IIT Madras Case Book

Abhinav Bhatnagar
  Dual Degree |Batch of 2021
Table of Contents
Acknowledgement.......................................................................................................................................2

Consulting: An Overview.............................................................................................................................3

Responsibilities.......................................................................................................................................3

Skills........................................................................................................................................................4

Employers....................................................................................................................................................4

Consulting At IIT Madras.........................................................................................................................5

Case Frameworks........................................................................................................................................5

Market: Market Situation........................................................................................................................7

Market: Segmentation............................................................................................................................7

Market: New Market Entry.....................................................................................................................7

Market: Competitor Response................................................................................................................7

Company: Evaluation of M&A Target......................................................................................................8

Company: Company: Capacity Expansion...............................................................................................8

Product: Product Strategy.......................................................................................................................8

Product: New Product Development......................................................................................................8

Product: Pricing.......................................................................................................................................8

General Frameworks...............................................................................................................................9

Case Interview Experiences.......................................................................................................................10

Case Matrix...........................................................................................................................................10

AUCTUS ADVISORS................................................................................................................................11

ALVAREZ AND MARSAL.........................................................................................................................18

THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP.......................................................................................................21

DALBERG...............................................................................................................................................39
 MCKINSEY & COMPANY........................................................................................................................50

Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude to all the seniors who took the effort to document
all their case experiences and without whom this case book wouldn’t have been possible.

I would also like to thank the Industrial and Public Relations Cores Abishek Ramesh,
Chinmay Agarwal and Shruti Agarwal for encouraging and guiding me through the
making of this Case Book

Regards,

Abhinav Bhatnagar

Industrial and Public Relations

Placement Team

IIT Madras
Consulting: An Overview
Consulting in the context of engineering institutes refers to Management consulting
which is the practice of helping organizations to improve their performance, operating
primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and the development
of plans for improvement. Organizations may draw upon the services of management
consultants for a number of reasons, including gaining external (and presumably
objective) advice and access to the consultants' specialized expertise.

In the beginning of a project, much of the time is spent getting to know the client's
business, which includes employee interviews and data collection. Consultants
(depending on their level) are often responsible for the data analysis as well, taking the
data they gather and turning it into digestible information to share with the company.

Responsibilities

As a consultant, you will have the following responsibilities-

• Quickly become familiar with client business challenges and technologies to

understand the environment for change and act as a trusted advisor to client
stakeholders while leading change
• Identify and negotiate schedules, milestones, and resources required to meet
project objectives
• Lead and manage those within the team, including analysts

• Develop program level communications, i.e., communications to the senior

stakeholders and the general employee population and communications to the
projects teams
• Run focus groups and facilitate workshops
• Provide respectful feedback
 • Work to drive faster adoption, greater utilization, and higher proficiency
regarding the changes impacting employees in the organization in order to
achieve business objectives

Skills Consults Look For

Management consultants must have the following soft skills, which are personal
qualities that will help you succeed in your work:

• the ability to work as part of a team

• interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written
• creativity and innovation
• problem-solving and strategic planning ability
• analytical skills
• flexibility
• the ability to cope with pressure and challenges
• commercial awareness and understanding of business environments.

Employers
Management consultancy firms can be divided into the following areas:

• Generalists are the larger firms, such as Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC and Accenture.
They offer a range of services from strategy consulting and human resources, to
IT and outsourcing on a global basis.
• Strategy consultants offer strategic advice to companies on a project-by-project
basis e.g. new market entry, long-range planning and rationalization of goods and
services. McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, AT Kearney, Strategy& (Formerly
Booz and Co.)
• Human resource consultants offer specialist HR advice, e.g. in organizational
restructuring, talent and rewards strategies. Example Mercer, Aon and Active
Strategy
• Information technology consultancy firms offer specialist IT advice such as
defining information needs, systems analysis and design, as well as applications
 consulting. Example Tata Consultancy Services, Gartner and Booz Allen
Hamilton
• Financial Advisory consultants offer specialist advice including the installation of
budgetary control systems, profit planning and capital and revenue budgeting.
Example The Hackett Group and The Squires Group
• Outsourcing consultancies manage the outsourcing of projects such as IT, finance
and HR.
• Niche firms are often set up by consultants leaving the larger firms to set up their
own consultancies in a particular sector or specialist service.

Consulting at IIT Madras

In 2016 BCG Dalberg and Auctus were on campus.

In 2017 BCG Dalberg Auctus and Alvarez and Marsal were the companies on campus.

In 2018 the consulting scene in IIT Madras dramatically improved this year with the
Mckinsey, Bain, BCG, Auctus and Alvarez and Marsal on campus.

