XLRI BM Interview transcript: 28th-Feb, slot 2 (afternoon), Jamshedpur

GD topic: Does government subsidy for startups violate the principles of the free market

2nd number, time: 3 PM

Panelists:

  • M1: Finance professor wearing mask (left)
  • F1: female marketing professor sitting in middle with laptop
  • M2: Marketing professor. Did not look at me directly throughout the interview (right)

F1: So what's the definition of a slum?

(Stunned at this out-of-syllabus start of the conversation )

  • I do not know the exact definition of a slum

F1: If you had to define, then how would you?

  • People living in slums are underprivileged. They do not have their land.

F1: Even rural people do not have their own land

  • Me: Not really, ma'am. Rural people may not have land for farming, but they do have land to live on, no matter how small it is. It's owned and passed on.

M2: Did you ever visit a slum or see it first hand?

  • Me: Yes sir, I've visited dharavi slum when I was about 8yrs old. Why go that far? there was a slum settlement near the pg where I stayed in Pune (Starts drawing the map of PG and the slum location in order to show the close proximity).. Sir hmm, I'm not sure if this is visible to you what I'm drawing here.. How do I show it to you?

M1: Don't worry, we are visualizing whatever you are saying

  • Proceeds to describe the Pune slum area through hand gestures

M2: How you say people in slum area underprivileged? Is it based on facts or assumptions? We have seen people from slum becoming millionaire

  • Hmm, I'm saying this based on what I saw, sir. The children didn't look very privileged from the way they lived. But you are right, it's not based on facts but assumptions based on what I saw.

M1: (looking at my file) So you've studied finance in your graduation. (pointing to the degree) Look, it says here BBA (financial management). So, what is working capital?

  • It's the amount of money you'd require for day to day working/ business management in the short run

M1: How short a duration are we talking about?

  • One year Sir

M1: And what's the formula?

  • Hmm, I'm but I can't recall

M1: It's current asset...minus...?

  • Oh yes, Current asset minus current liabilities

F1: You look tired.

  • I've been travelling in since yesterday afternoon, so it could be because of that

F1: Oh, where are you from?

  • Sitamarhi bihar

F1: So how did you travel?

  • from my house at 11, took a bus to Muzaffarpur, and then boarded the train at 4 pm. It was supposed to arrive here at Tatanagar at 7, but the train was delayed by 1.5 hrs. so, after having breakfast, by 9 am, I'm roaming around the campus.

M2: Which train? The one going to Danapur?

  • No, sir, that's a different. This was Thawe-Tatanagar exp, 18181

M2: And how will you be returning?

  • The return train is at nigh, at around 9 pm, the same train, return route. I'm expecting this to get delayed the same as today. So, exactly 24 hours later, I should be at home, considering all the delays in between.

F1: And are you currently working?

  • Yes, I'm currently working for a Pune-based company that provides email services. For example, XLRI uses Google's email service, so our competitor

F1: Oh, interesting. Then why did you travel to JSR? Mumbai was close, right?

  • No ma'am. My role is WFH. And even if I were working in Pune, I'd still choose JSR since I wanted to see the campus. In fact, this campus is literally 2235 times my house.

F1: How did you get that number?

  • This campus is 50 acres, so just compared with that

F1: And where did get area?

  • Official website. It's mentioned there. In fact here's a fun fact about me. Large distances are not easy to comprehend. For example, how big is the difference between 2000km and 2050km? on paper, that's just what? 2.5% but 50kms in reality is a lot! So I instead measure it w.r.t. travelling time. How much time it takes me to travel by bike or by train (I haven't travelled by flight, so can't comment on that)

F1: (Intervenes) Where are you going with this?

  • What I'm trying to say is that, from now on, my unit of area measurement/comprehension will be how many XLRIs I can fit in it. Since then, I have learned what 50 acres looks like.

M2: Okay, assume you get government funding. What will you do with it for the slum?

  • Sir, first, I'll correct my mistake and this time work based on data and facts. I will work on providing education to the children.

M2: Do you think there's anything missing?

  • Hmm... maybe it won't be sustainable enough and end up being a one-time activity

M2: No, if you've thought about it, it would be sustainable. Anything else?

  • Hmm... May I have a moment to think?

M2: Sure.

  • After thinking
  • Hmm... I'll first work on the foundational education for all, irrespective of the age. This will ensure that even if I'm not present tomorrow, they have something to build their knowledge upon.

M2: Good

F1: So here I have the definition of a slum. It's 400 people living in a sq

  • Ma'am, sq what? ft, mt, km?

F1: Sq mt. DO you think that's possible?

  • (I looked at the ground to see how much is one square ft.) That's a really small area, but it could be possible if the shawls are built on top of one another. Also these shawls tend to be very compact, and a large number of people live in one room.

F1: Okay, thank you, you can leave.

ME: (took a deep breath) ma'am, if you allow, may I say something?

F1: Sure, you have one minute

  • There were over 17 million cases in which 3 panellists could be selected out of 81 faculty members, 21 interview days from 20th-Feb to 15th-Mar, 5 interview cities, and each day having 2 slots.
  • Add to that the number of options I had to select my slo,t and together there are over 3 billion case

F1 looked confused when I said cases. M1 clarified to her: he is talking about the number of combinations

  • Out of all the possible cases, this is the one case that is my reality, and I truly believe this is the best for me that has happened today.

M2: But it could also be the other way round. It may be the worst case possible.

  • Maybe, but I'd like to think of it in a positive way

M2: Good, you should keep that mindset

M1: You have an affinity for numbers. Good. have a toffee

At this point, I was looking at how many toffees there.

M1: You can take two if you want

  • Me: NO sir, what if you've numbered these toffees? So if I take one extra, then the person after me may not get one.

M1: Yes, you're right, that's a good point.

Takes a mango bite and the end.

Edit: An additional question asked by M1 about working capital

M1: Consider two companies, one with 10k crore working capital and another with 40k. Which one is better?

Me: I'd need bit of more information. won't be able to comment just based based on numbers since different industry have different requirements. Is everything else equal?

M1: Yes, everything elseis equal. Just tell me which one is better.

ME: in that case, the one with 10k.

M1: Why so?

Me: Because it means that the company with 40k working capital is not managing its finances well. like they could have large cash reserves not deployed/invested ina better opportunity

M1: Okay, so the company with 10k working capital is better, right?

ME: Yes sir.. I'd say that is the one managing their money better

M1 okay, good.