Abhayjeet Chauhan from SPJIMR Mumbai is one of India's Most Promising Incoming MBA Students 2021!
About Abhayjeet Chauhan: "I'm a Chartered Accountant, from Mumbai. I completed my 3 years articleship with KPMG's Audit & assurance division. After clearing CA final, I moved to KPMG's transaction advisory division working with the due diligence team. Won 3 Kudos awards during my tenure with KPMG. Later, I moved to JP Morgan as an analyst in their Corporate & Investment Banking (Research & Analytics division), working with the North American middle market team. I am a swimmer and like playing badminton, cricket and running marathons. I also like sketching & watching documentaries (with a keen interest in modern architectural masterpieces). I endeavour to do my bit in terms of giving back to society. In relation to the same, I volunteer with Dr Reddy's Foundation (Goodworks Society) in providing education to underprivileged sections of society. I have also volunteered with KPMG's social citizenship team for various events aimed to various social causes.
The following is Abhayjeet Chauhan's set of responses to a questionnaire floated amongst incoming MBA graduates to determine the top-50 Most Promising Incoming MBA students of 2021. Amongst the massive number of entries and responses being evaluated, Abhayjeet's story and profile stood out. Here's his story in his words.
Tell us about a time when you messed up, and what you learnt from the experience?
I distinctly remember messing my Financial services and capital markets paper of CA final examination. It was a pretty high scoring paper, and thus was having a significant impact on chance of securing an All India Rank (AIR). We had an option to attempt 2 out of 3 case studies, each carrying 50 marks. I glanced through the 3 case studies roughly and because I had quite some practical experience with valuation in my articleship training, I decided to go ahead with the valuation case study as one of my choices without reading the entire case study thoroughly. Not really sure if that the exam pressure or over-confidence that lead to the hasty decision. With almost 1 hour to go and having the second half of the valuation case study left, I felt my position was pretty comfortable. But then when I started with the second half of the valuation case study, it didn't seems to be going as comfortably as I had expected it to be, I was struggling determine the correct approach to solve that scenario. That is when I realized I should have read the case studies thoroughly and should have rushed with it. I ended up scoring an average 60/100 whereas my peers went on to score 80+ marks. At the end I ended up losing an All India Rank by 15 marks. My primary learning from this incident was understanding that overconfidence can have devastating consequences. Another learning for me was not to haste with anything; decisions should be taken only after carefully analyzing various relevant parameters and thinking through the problem. As it is rightly said, take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.
Tell us something about yourself that others may be surprised to know about you.
I am considered to be a no-nonsense person, kind of diligent and maybe perhaps a little rude. But only a specific few know about another exactly opposite personality of mine cracking lame jokes, making politically incorrect statements, laughing my heart out, being silly and dramatic are some of the key characteristics of the other personality to start with. On a lighter note, I've been told that I might be suffering from a dissociative identity disorder, and I could possibly have my set of reservations in relation to the same.
What have been your two biggest successes in life? What did you learn from them?
1. To have won 3 Kudos awards at KPMG was one of the biggest success of my life. I went ahead and proactively automated some work and took up complete ownerships of smaller projects in my budding years. It taught me going that extra mile for you organization, doing more than what is expected of you will not only be giving you a steeper learning curve but also will always be recognized, appreciated & rewarded. It taught me that hardwork and dedication are virtues that are difficult to inculcate, but the rewards are worth the effort, maybe not immediately, but definitely.2. Being able to convert SPJIMR also one of the biggest achievements of my life. I did not have a stellar CAT score, and that made my chance of converting any top b-school extremely bleak. Nevertheless I got shortlists from a couple of top b-schools and started working relentlessly for my interview preparations while managing my full-time job simultaneously, not thinking about how much would the CAT percentile dent my conversion chances. I went on to convert all my calls and learnt the importance of discipline & persistence in life. It elucidated the importance of a never give up attitude and believing in myself even when the odds weren't in my favor
Professionally, what is your ideal image of yourself five years from now? Where do you see yourself?
Five years from now, professionally I'd like to see myself driving business and growth for the organization that I'm a part of, having a good conceptual understanding over my work domain & industry while also miniating a fair idea about the other departments and related industries apart from having a great camaraderie with quite a few stakeholders. Having said that, being a balanced individual in all aspects is something that I'd like to work towards and inculcate the Kaizen approach within my work ethic.
What is the one skill or characteristic you possess that you are most proud of, and why?
Proactively taking initiatives is one characteristic that I am most proud of. I try to gain a holistic image of the objective behind a task, and then I do not restrict myself to the part of the task/work assigned to me. I go ahead and brainstorm around the problem statement/ the objective and share my opinion with my managers & bosses in respect to the same. Even at times when I'm a task that is monotonous and time-consuming, I brainstorm around how can the task be automated so as to complete such tasks in an efficient, error-free, manner while reducing the time required and freeing up man-hours in the process that can be utilized elsewhere.
In your opinion, what skills or qualities does a successful manager possess?
A successful manager possesses numerous qualities. He/she would be a dependable & resourceful team member, who not only maintains great relations within his own team & department but also with other teams, clients & prospects. People skills become paramount for managers, thus a successful a manager would be an effective communicator. He/she would be considerate and empathetic and at the same time would be diligent enough to get quality work done by the team in a timely manner. Lastly, he/she would be proactive & ingenious, thus being a great value addition to an organization.
Tell us about an ethical dilemma that you may have faced, and how you resolved it.
During my CA articleship, I had the opportunity to be a part of a team auditing one of the largest listed companies. However, because of my blood relations with a General Manager of that company, I wasn't independent to be a member of the audit team. I spoke to some of my colleagues & even my manager about the same, who asked me to not inform about such relation suggesting that it couldn't possibly be found out by anyone and that one shouldn't lose such opportunities. I was stuck in an ethical dilemma whether to keep mum and enhance my knowledge and experience or remain ethical and let the opportunity pass by. After some contemplation, I decided to uprightly maintain my integrity, came forward and informed the senior manager & partner about my blood-relation. I lost that opportunity, however was praised by my partner and was giving an opportunity in an equally challenging project.
If you were the CEO of any company of your choosing, which company would you choose and what would your first action be as CEO?
I would choose to become the CEO of HDFC bank. It is one of the most promising financial institutions with a great asset quality and a PB ratio that compete with the global financial giants. My first action as the CEO would be to introduce the concept of Smallcases. It is a personal investment product on the lines of mutual funds & ETFs. However some peculiar qualities like giving the investor control over changes in scheme coupled with the numerous niche strategic choices it offers apart to make it a great product to cater to the Indian market. With the majority of Gen-Z's rushing to the secondary market, along with the growing awareness amongst investors, this fintech technology could possibly become a hot selling product in the near future. Being the first major financial institution offering this product, could very well give HDFC the first-movers advantage and capture a major piece of the pie. Ofcourse as a precursor to launching this product, I would ensure to make HDFCs is digitally & technically well equipped to handle the future expected traffic for this product from a scalability perspective.
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For the Class Of 2022, we are back with the 8th season of InsideIIM's Best 50 - India's Most Employable MBA Graduates - Class Of 2022! If you're graduating from a B-School in 2022, you're eligible to take part in this competition! Grab the chance to bring out your best side and impress your recruiters and peers. Take the opportunity to show the world why you are special, on your own terms.
If you're using a web browser (Mozilla or Google Chrome), then you can take part through this link. Otherwise, please download the Kampus App (Android | iOS), and head over to Competitions.