Nostalgic about DELHI

From past few days I have read quite interesting news . The first one is quite disheartening especially for me . Could you ever think of IIM ,FMS and XLRI grads posting their resumes on job sites ? I know none of us would believe it considering the benchmark set by these prestigious institutes over the years . Each and every year the students created new records with the fat salary packages . But this year the salary and the profile being offered were not well received by the graduates .I- banks were missing this time and even if they were not many got lucky .Besides the average compensation have gone down by almost 30% . Even the world's Top 20 ranked ISB has not been spared . Since they were not satisfied they have resorted to posting their resumes on job sites and are on look out for career satisfying jobs . If this trend continues in the next year too, many would be apprehensive to join them considering the cost of education and the ROI . You can only guess about the placement scenario of other MBA colleges all over India . I don't think if even IIT can boast of 100% placement this time . Sadly it seems as if the MBA job boom has come to an end . But then it will revive itself as per my theory . The big question is when ?


So what would you buy or prefer ? A bottle of pepsi or an ownership of citigroup . Really I'm not joking . This was the news which I read on ET when citigroup share plummeted to less than a dollar . May be I'll go for pepsi as citi's future is uncertain though it received help from the FED . I cannot see my money losing out on citi's share . At least pepsi can give some respite for a short while from this recession.


Old is gold . Isn't it ? After playing for almost 20 years of non stop cricket ,doing over the same things again and again , the commitment shown by Sachin is just mind blowing . I just can't help myself but admire him . Truly He is a genius . His hunger for runs remains unsatiated till this date . And I believe this is the prime motivation which keeps him going every time He walks on to the pitch .I consider myself quite lucky to be born around this time as I can watch Him destroying bowlers all over . Sachin Tendulkar . Take a BOW .

So the moment is finally arriving . The day is 14th of March . The place is DELHI . Having spent around 4 years of my life in Delhi ,it's like second home for me . I feel nostalgic just at the thought of going over there . I have some fond memories of that place . Wait I'm coming again. So the only call I got this year is from DFS . A career in finance is always what I have dreamt of .I've done my part and the rest lies in the hands of destiny . Still some time left for the D-day .Till then be positive . Signing off on a positive note .

The Bitter Truth

There is an old adage which goes something like this "What you most wish for and what you most fear of , both will come TRUE ". You may doubt the first part but certainly would agree with the second . I believe in most the cases it holds good but some souls may disagree .So leave them aside and let's face the truth. In this period of recession one activity is quite common . Every other person is coming with their own set of predictions about the growth of economy during the next one year . Some people even dared to say that India won't be effected much by this downturn and would register a growth of over 7% . I don't know the basis of their audacious claims but found one thing common between them and that was UPA . I can understand the obvious as the lok sabha elections are round the corner and they don't want to disappoint the "aam aadmi" . But how long can you fool people in this world ? Surely not long enough . The results for the last fiscal Oct-DEC were announced some days back and the truth was unfortunately out before the public . India had clocked a growth rate of 5.3% amid this slowdown . Now the figure is not too bad but definitely way below claimed predictions . If the last result is anything to go by ,one can only expect whatwill be the results for the current fiscal when it would be announced . Definitely this slowdown has taken it's toll on the booming growth .

The crashing sensex reflects the mindset of the investors and depicts how sceptic have they become . Rupee depreciation is another cause of concern which is currently trading at 52 against dollar .Three stimulus packages have already been announced by the UPA government since December 2008 to give some boost to this sagging economy . Lately excise duty and service tax were cut by 2% each . This would certainly leave more in the hands of the consumers and would help in increasing the demand . Now since the election dates have come out no more such packages can be announced by the UPA government as per the restrictions laid down by the EC . So the only body which can act now is the RBI and it didn't disappoint either . It reduced the repo and reverse repo rate - both by 50 basis points . Now this would certainly help in retaining more money with the banks itself . This has been done so that banks lend more and help in spurring the demand . But of late banks have been accused of hoarding as this is not going to serve the purpose .The forex reserve has too come down by more than $50 bn in fighting this downturn . The only positive thing is the constant decreasing inflation . The placements of top B-schools of India like IIM-A,XLRI, IIFT have been hit by this slowdown . Earlier placing all it's students used to be a matter of 4-5 days but this year the case is quite different with extended placement season .The students are not in demanding position anymore and are settling for a low salary packages than last year . The kind of profiles offered are also missing this year . And the people from finance department are finding it too tough .

Don't know when this world would come out of this gloomy situation .Everybody is facing the heat and are doing everything to save their job be it Citibank CEO Vikram Pandit or a common man . So the common solution for this common problem is that everybody has to work hard . We need to put in the combined effort and then only this situation will improve or can hope to improve .

