Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (‘JBIMS’) often referred to as ‘CEO factory of India’ says a tremendous lot about the kind of knowledge, rigor, discipline, and modesty the institute packs in a student to tackle the real-world business problems and excel at it while solving them. The flagship management program at JBIMS provides the students with a good perspective on the domain-specific concepts and their applications. The collaborative learning environment enhances the people skills and group dynamics which is critical while working in teams. The frequent chances to conduct presentations instils and fortifies the public speaking skills of the students.
First-year were filled with multiple enriching experiences, however, the most enriching ones were provided by the two of the dearest (and highly successful) professors of our institute – Professor Jagdeep Kapoor who teaches Marketing management and Professor Shivanand Mankekar (also known as the ‘Professor of the D-Street’) who teaches Financial management. For Marketing management, we were provided with an offbeat product for which we had to conduct the survey on the parameters that were specified by the Professor. For the most of the class, it was the first survey exercise and the product selected was obscure and therefore seldom secondary data was available for the product. The experience was enriching as we had to go through a plethora of rejections and had to convince the vendors to gather the data required by the Professor. For Financial management, each student had to choose a unique company that was listed on Indian Stock Exchanges and then analyse multiple parameters of the company to understand the functioning of core businesses and their drivers. The data that the Professor expected out of the research was not available online easily and we had to again do lot of travelling and survey to talk to the suppliers to the selected company, distributors of its products, employees of the company, and the customers of the company. We got to learn the level of analysis that the Professor puts into the research of a company and understanding the business of the company. This exercise peaked my interest in the roles concerned with conducting business research or performing company analysis by preparing financial forecasts and models to analyse the investment worthiness of a company.
From the diverse businesses and brands owned by Aditya Birla (‘AB’) Group, I would like to work for Aditya Birla Capital (Aditya Birla Financial Services Ltd.). Aditya Birla Capital owns multiple businesses – Aditya Birla Sun Life (‘ABSL’) Insurance Company Limited, AB Health Insurance Company Limited, AB Wellness Private Fund, AB Insurance Brokers Limited, ABSL AMC, ABSL Pension Management Limited, AB Money Limited, AB MyUniverse Limited, AB PE Advisors Private Limited, AB Finance Limited, and AB Housing Finance Limited. From these businesses under AB Capital, I would love to work for ABSL AMC as it (i) has total assets under management (AUM) of Rs. 2,252 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2017, (ii) is the fourth largest Fund House in India based on domestic average AUM, and (iii) provides three varied solutions to customers – Mutual funds, Portfolio Management Services, and Real Estate Investment. I am a finance enthusiast with a strong interest in Portfolio Management and Equity Analysis. To hone my skills further in equity and portfolio analysis, I will be attempting CFA Level 2 in June 2019 along with choosing finance as a preferred stream.
Nikhil Tanawade
MMS II, JBIMS