IITM Students Placed in Consults Over the Years (2016-2018)

Auctus Alvarez Bain BCG Dalberg Mckinsey

2016 2 - - 2 1 -

2017 2 3 - 4 2 2

2018 4 2 2 3 1 4

Case Frameworks
Before we look at individual interview Cases, it is important to begin by looking at
analysis frameworks that commonly can be used to address Case Study questions.

In reality, few case interviews or real-life business situations cover just one concept or
business problem, so you have to have the flexibility to apply a range of
concepts/structures. For example, a Company bringing a new product to market would
require a market size analysis, competitor analysis, as well as understanding the key
customer segments.

The more you practice, the easier the cases will become and the more articulate and
structured you’ll be in your answers.

Frameworks remain important as concepts to answer Case Studies, but you should
absolutely avoid any rigid use of a specific framework. In reality, the main purpose of
learning the frameworks is to help you to structure your answers, just as the case
situations in our later examples should do.

The key frameworks that follow should be used directly in certain Case situations, but
more broadly they should be used as a way to expand your strategic thinking, which is
the critical component of success in the Case Study interview process. Ultimately, a top-
flight candidate will build his or her own framework/structure for evaluating the Case as
it progresses, often drawing from many of the frameworks and concepts in this module,
and potentially others. In other words, you should absolutely avoid using the phrase, “I
will apply framework X to this case.” However, be aware of the “famous” frameworks in
case they are mentioned in an interview setting, and don’t be shy about referencing
them as you dive into the specifics of the Case Study you’re evaluating.

In order to make it manageable, we operate with 10 types of business cases. The cases
are categorized in three key scope areas: market, company, and product.

Market

• Market situation
• Market segmentation
• New market entry
• Competitor response

Company

• Evaluation of M&A target

• Capacity expansion
• Profit hunt
Product

• Product strategy
• New product development
• Pricing

Market: Market Situation

The market situation framework is a very generic framework. It is useful in numerous

situations where the objective is to make an industry analysis, i.e. determine the
attractiveness of a market. This is one of the most common case types, which the
interviewers use. A typical question could be:

• Our client – a private equity firm – is interested in a certain market and wants our help
to analyze it. What would you analyze?

Market: Segmentation

A market usually consists of several segments that differ in behavior and/or attractive-
ness. The objective of market segmentation is to group the customers with similar
attributes. A business case question in this category could be:

• Which segment should the client target?

Market: New Market Entry

Many management consulting clients face the decision about whether they should enter
a new market or not. Many interviewees also face this question in their case interviews.
A typical case question could be:

• Our client considers moving into an adjacent market. Should they enter the market? If
they should, how should they do so?

Market: Competitor Response

A competitor response analysis is usually a separate case, but it can also be a part of a
larger case. Typically, a question of this case type would be:

• How should we respond to a move by competitor X?

Company: Evaluation of M&A Target

Making recommendations on M&A targets is a typical client case at the top tier
consulting firms, hence it is also a common case used during case interviews. A typical
question could be:

• Should the client pursue an acquisition of the target company?

Company: Company: Capacity Expansion

Case interviews frequently deal with cases about if and how to expand capacity. Clients
might be successful with a product line and cannot cope with the current demand. This
case question might be combined with a new market entry case. A typical capacity
expansion question is:

• Should the client build a new plant or expand the existing facility?

Product: Product Strategy

How to market a product is a key issue for many marketing departments. A typical
question is:

• Which product strategy should we use for product X?

Product: New Product Development

The decision to develop a new project requires solid analysis, and that is why companies
often turn to management consultants for their advice. The problem is also widely used
in business case interviews. A typical question is:

• Our client considers developing a new product. Should they proceed and start
development?

Product: Pricing

Pricing a product is a classic management consulting discipline, and is often used in

business case interviews. You will usually find pricing considerations as a part of some
other business cases. A typical question is:

• Our client is unsure of the pricing of a product. What do you think the price should be?
General Frameworks

Guess Estimates: Do not neglect this section and be thoroughly prepared with the same.
A guess estimate can be asked in multiple ways, even while solving a normal profitability
case. Once you have completed the guess-estimate then try to include the following to
make your analysis much richer –

a. Verification of data – Identify a few sources from where you can get the right
numbers to further refine your estimate.

b. Sensitivity Analysis – Conduct a basic sensitivity analysis and identify the most
critical assumptions you made.

Such an extended analysis shows that you have thought through all the assumptions
made and are not arbitrarily using any number to estimate. Although the numbers do
not matter here but having a basic sense of the numbers used and identifying the
potential areas of over/under estimating helps a lot.
Case Interview Experiences
Case Matrix

McKinsey BCG Dalberg Auctus Alvarez

Capacity Pg. 21,24

Expansion

Evaluation of Pg. 31
M&A target

Guesstimates Pg. 28,34 Pg. 23,25,26

Market Pg. 22,26

Situation

Pricing Pg. 22

Product Pg. 19,20

Strategy

Profitability Pg. 29,34 Pg. 17,18 Pg. 25

Market Entry Pg. 34 Pg. 14

Unconventiona Pg,32 Pg. Pg. 11,12

l 23,24,25,26
AUCTUS ADVISORS

Name Gokulesh T G

Interviewing with Auctus Advisors

(consulting firm)

Round and Interview Number 1st

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Future plans, why do you think MBA

would help, justification for why
consulting

Case question Auctus needs to conduct an offsite event

– how will you strategize the planning
for a smooth conduct?