Lifestyle takes a HIT

Global recession ,slowingdown of economy , financial meltdown are the few terms discussed at length these days .Everyday each and every newspaper brings out an editorial on such hot topics explaining the causes and the effects of the above dreaded words .The countries all around the globe are making every effort to deal with the slowdown .Unemloyment is at it's peak and the fear of losing the job in these trying times is creating a havoc in the minds of the people .Companies after companies are reporting huge losses and are fiercly shuting down many production sites to cut down losses . Despite global scenario and IMF 's prediction of India's GDP growing around 5.2% , India is crusing along fine . Afterall it will be the second largest growing economy after China . But certain economists are of the view that India will be less affected by the gloomy scenario and will register a growth of around 7% in the nest fiscal .I pray they are right but we will have to wait for a certain time to celebrate .

So what are the causes for this recession , slowdown and all these stuffs?? May be I am not learned enough to cite the reasons .But I have a certain philosophical point of view .Sorry if I sound funny ,and if, ignore this . Like in a lifetime there are happy moments ,there is a boom in the economy .There are difficult,unhappy times in a life and likewise it is the slowdown ,gloomy times . The sensex last year was climbing dizzy heights and there were claims floating that it might reach 25000 points , Alongside India was recording a healthy growth rate and reaping the benefits of good times .But with sensex crashing for the past few months depict the uncertainities of the current time . On an optimistic note we know that every bad periods end with the beginning of good times .The past is the proof of the above statement. The growth of a counrty is something like a Sine curve .There will be crests and troughs for sure .But what will remain undetermined is it's time period that is for how long will there be healthy growth and for how much time will this slowdown lasts. The second thing which cannot be calculated is by how the economy would grow or contract but surely can be speculated . It is the time to search for the mistakes and rectify them .To revisit the basics , to enhance your skills , and thus remaining competitive .When will these times vanish remains unknown till then be optimistic .

So how am I surviving in this period of financial meltdown ? Certainly the credit crunch has taken a heavy toll on my lifestyle but then I never was a spendthrift .To deal with the situation I had to adopt various cost cutting methods and ofcourse in almost all the cases my poor stomach had to bear the consequences . For the past four months I had been wearing a pair of slippers with a large hole in one of it .It could have created a problem for me ,of much larger magnitude , if only a nail or something would have got into my feet . But now I am safe as I purchased a new pair after a lot of deliberation. Weekly I used eat out twice on tuesday and saturday ( thanks to the mess food ) but now I have scrapped the whole idea fo eating out. I have given up drinking (read juice ) . Now the only expense remains is the evening nasta which I will try to cut to minimum level . I cannot afford to go to a movie hall ( thank god no srk movie in near future) . I didn't pay for the hostel function as well as Kritansh but savoured the dinner on both the occasions ( thanks to Anand & Amrit ) . I hope to employ such measures in many more cases as long as it reduces the financial burden . As of now I just hope that my financial conditions would improve and start an upward movement ....boom time.

DFS: Only Hope

OK! I am here after a long break with all my MBA exams over . Actually it got over on 18th Jan itself but then I had other things to worry (like TCS and mid sem ) . So it was very difficult for me to continue scribbling on my bolgs . I hope you people would have understood the situation or shall I give more excuses incase you are not convinced . Anyways I shall stop myself now. By now one thing which would have been quite obvious is that I don't love writing blogs or rather I should say that I don't enjoy it much . So I can't say it's my hobby just to show that I am a person of bit diverse hobbies . But the other part which is important in this context is that neither do I hate writting blogs . May be later on when I find something intersting to write about then I may find it enjoyable . But for time being let's go along with the flow.



January 28 2009 will always hold a special place in my heart . It was on this day that I was short listed for GD-PI by DFS. When I saw the result I couldn't believe my eyes because I wasn't expecting a call . This was not because I had performed badly but rather it was due the less number of seats in DFS which made it a cut throat competition . I guess I was lucky enough . After I had failed to deliver the goods in all the exams starting from CAT ,I had completely lost faith in myself and my abilities . I was already thinking about the next year when the good news arrived . DFS was the last exam written by me with all my hope already evaporated by then . But then too I gave it and lastly GOD heard my call and rewarded the hard work I had put in throughout my preparation . The devotion finally paid off . It was an institute which I always wanted to join because of my affinity towards finance . But then the journey ahead is tough too .GD-PI is a hard nut to crack for a person like me . But I am leaving no stone unturn to come out with flying colours . Whatever needs to be done I am doing that and the rest GOD himself will see. Signing off an optimistic note ....