IIM Admission 2021: How Rupesh Gupta Cracked IIM Ahmedabad Interview

BCom graduate Rupesh Gupta shares his IIM Ahmedabad WAT-PI experience. Read his personal interview experience of how he converted IIM Ahmedabad call. 

Rupesh Gupta, who scored 98.3 percentile in CAT 2020, converted IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Kozhikode interview calls. A BCom graduate ((Accounting and Finance)  from HR College of Commerce and Economics, Rupesh has cleared CFA Level 3 and has work experience in Front-office Investments role at Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance. Shiksha spoke with Rupesh on his IIM WAT-PI experience. He shared his IIM Ahmedabad PI experience with us. Read below.

IIM Ahmedabad PI Experience

Date: February 7, 2021
Place: IIM Ahmedabad Campus

Panel: 1 Male and 1 Female panelist, hereafter, referred to as P1 and P2 respectively

P1: Good morning Rupesh. Please sit. Make yourself comfortable.

Me: Good morning sir. Good morning ma’am. Thank you.

P1: So Rupesh, I see that you’ve worked at Edelweiss. So you must be living in Mumbai right now? (Subtly asked about the work gap)

Me: Sir, I used to work at Edelweiss. I reside in Bhavnagar, Gujarat currently.

P1: Okay, so what have you been up to?

Me: Sir, having completed 2 years in a front-end Investments role and cleared level 3, I believed the time was ripe for pursuing an MBA. I left my job at Edelweiss to give my best attempt at entrance exams. Unfortunately, I couldn’t crack target colleges and decided to reappear for the exam. I was associated with my family business and also learned financial modeling to upskill in my domain. Consequently, I could substantially improve my score and am looking forward to a premier B-school admit.

P2: Why haven’t you mentioned your family business in your work experience?

Me: Ma’am, I wasn’t invested completely into it. It wasn’t a 9-5 commitment. Therefore, I didn’t want to mislead you.

(P2 seemed content)

P2: Tell us about your work experience

Me: I joined Edelweiss Tokio Insurance as part of a 12-member Front office Investments team, managing an AUM of Rs 2500 cr+. The role provided a steep learning curve for a fresher. The opportunity to manage the Equity Dealing desk was a perfect path to acquire a ground-up understanding of equity markets. It provided me with a chance to contribute to fund performance by executing my tasks effectively and efficiently. In my second year, spearheading the setting up of the Special Situations desk with a corpus of Rs 75 crore was an overwhelming experience. Special situations involved investments relating to IPOs, open offers, disinvestment, demergers, or any other event contingent trade. Ownership of scouting, evaluating, and recommending investment opportunities provided me deep insights into asset management. Collectively, my role provided me a great platform for my long-term growth.

P2: Okay, so what’s going on with US equity markets?

Me: The US markets have been doing extremely well lately. They’ve had a bull run and are close to all-time highs, just like Indian Equity.

P1: Why are they doing so well?

Me: Sir, do you want the reason only for US markets or Indian Markets as well?

P1: The Indian markets have anyway rallied due to foreign capital infusion. So, doesn’t matter. Tell us about US?

Me: The rally is due to the infusion of liquidity in the economy.

P1: Where did the liquidity come from?

Me: The US Govt has been pumping money ever since the economy took a hit due to the pandemic. President Joe Biden recently announced a USD 1.9 trillion relief bill. A lot of unemployment benefits and other allowances have also been distributed throughout the last year.

P1: Do you think, the rally is justified?

Me: No sir, I believe the rally is only liquidity-driven and does not have a sound fundamental base. The companies have shown a rebound only in the latest quarterly results but the markets have been rallying for over two quarters now.

P1: Do you ever have a fundamental rally?

Me: Yes sir, I believe you can. I could’ve attributed a Nifty run up to 10,000, 11,000 or maybe 12,000 levels to a fundamental rally. But the Indian Markets are up around 95 per cent  from 7,800 Nifty levels, which is crazy. I don’t believe the current frenzy is performance-driven.

P1: So Rupesh, how much did you earn at Edelweiss?

Me: Told.

P1: You were involved in managing money directly and a lot of other big responsibilities. How come you were paid so low?

Me: Sir, one of the core beliefs of Edelweiss is believing in people. It doesn’t matter if you’re relatively new as long as they believe you are fit for the role. Even our CIO always said during recruitment that he wasn’t looking for high experience or someone with great financial knowledge. He looked for potential.

P1: How did he find this potential? Please share with us as well. Would be a great help! (Laughing)

Me (Laughing): I’m not aware of the parameters he used but I’m sure once you’ve been in such a coveted position for so many years, you build your matrix.

P1: If we call up your manager right now, what would he tell us about you?

Me: Fortunately, I had a good repo with my manager and I can tell you exactly what he will. He’ll say I’m highly accountable and take ownership of responsibilities.

P1: Okay, some negatives?

Me: I do not stand up to seniors and put my foot down. It's extremely important and necessary to discuss your opinion until the discussion comes to a logical conclusion.

P2: Okay. Tell us a little about your family business?

Me: Alang, situated close to Bhavnagar, is the biggest ship recycling yard in the world. After a ship gets recycled, every small part of the ship is scrapped or resold. We’re engaged in the dealing of industrial machinery and equipment parts of recycled ships. We guide customers to buy marine-grade quality items at the best possible prices.

P2: How would you expand your current business?

Me: Ma’am, the two biggest challenges we’re facing right now are: Lack of awareness about the Alang Industry and hence the distrust. The other problem is a long working capital cycle. So if we manage to get clients with better payment terms and increase the awareness/reliability of the industry through our website and other modes of communication, we could substantially advance.

P2: How would you make your clients trust your product or the industry as a whole?

Me: (Asked for time to ponder upon the question)
Testimonials. We’ve been serving clients for over 3 decades now and we can broadcast the reliability of our services more creatively and plausibly.

P2: But you’re not the only one engaged in this business, why focus on increasing customer awareness about the industry?

Me: Most of our new clients right now are through referrals. There is a need for an organized manner of improving client engagement and thereby, acquiring new customers. Without working on the awareness part, these objectives are difficult to accomplish.

P2: So you think awareness is good enough. The farmers have been actively raising their concerns and increasing awareness, you think you know about their problems?

Me: I think I do. Though, there’s always a chance the ground reality might be much different from what gets communicated through media.

P2: So what are they, in 3 brief statements?

Me: Answered

P1: What else do you like to do? What are your interest and hobbies?

Me: I like going on hiking trips. I also enjoy watching documentaries/movies on historical events.

P1: Okay, so do you know the importance of Bhavnagar in the silk route trade?

Me: No sir, I’m not aware of this particular event.

P1: Do you know what was the Silk Route?

Me: Told
P1: Okay, so what could’ve been Bhavnagar’s role?

Me: Sir, I’m aware that Bhavnagar was a prosperous city due to the trading of goods through our ports in medieval times. The Silk Route was related to the textile trade. But I’m not aware of the exact role of Bhavnagar in the trade. I will check up on it as soon as I get back.

P1: Okay Rupesh. Thank you.
Me: Thank you, Sir. Thank you, Ma’am.

Verdict-Converted

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