Case Type It needed an on-spot customized

framework that had to be modified
according to the interviewer as and
when demanded.

Narration of the case, as descriptively as My preliminary questions were mainly

possible about scoping out the bounds and
liberty in the requirements of the offsite
event. Once they were set, my
framework consisted of allocating
various sub-teams, their fund
distribution and functions specification.
Further, it was asked what
 modifications to the plan should be
made if the budget is suddenly slashed
by half.

What do you think went right for you in
the interview?
There were many similarities between
the offsite event and institute events.
My experience with organizing institute
events helped me draw parallels with
this case. Further, other cases from the
case study books helped in dynamically
structuring this case.

In the situation of budget slashing, my

structure to differentiate between
essentials and luxuries worked really
well. My structures were also flexible
enough to accommodate the
interviewer’s demands

What do you think Could have done it in a shorter time by

taking in more pointers from the
went wrong in this
interviewer.
interview

Any tips for the future batch based Utilize the interviewer for feedback in
real-time.
on this interview

Name Saharsh Jhunjhunwala

Interviewing with Auctus

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer

Round and Interview Number 1st Round

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions General HR questions. No specific

questions.

Possible questions: -

What are your interests

Give a brief about your resume

How will u align your work interest with

Auctus

Case question Mentor Cases: -

1)Formulate a marketing strategy for

Chanel Perfumes

2)Maximizing profit for a Movie

Production Company

Interview Case: -

1)Government is giving you a contract

for running Hyperloop privately from
Chennai to Bangalore. Formulate a
strategy for the same.

Case Type It required a customised framework.

Narration of the case, as descriptively as Preliminary Questions included asking

possible the interviewers how metros make/do
 not make profit. Thought by treating
Hyperloop on lines similar to metros
and railways.

Tried fitting a framework but dint work

out. It was better to approach the case
practically considering the problem at
hand.

Recommendations: -

 Generate a commercial space

around Hyperloop to have a
decent crowd. Revamp the area
where the metro is going to be
constructed to generate traffic
 Bogeys can be used as a means
for advertising
 Outsource stations to vendors
 Rent out the space and operate
between malls

What do you think went right for you?

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview

Any tips for the future batch based
on this interview
Practice a lot of cases. Start your
preparation early(August). Revisit the
cases you solve as you go on solving new
cases and see what you could’ve done
better. Don’t cramp yourself with many
 cases in a short duration.

Outcome

Name Aditya Bharadwaj A

Interviewing with Auctus Advisors

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer

Round and Interview Number 1 and 2

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Questions on PORS were asked, to

elaborate on what the POR is

about.

Questions about internship was asked

Case question 1)A whisky manufacturer sees more

demand in the market. Has options of

renting external factory or expanding

own factory to meet demands.

Considering the cost and returns, find

the expected profit if each one of the

options are followed.

2)What will you do if you were given 1

 million rupees.

Case Type Profitability

Narration of the case, as descriptively as 1) A decision – uncertainty based

possible analysis was to be

followed.

2) Was expected to ideate

something that give periodic returns.

And also how to go about making the

profit.

What do you think went right for you I did a thorough analysis and did not
mess up math
in the interview?

What do you think None

went wrong in this

interview

Any tips for the future batch based Concentrated on case studies- did mock
case studies with peers
on this interview

Outcome Selected for Auctus

ALVAREZ AND MARSAL
Name Anumnath

Interviewing with Alvarez and Marsal

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer

Round and Interview Number 1st

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Have you worked with Data? Can you
extract info from Data?
 Why Consulting?

Why CFA?

How did u manage your POR’s and

academics together?

Core Project details.

Fit Checking-The way you approach

problems.

Questions on my data analytics related

intern.

Guesstimate-You are one of the two players

supplying electricity to west and north. How
many units of electricity will be required?
Case Question-How will you go about it?
What will be your pricing strategy?

Case question How will you go about it? What will be your
pricing strategy?

Case Type Market Entry with Guesstimate

Narration of the case, as descriptively as Did a value Chain analysis seeing transport,
possible connectivity, accessibility

I looked at the various ways in which we

could bid at a lower cost.

Looked at various transportation

possibilities

What forms of electricity u chose to drop

down cost [Solar, Non-renewable,
Hydroelectric]

More of an Open-ended Case to see the

 thinking process and not conclusion driven.

