“One of the funny thing about stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells and both think they are astute” – William Feather
Having my under-graduation degree in Commerce (B.Com (Hons)), I had a finance background but with a strong inclination towards marketing, I started my journey at IIM-Nagpur. I had always planned on taking marketing majors so as to move away from my background; Finance. But as they say, plans change while you find your way. In the last one year at IIM Nagpur, I re-visited the concepts of accounting and finance. While doing so, I gained a different perspective to the world of debits and credits, where I found how each number in an annual report had a strong background to it, which could be analysed from the viewpoint of different stakeholders.
This analytical thinking was based upon the learning that I had where we were taught how to look into the intricacies of financial decision-making and return on investment of a project. I am currently applying the same at my summer internship project. Also, while studying other subjects including marketing management, marketing research, analytics and operations, I gathered a holistic view of how business operations are interlinked and importance of none can be underestimated. And this was a juncture where I started gaining interest in finance, yet again. IIM Nagpur served me with a plethora of opportunities to realise that I shouldn’t do away with finance not only because I already had my basics strong, but also because the course structure offered in the second year was interesting and challenging enough. In this one year at IIM Nagpur, I could effortlessly overcome my apprehension of continuing with finance.
To back my decision of pursuing finance further, corporate competitions that required knowledge from the finance domain (involved applications of concepts taught in classes and discussed during several case discussions) and other events organized by various B-Schools played a key role. Those competitions and even now when at my summer internship, I have realized how my outlook towards finance had shifted from accounting to business analysis. The best part of IIM Nagpur curriculum is the rigorous case-based pedagogy that helped me apply the technical skills to practical problems.
In addition to these, the icing on the cake were various guest sessions and events organized by Finesse, the finance club at IIM Nagpur. From interacting with the CFOs of leading organizations to participating in a mock stock exchange, I got exposure to how different segments of finance operate in the real world. The regular industry-interactions help the students stay updated with the recent happenings. From time to time, inter and intra-college events organized by the club, helped me gain an insight about the latest happenings in the world of finance ranging from the analysis of the financial budget to the happenings in the IL&FS market.
To sum up, the Finance domain offered at IIM Nagpur is structured in a way which equips an individual to develop a mindset that enables strategic decision-making.
About the Author:
Tanya Malhotra is a PGP 2018-20 candidate at IIM Nagpur. She is an alumnus of Delhi University and graduated in B.Com (Hons) from Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi. Prior to joining IIM Nagpur, she worked with Ernst & Young.