review, a guide featuring leading women tax advisors worldwide, Fatema has also led the ‘people and culture’ role for the tax expertise in the firm nationally.  She is a Chartered Accountant and has over 19 years of experience in Indian transfer pricing consulting and international tax.  

An interesting fact about your formative years in Bethany High/Bishop Cotton/Christ University which most people don’t know much of?  How did you stumble upon the CA path – were there precedents in the family?  

In your quick rise to the  Business Unit Leader level , which factor do you think clicked for you?  Did you face gender stereotypes and how did you counter them?    

A service line as specific as Transfer Pricing – what are the pros and cons of making this sort of a choice as a fresher?  

What is the future of TP now that there have been a lot of relaxations for domestic transactions?  

What part of TP is interesting – say Advisory and what your coping mechanism for the not -so-interesting parts such as compliance  

Your mantra for fun and fitness? How do you fulfil the responsibilities of a mother as well - how much time are you able to manage for your kid?  

 In retrospect, advice that Fatema in the 40s would you give to Fatema at age of 20?

if you have been tracking Mutual Funds, you would have certainly stumbled upon the name - Nilesh Shah. He is the MD of Kotak-AMC and part of the PM Economic Advisory Council

This week he shared his interesting Career Journey in this video- various facets of his personal life such as  being so humble in his demeanour, losing his father in early childhood, the support he received from neighbours, transitioning from a Gujarati Medium schooling background to being one of the most prolific speakers on the Indian markets

After a Gold Medal in CA Exams, he was about to join L&T and was advised by the interviewer not to settle for stability so early in life. He was asked to rather try his fortunes in the financial markets - thus landing in ICICI as a Merchant Banker, transition to Stock Markets and now managing an AUM of 100,000+ crores.  He talks about the role of serendipity, patience and constant learning. His vision for his life on Maslow's Hierarchy, now that he has pretty much achieved it all in terms of money and fame. Whats his mantra for unwinding. His advise to youngsters 

You cant afford to miss this

Questions  1.     My first question is that despite all that you have achieved in life, how is it that you maintain such a calm exterior, such careful choice of words, it’s almost magical. I have spent hours watching your videos and get mesmerised each time.  

2.     You lost your father at a very young age. How did it impact you as an individual –Please share memorable aspects of your school life?  

3.     From Gujarati medium to being one of the most prolific speakers on the Indian markets, saw your TEDx talk as well.  Normally a lot of youngsters find the transition to English from their native language tough. How did you manage the transformation? 

 4.     What triggered the CA and CMA decision? How was your journey to the gold medal – expected or unexpected? You had said earlier that you’ve studied extensively in a library.  

5.     You had also shared that you had, as a fresher, being interviewed by L&T, inspired by the interview to try your hand at equities – early 90s. Please tell us more.  

6.     And you’re the only one person in your family who chose service- what was the underlying thought process?  

7.     Amidst Franklin, ICICI, Axis and now Kotak, it has been nearly 3 decades. Any interesting moment- good/bad bosses, heaven sent opportunities to learn etc that you would like to share.  

8.     A fund manager’s job- one feels it’s quite glamorous. But I also sense that the bid to generate alpha might often turn out to be extremely demanding. Isn’t it? How do you manage the stakeholder’s expectations?  

9.     When bets go wrong- be it equity or debts, what do you tell yourself?  

10.  In your TEDx talk, you emphasised a lot on being proud of ourselves, our Indian raw mentality and we being a nation where Australia, Philippines & sub Sahara exists- what’s your vision for our country & its youth? The comparison with China that you often make also comes pertinent here.  

11.  You’ve pretty much achieved it all. So sir, what’s next on Maslow’s hierarchy – your long term goals for yourself?  

12.  Sir, what do you do to unwind apart from family (wife + 2 daughters) – Gujarati literature – you gave up listening to music due to hectic work hours.  

13.  What career advice do you give to your daughters? How old are they? Do you want them to be CAs? Or do they have different aspirations? 