What do you think went right for you I solved the case really well in a structured
manner
in the interview?

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview

Any tips for the future batch based They tend to see what you have done tech
wise. So having finance in my resume was a
on this interview
plus point

Outcome Selected For Alvarez

THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP
Name Giridhur 

Interviewing with Boston Consulting Group

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer Rajah

Round and Interview Number 2

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Not very many

Case question I had to analyse a bunch of graphs and ask

the right questions, it was very much like
the sample case in BCG website/app

Case Type Regular

Narration of the case, as descriptively as No preliminary questions, I asked as I went
possible along, and made necessary inferences from
the data exhibits that were given to me. 

What do you think went right for you
in the interview?
I was commended for asking just the right
number of questions and making unique
observations which people before me hadn’t
made.

What do you think I made an observational error, didn’t see

the correct year while adding up numbers
went wrong in this

interview

Any tips for the future batch based Not sure, my interviews weren’t indicative
of anything. 
on this interview

Outcome I was called for another interview

Name Priy Ranjan

Interviewing with The Boston Consulting Group

(consulting firm)

Round and Interview Number First round

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Tell me about yourself

 Why BCG over other consulting firms?

He asked me why I did not want a job in

tech?

Case question An industrial goods company is seeing

decreasing profits. Figure out why and
suggest solutions.

Case Type Profits case

Narration of the case, as descriptively as I asked preliminary questions regarding the

possible company and the problem.

I used the standard profitability framework

for diagnosis. It was a revenue problem.
The competitors were not affected; hence I
chose them as a benchmark for comparison.

I found that everyone had shifted to a

different product mix due to changes in the
demand pattern in the market. The issues
were further exacerbated by declining
demand in our stronghold geographies.

The interviewer asked me to stop here and

summarize.

What do you think went right for you I followed the standard procedure
diligently. Therefore, could identify a
in the interview?
nuanced problem like the product mix.

What do you think I was not very convincing in my answer to

why BCG.
went wrong in this

interview

Any tips for the future batch based I spent a lot of time in understanding the
on this interview company during the preliminary questions.
I could not finish the case. Keep the
preliminary questions section short. Include
relevant questions in the structure.

Outcome Cleared for the next round.

Name Priy Ranjan

Interviewing with The Boston Consulting Group

(consulting firm)

Round and Interview Number Second round

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions No PI

Case question A bank branch wants to decrease its costs.

How should they go about it.

Case Type Costs

Narration of the case, as descriptively as I asked preliminary questions regarding

possible bank, especially regarding its location and
size.

To be exhaustive, I listed down the costs

from a customer’s point of view when
he/she visits a branch.

1. Security – guards/CCTV
infrastructure
2. Rent for the building itself
 Rent = Area * cost per area

I suggested optimization of space to reduce

the branch floor area. We surmised that a
considerable space is given to waiting areas
for the customers. By moving functions
online, the net customer flow in a branch
can be reduced and hence the need for floor
space.

The cost per area generally depends on the

locality. We can look for a new area if
possible with lower per sq ft rent.

3. Salary of employees inside the bank

Salary = no of employees * avg salary

No of employees can be reduced by

investment in proliferation of online
offerings.

The average salary can be reduced by

modifying the org structure.

4. Technical and physical

infrastructure to support the bank
functions
1 was deemed insignificant and 4 out of
scope of this study.

What do you think went right for you
in the interview?
I was very exhaustive in listing down cost
levers. I also broke them down
mathematically, while suggesting room for
improvements.

What do you think Nothing in particular

went wrong in this

interview
Any tips for the future batch based

on this interview

Outcome Cleared for the next round.

Name Varun Srinivas Sridharan

Interviewing with Boston Consulting Group

(consulting firm)

Round and Interview Number 1st

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Interesting initiatives during Shaastra.

Case question Analyse a tractor manufacturer

production problems

Case Type It required customised framework. Can

be considered like a fluid flow problem,
where bottlenecks can occur in rate,
volume and type of assembly process.

Narration of the case, as descriptively as My preliminary questions were mainly

possible about gathering information on details
of product and customer segments. Post
that I laid down my framework. Post
feedback I proceeded each branch. I had
some previous industry knowledge in
this are so it came in handy here.
What do you think went right for you Since I had practised such cases
framework came easily. My reading of
in the interview?
IIM A casebook had given me insights
into this industry area so allowed me a
creative advantage while analysing.

What do you think Could have taken more time with each
branch so that I could have covered
went wrong in this
more areas before diving into branches.
interview

Any tips for the future batch based Use the interviewer for feedback to
make as less mistakes as possible.
on this interview

Name Varun Srinivas Sridharan

Interviewing with Boston Consulting Group

(consulting firm)

Round and Interview Number 2st

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Interactions about likings in Chennai

Case question Analyse a bore well manufacturer

Case Type Case in which the product segments had

shifted. I had caught early on that the
 company in questions product portfolio
was the major issue.

