Previous Occupation:  Consultant with Arthur Andersen 
Present Occupation:   Private Equity Professional 
Sector:   Financial investment advisory 
Work Experience:  12.5 years 
Professional Interests:   Investment Analysis 
Personal Interests:  Cricket 

Tell us about your academic background prior to the ISB.

I had completed my undergraduate from St Stephens, Delhi University in Economics (Hons) in 1998. After that, I decided to pursue chartered accountancy, which I completed in 2001.

What was your work experience before coming to the ISB?

I had articled with Arthur Anderson and continued working with them till 2002. I worked on certain telecom sector related advisory projects. I moved to Ernst and Young (E&Y), after they took over Anderson. I also had a 6 months stint in Pittsburgh while working with E&Y.

Can you describe your experience at the ISB?

I attended classes very regularly and did all the other regular stuff. I was actively involved with the Aikya family. I also did a project with IMAS telecom, on assessing the market for VOIP telephony.

What was your primary focus on campus?

I believe an MBA is for the sole purpose of getting the placement you want. So everything has to be focused towards that, everything you do must be aligned.  You should be clear about your goal and its path before you even join the MBA programme.

Tell us about your class (Class of 2004).

Ours was a smaller batch of 220. Everyone knew everyone. It was and is an amazing network.

What was your career path post ISB?

I started working in staff support role for senior management for Citi. I used to support the business head of transaction Banking. My learning was that you cannot always look at things from 60,000 feet and need to go in details. After six months I shifted to CMS division, where I worked for a year. After that I moved to the corporate finance division, working on project and corporate financing (debt) till I finally moved to Private Equity in 2007.

Any advice for the current class?

Don’t get disheartened in case you don’t get what you want initially, keep working towards it; it will happen. From placements point of view, spend considerable amount of time on preparing your resume. You can have different resumes for different opportunities. Try identifying the parameters a company will judge you on and then try to ensure you fulfil atleast the must haves. Overall I am quite optimistic about the placements this year, as the economy is coming out of the recession. During the WW II years, Churchill Once said, “The reason why British Soldier is victorious is not because, he is toughest or the best, but he believes in victory for the longest possible time” (or something to that effect!)

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