 14.  Message to youngsters watching the show?

Mr R Gopalakrishnan has been a corporate leader for 50 years. He has served as Chairman of Unilever Arabia, as MD of Brooke Bond Lipton and Vice Chairman of Hindustan Lever, as Director of Tata Sons and several Tata companies. He serves as an independent director and non-executive chairman of Castrol India and also as an independent director of Hemas Holdings PLC, Sri Lanka.

Mr Gopalakrishnan has been a newspaper columnist and continues to write every month for financial papers. He has also authored nine books since 2007. He is an international speaker and speaks extensively in India. He is actively engaged in both instructional & inspirational speaking.

Mr Gopalakrishnan serves as Distinguished Professor of IIT Kharagpur and as Executive-in-residence at SP Jain Institute of Management & Research.

Mr Gopalakrishnan studied physics at Kolkata University, engineering at IIT Kharagpur and attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

Questions

1) Sir, can you please share snippets from your formative years at St Xaviers Collegiate school. Was there a turning point which re-defined your trajectory, something which most people dont know about?

2) Was learning 6 languages, English, Bengali, HIndi, Sanskrit and Tamil, something you relished or were more of reluctant  Later did this knowledge help in your career

3) After your B.Sc in Physics, you chose to study at IIT Kharagpur instead of the societal trend of government jobs or the Rs 450 per month job at McKinnon Mckenzie ( a princely sum of money then)

4) Was it serendipity that you chanced across this advertisement in The Statesman for Hindustan Lever's System Analyst job?

5) You didnt choose to do an MBA - you said in an interview that had you done it, you would be the first batch of IIMA- Later when MBA become the cult thing , as it has become today , and the passport to the CEO world, did you have any reflection

6) Mr Scott Burney at HLL gave you your break in Marketing & Sales . Looking back on that interview, what do you think convinced him to give you that break

7) At that point, did you ever imagine that you would become HLL's Vice Chairman in 1997

8) In your stint at the Tatas, what were your nostalgic moments , the most memorable projects  - interacting with  The Ratan Tatas and Ishat Hussains. In terms of organisational culture - this would have been a great transition as well

9) Your father had advised you that you should always do something that keeps the brain active. I am so grateful that you chose to share your rich experiences through writing, speaking, teaching and advising .  How would you reflect on that

10) In your public service engagements, you have straddled the entire pyramid - Railways, Pulses, Electricity and Monsoons - you clicked everywhere - was being passionately curious, your secret sauce

11) Sir, how would you balance professional glory and personal emancipation. A lot of youngsters are unhappy that they haven't  achieved much . What would be your advise

12) Final thoughts - you took life as it came - Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhaata Chala Gaya - was this your mantra forever and how did it make a difference in an era when we are either lamenting the past or worrying about future

https://www.linkedin.com/in/r-gopalakrishnan-gopal-211222115/

When you deal with clients ( in job or business) , what are the kind of mistakes which are common  When it comes to a Mutual Fund Vs Stock , why is Mutual Fund preferred option for Retail Investors  What factors must one consider while choosing a Mutual Fund e.g. the fund manager changes , scheme objective changes  People feel that SIPs can never make loss - however thats not always the case. Hence you need to actively monitor portfolio  Between large cap, mid cap and small cap, what should be the mix  Nowadays Index Funds seem to get popular - do you recommend it  Your  Mutual Fund theme this season ( of course this keeps changing with time)  Mr. Bimal Kumar Agarwal.  Contact: 219-C, OLD CHINA BAZAR STREET. 1ST FLOOR, ROOM NO. B6 & B4, KOLKATA  bgksons @ gmail (.) com  Ph: 9830041669 | 9874281669

A Candid Conversation on Mental Health - Actor @Urvashi Goverdhan speaks about her struggle as an actor in the glam world , mental health issues she has been facing the age of 14 and her coping mechanism, advice to youngsters as they face the stress of modern life  

1) Pls tell us a bit about your journey  2) Since you are also from the showbiz industry, what was your first reaction to SSR's news - given that it was also related to mental health .  is the struggle to get work as scary as it can get when times are unfavorable  3) You have been a vocal advocate of the need to shed the social stigma surrounding Depression . Tell us about your experience in coping with mental health issues and all the more as you are also in showbiz  4) Youngsters today are stressed- social media , career expectations , too much too soon - whats your prescription  5) What do we do as a society for this