Narration of the case, as descriptively as My preliminary questions were mainly

possible about gathering information on details
of product. I quickly caught that it was
demand issue. Post some basic math I
was able to isolate why competitors
were beating us.

What do you think went right for you Previous exposure to such cases and
catching the trick in the first two mins.
in the interview?

What do you think Could have shown my math skills before

the interviewer prodded me to ask the
went wrong in this
data.
interview

Any tips for the future batch based Use the interviewer for feedback to
make as less mistakes as possible.
on this interview

Name Abhishek Kelkar

Interviewing with The Boston Consulting Group

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer Xavier Sebastian

Round and Interview Number Partner Round, 1st interview

(first/second/third)
Personal Interview Questions
1. We had a funny discussion
during the BCG dinner over
Aerospace Engineering and he
remembered me from there, that
is where the PI started. Why
Aerospace.

2. Why is your CG low. How did you

cover up for it.

3. Why do you want to move out of

Aerospace and into consulting.
Why BCG.

4. Discussed about my background

briefly from the resume. And
asked for a preference for the
type of case.

Note: He went to great lengths to make

me feel comfortable during the
interview since it was the first one of the
day. PI just seemed like his way of doing
it.

Case question International automobile manufacturer

has been in the Indian space for a while
and has not been successful in gaining
enough market share. Wants to develop
a new strategy (if required) to capture
the growing market.

Case Type Growth Strategy/ increasing market

share
Narration of the case, as descriptively as
possible
The case started on a positive note.
Clarified the case, quantified the
objective. He also clarified all the
standard prelim questions regarding
company, competition, customers and
products (USP) in the first 3 mins.
I laid down a basic structure for
increasing the market share on the
grounds of Product, Pricing, Placements
and Branding Strategies.
He wanted me to focus on a very niche
aspect of Product mix and hence pushed
me in that direction skipping all the
other aspects.
Successfully identified the product mix
and spent some time understanding
what the mix is and how they are going
about it viz a viz the competition.
There were only two ways going ahead.
Either develop on the current product
mix or start a new product line all
together. After some brainstorming and
looking at the current market share
values we settled on going ahead with
establishing a new product line. He
seemed impressed with the points I
could come up with. However, by now, I
was kinda running behind the clock and
he started getting fidgety about it.

He asked me to identify the major

aspects I wanted to look at when it
comes to developing a new product line.
Listed the same from my understanding
and he helped me along the way. Asked
me to choose the top 4 I feel are the
most important. Tried to rush me here. I
chose based on the standard profit
formula

Net Profit= size* share* profit

1. Market size

2. Market concentration

3. CAGR

4. Profitability

Beyond this, he drew out a table with

these 4 metrics across the prospect
product lines the company is
considering for the launch with high-
medium-low tags on each of them and
asked me to choose the top 2 lines I
would pick and the reasoning behind
the same. He seemed satisfied with my
answers.
What do you think went right for you The interviewer tried to rush/ bully me
into (wrong) answers (sort of a stress
in the interview?
test, but not exactly) but I remained
calm and worked through each of the
aspects with confidence which probably
is what he was looking for.

What do you think went wrong in this I felt I could have been a little faster in
interview my analysis. The interview lasted about
45 minutes and the case took 35.

Any tips for the future batch based 2 major takeaways

on this interview 1. Being calm and confident is your

biggest asset (especially when
you are wrong).

2. Always be coachable and friendly

(again, especially when you are
wrong).

Outcome Was quickly pushed into the next round.

Name Abhishek Kelkar

Interviewing with The Boston Consulting Group

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer Rajah Augustinraj

Round and Interview Number Principal Round, 2nd interview

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Tell me about yourself.

Did not really seem to care about the

answers so quickly moved on to the
case.

Case question Diesel engine manufacturer’s R&D has

just developed a unit which reduces the
NOX emissions significantly. They want
help in monetizing the same.

Case Type Profitability/ revenue projection

Narration of the case, as descriptively as Quantified the objective and established

possible a time frame to achieve the same.
Aligned on necessary metric as profits.
Clarified the standard preliminary
questions regarding the company
(geography, business, etc.), product
(relevance and USP) and competition
space for the same.

He asked to list down the factors

affecting the objective before moving
ahead. The ones I listed were:

1. Market Size

2. Market Share
 3. Revenue per unit

4. Fixed and variable costs

5. Externalities (Political,
Environmental, Legal and
Technological)

6. Barriers like IP

He seemed happy with the list and

asked me to proceed. It was established
early through discussions that the
product was relevant because of a recent
regulation by the government to curtail
the NOX emissions.

