IIM Lucknow Interview Experience

IIM Lucknow Interview Experience Feb 19th, Slot 2, Bangalore GEM 9/9/8, 1.5 years work ex in fintech WAT (15 mins) Topic: Do India need more IIMs? Panelists: M1, F1 M1: Did you get a chance to talk to the person from your college who came before you? A: No sir. M1: So, what did your previous organization do? A: Stock brokerage, mutual fund distribution M1: Tell me about large cap, mid cap, small cap funds. What these caps are and how they are divided into different fund groups? A: Talked about market capitalization and nifty 50 top companies. M1: What is role in your current organization and what does it do? A: Growth analyst in a digital lending startup. M1: What are your roles and responsibilities? A: Answered. M1: How fintechs are operating in such a risky customer segment? When economic crisis will come, such companies will be the first to get hit because of higher NPAs. A: Talked about high interest rate and how we make money out of it. M1: Tell me about how credit card works in backend with the card network partners. A: Don't have much of an idea about it. M1: Fintechs are charging so high, aren't they pushing users towards more financial dependency? A: Talked about need fulfilment for those risky users and agreed about these being debt traps. F1: You want to get into brand management. Have you formally studied or know anything about it? A: Yes, studied about it. Also, have come across this with the team working for brand management in my company. F1: What is a brand? A: Answered. F1: You have written about Axe. Don't you think they make controversial ads? You want to make such ads? A: Talked about their ad being relevant a while back when they tried to drive sales via masculinity portrayal, now time has changed and all. F1: What is your favorite brand and why? A: Surf excel, talked about the ad messaging, brand identity etc. F1: You have written about good alumni network at IIML, you know any of them? A: Couldn't remember anyone, just to lighten up, answered Prashasti Singh (as I had attended her standup show a month back) F1: But you don't want to get into entertainment domain na? Give us someone from brand/ business domain. M1 (Smiling and commenting about how Prashasti herself is the brand) A: Can't remember anyone else. F1: You have written PRiSM, what that is? Any full form? A: Marketing Club at IIML. F2: How did you get to know about it? A: Talked about researching about different student groups and communities and coming across it, then read up on social media. F1: You talked about surf excel, do you know what their market share is? A: Not very sure, but maybe 25-30%. F1: Okay, who is leading in this detergent segment? A: Maybe surf excel. F1: No, it's the less premium one. Tide. M1: That's it, you can leave. F1: You're wearing a nice watch, which brand is it? A: TITAN. Ended. Duration: 11 mins More conversational, not much of grilling (Could have looked up about Indian detergent market though as I mentioned about Surf excel and also how credit card business works. And obviously research well about the institute.) https://preview.redd.it/0222p4snn5ke1.jpg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1d577d7668bea5a16f6def9662e2fa086fd4479