Hence, started the case with the basic

profit equation

Profit= Revenue- Cost

Since the breakeven window was not a

concern, I was asked to ignore the fixed
cost aspect of R&D and was provided
with unit profitability as data and had to
update the approach to

Profit= Market Size* Potential Market

Share* Profit per client
Once I asked for data regarding the
above 3 levers, I was provided with a bar
graph which showed the potential
players in the market. The players had
to be identified based on the current
and future regulations and their current
and future emission levels.

Thus the market size was variable based

on the year of consideration and hence I
decided to draw a year-wise tabulation
of profit.

I also inferred that the market share

would only depend on the regulation
level in that year and since the prelims
had clarified that we were the only ones
who could meet the regulations in the
timeframe the market share would
either be 0 or 100% based on the year.
He seemed happy with my inference
and asked me to proceed.

Further I broke the profit per client as

PPC= profit per unit * #units per client

#units per client can be further broken

down

#units per client=#units per car (in a

time frame)*fleet size

He clarified that one car required only

one unit and told me that it is a one time
purchase for each car and provided
information of profit per unit.

Post this I was provided with fleet size

data for each client.

Once I had all the data necessary, I took

some time to do the math cautiously
enough to not make any mistakes and
since it was tabulated, it was easy to
provide the answer in a simplistic
format that was required.

He verified that the math was correct

and then asked me what I thought about
the case. I presumed this was my queue
to give some recommendations on the
calculated potential profits.

All my comments further were focused

on identifying how good the numbers
are by trying to get hold of a benchmark
and increasing the potential profits. It
could be done by increasing unit profits
 or by increasing number of clients. I
assumed that the sale per client cannot
be in our hands because it depends on
the fleet size. The recommendations
were

1. To increase the selling price (by

leasing the patent if necessary)

2. Increase the number of long term

clients by leveraging the market
control to drop the regulation
levels down further

While first one was not possible

according to him, he was really
interested in my second
recommendation. Post this he went on
to explain how exactly it is done in real
life. He seemed impressed because of
the recommendations I could put forth.

What do you think went right for you 1. A very structured top-down
approach
in the interview?
2. Creative recommendations

What do you think Nothing.

went wrong in this

interview
 Any tips for the future batch based Be patient with long and math oriented
cases.
on this interview
Also, the interview should feel more like
a healthy discussion on the business
problem. You and the interviewer are on
the same team!

Outcome Expected another round of interview.

But was extended an offer right after
this round.

DALBERG
Name Satya Sagar

Interviewing with Dalberg Global Development Advisors

Name/Designation of interviewer Kaushal Narayanan IIITM Alumni, Senior

Consultant)

Round and Interview Number First

Personal Interview Questions Interview started off with the interviewer

talking about Dalberg and the various
projects he had worked on.

I then introduced myself and spoke about

why I am interested in Dalberg. The
 interviewer questioned on few of the points
that I stated in my introduction to
understand my career goals and ambitions.

The interviewer asked me about a case

study competition on Water and Sanitation
that I had won (which was similar to one of
the interviewers’ project with Govt. of
India). We discussed on the results and key
takeaways from the case competition.

Case question Your client is a Multinational Education

and Skill Development Company. The client
would like to indulge in improving the
percentage of skilled women in rural parts
of UP and Bihar. Develop a framework and
suggest a strategy for our client.

Case Type Strategy and Estimation

Narration of the case, as descriptively as Preliminary questions were about the

possible company and the type of skill development
activities the company takes up and in what
geographies etc. Once I had an
understanding of these, I segmented the
women population according to their age
and developed strategy and a cost-benefit
analysis for each segment. It is important to

What do you think went right for you in the I had done a similar case with my buddy
interview? and I knew the segmentation and an overall
picture about women in rural India

What do you thinkwent wrong in None

thisinterview?

Any tips for the future batch based on this Make sure that you and the interviewer are
interview on the same page at each and every step
(before you explore any branch or segment)
 and ensure the interviewer understands
your logic and thought process

Outcome Proceeded to the Next Round

Name Satya Sagar

Interviewing with Dalberg Global Development Advisors

Name/Designation of interviewer Kanupriya Rungta (Project Manager)

Round and InterviewNumber Second

Personal InterviewQuestions I was asked about my research intern which

was on Urban Public Transportation. We
discussed about how the solution could be
implemented in India. The interviewer had
prior experience in this sector and was very
interested in the paper I had published.

Case question The CEO of an insurance company has

hired you to assess the market for an
agricultural insurance product in Indonesia.
Give a recommendation whether the
company should invest in this insurance
product

Case Type Pricing & Market Sizing

Narration of the case, as descriptively as I started off the case by segmenting

possible different type of farmers based on their
produce. I further segmented the farmers
based on their farming land area and
estimated the premiums that they could
afford.

Upon feedback from the interviewer, i

understood the company did not have a
 fixed premium in mind and assumed
several premiums and computed the
potential market sizes for these premiums
to arrive at an optimal solution.

What do you think went right for you in the I had practised 2-3 pricing cases and one
interview? pricing case in the development sector itself
(pricing case for clean cook stoves in
Kenya). The framework was very similar

What do you think went wrong in this
interview?
I made several mistakes in the initial
numbers that I had put up since I wasn’t
aware of the country data (e.g.: most grown
crop in Indonesia, % of rural to urban
population etc.). I wasn’t even aware that
Indonesia was the 4th most populous
country in the world. Interviewer was
initially baffled I didn’t know this fact but
later guided me with all the data

Any tips for thefuture batch based on this
interview
Whenever there is a case question which
says ‘recommendation to CEO’ – your end
answer after all the analysis, frameworks,
tables etc. Should be ‘one simple sentence’
which is easily understandable to the CEO.

Also you should demonstrate that you are

coachable and responsible so that the
company trusts you put you in front of a 50
yr old CEO.

Outcome Proceeded to the Next Round

Name Satya Sagar

Interviewing with Dalberg Global Development Advisors

Name/Designation of interviewer Associate Partner – Nirat Bhatnagar (IIT

 KGP)

Round and InterviewNumber Third

Personal Interview Questions
All interviews of Dalberg last for about 45-
60min with the initial 15-20 minutes being
focussed on personal questions and then
about 30-40 minutes of a case study.
However in this round, I was not asked
anything apart from a general introduction
about myself. We directly proceeded to the
case (a very lengthy one!)

Case question Part 1: Estimate the number of manholes in

your home city

Part 2: One of the main issues in Sanitation

in India is several workers have to clean
sewers in India manually which exposes
them to toxic substances. Develop a
framework to address this problem

Case Type Guesstimate, General - Out of the box

Narration of the case, as descriptively as
possible
For the guesstimate, I proceeded with the
total area of Hyderabad (with sewage
connection and without sewage connection)
and computing factors such as average
number of manholes per street and average
number of buildings/houses using one
manhole.

For the case, i asked several preliminary

questions to understand the flow of
wastewater and sewage across the entire
chain. I then pinpointed bottlenecks
resulting in blocking of sewages thus
resulting in manual cleaning. I then
suggested recommendations to overcome
 these bottlenecks (qualitative solutions). I
was also asked to perform a cost-benefit
analysis for the solutions proposed.

What do you think went right for you in the My segmentation of the problem was spot
interview? on and I was able to identify issues
pertaining to each segment since i read
about this issue in the papers.

What do you think went wrong in this I wasn’t sure what should be the outcome of
interview? the case i.e. a quantitative solution or a
qualitative solution as spent a lot of time to
frame the final solution

Any tips for the future batch based on this Ask good number of preliminary questions
interview and define a problem statement(with clear
cut scope and objectives) before you go
about solving the case

Outcome Proceeded to the Next Round

Name Satya Sagar

Interviewing with Dalberg Global Development Advisors

Name /Designation of interviewer Partner and Regional Director – Gaurav

Gupta

Round and Interview Number Fourth

Personal Interview Questions Questions about my internship at

Cambridge and about my involvement in
Harvard US India Initiative

Case question Part 1: A disaster (natural) has struck

Nairobi. How will you respond and what
will be plan of action for disaster
evacuation.
 Part 2: The EU has approached Dalberg to
help tackle the Syrian refugee problem in
Turkey. Develop a framework or a policy to
help raise their living conditions

Case Type General - Out of the box

Narration of the case, as descriptively as
possible
For the first case, I suggested qualitative
measures for evacuation. But on feedback i
the case evolved into a capacity constraint
problem and we had to evaluate whether
the existing systems in place were sufficient
for evacuation within an assumed response
time. I suggested ways on which the
evacuation systems can be made more
efficient.

For the second case, it was mainly

qualitative and discussion based with a lot
of generic solutions under each segment.

Most of Dalberg cases will be qualitative

and then evolve into a mathematical case. It
is important you get the qualitative part
correct (proper segmentation and
pinpointing root causes etc.)

What do you think went right for you in the My knowledge in urban transportation
interview? helped me with the disaster evacuation case
when i needed to compute traffic flows and
volumes and the factors effecting these

However, no prior knowledge is required as

the interviewer will guide you

What do you think went wrong in this I was unable to pinpoint to the root causes
interview? and give a solution to solve it in both the
cases but my overall approach was
 satisfactory. I did not explore

Any tips for thefuture batch based on this
interview
Go through the company’s website and
know about all the sectors in which the
company operates. Practice2-3 cases in
each sector based on their past projects.
This way no case will seem very vague and
out of the box to you

Outcome Proceeded to the Next Round

Name Satya Sagar

Interviewing with Dalberg Global Development Advisors

Name /Designation of interviewer Partner – Kunal Walia

Round and Interview Number Fifth

Personal Interview Questions Questions about my internship at Ernst and

Young and internship at Cambridge

A lot of

Case question Part 1: Cost benefit analysis of a water RO

plant in a village

Part 2: Indian government has allocated

80000 crores to solve the problem of open
defecation. Develop a strategy and
framework to solve the problem

Case Type Profitability and Estimation

Narration of the case, as descriptively as First case was very straightforward where
possible one had to calculate the number of users for
the RO plant in order to break even (math
intensive case)

The second case involved segmentation of

the problems into its components and
 allocating the money available to each
segments optimally.

What do you think went right for you in the The first case was very easy with a lot of
interview? mathematics but very simple logic.

For the second case, I had read a similar

case on ISB Casebook which helped lay
down the framework

What do you think went wrong in this This was my 5th interview for Dalberg and
interview? overall my 7th for the day. I was exhausted
even before the start of the interview. I
made a few calculation mistakes in the case.

Generally no mistakes are entertained but

my interviewer was empathetic and gave me
a chance to rectify my silly mistakes. I
would have been better if i maintained the
tempo for this final interview as well.

Any tips for thefuture batch based on this At the end of each interview you will be
interview asked to ask few questions to the
interviewer.

Have 4-5 good questions in your mind.

Asking right questions shows your interest
towards the company and that you are
proactive

Outcome Offer Declared

Name Y V R Sashi Sekhar

Interviewing with Dalberg

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer

Round and Interview Number ---

(first/second/third)

1. Why this company?

Personal Interview Questions
2. 3 strengths
3. Tell us a situation where you
handled conflicting objectives at
your best
4. What do you think is your biggest
achievement?

1. Your client is the Prime Minister of a

Case question
country and his objective is poverty
elimination. Develop a strategy for
the same
2. Estimate the number of planes
flying at this point of time in Indian
territory
3. Your client is an NGO whose
objective is to create political
awareness and improve democratic
outcomes in India. Come up with
metrics for the democratic outcomes
and suggest a strategy to improve
them
4. Your client is an Insurance company
that is expanding into the
agricultural sector. Develop a
strategy to fix premium amounts
5. Your client is an NGO whose
objective is to improve female
literacy rate in an African country.
They observe that more than 80% of
the girl students discontinue their
schooling from 6th standard. Analyse
and come up with a strategy to
improve the high school education
of women in this country.
6. Estimate the market size for a
medical check-up package in
 Andhra Pradesh

Case Type

Narration of the case, as descriptively as

possible

What do you think went right for you

in the interview?

What do you think

went wrong in this

interview

Any tips for the future batch based

on this interview

Outcome Selected for Dalberg

MCKINSEY & COMPANY

Name Priy Ranjan

Interviewing with McKinsey and Company

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer Avinash Kasinathan, Engagement Manager

Round and Interview Number First round

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Tell me about yourself

Give an example of a situation where you

showed problem solving ability

Case question How much money should you have in your

account at retirement for a comfortable life
afterwards?

Case Type Guesstimate

Narration of the case, as descriptively as The problem needed to be defined further

possible before getting into analysis.

First, I drew a timeline for me and my

family to surmise where each of us will be in
our lives.

I divided the expenses into monthly and

one- time expenses. I calculated the
monthly expenses using the general data on
expenses of a middle class family.

I listed one-time expenses for all the family

members, such as education, marriage,
house, etc. I had assumed that we have an
insurance plan (accounted for in the
monthly expenses).

After that it was just adding up the different

components and adjusting for time value of
money and inflation.

What do you think went right for you Avinash is an IITM alum. I could feel a
connection with him while answering the PI
in the interview?
questions. I was genuine, vulnerable and
 tried to lighten the mood using a few small
jokes in my answers.

My emphasis on the needs of my family was

also appreciated, I think.

I outlined an initial structure, but the

interview later turned into a discussion.

Additionally, including TVM and inflation

into the analysis fetched me some brownie
points.

What do you think I made a math error during one of the

calculations. I was a little nervous in the
went wrong in this
beginning and carefully checked my math
interview
from there on.

Any tips for the future batch based
on this interview
Be prepared for unconventional problems.
Structuring such problems are especially
challenging, hence sharpen your problem
solving skills during preparation. The
standard frameworks will not help here.

Outcome Cleared for next round

Name Priy Ranjan

Interviewing with McKinsey and Company

(consulting firm)

Round and Interview Number Second round

(first/second/third)
Personal Interview Questions Tell me about yourself

Why consulting

Case question The client is an IT company and we have

been tasked with increasing their
profitability.

Case Type Profitability

Narration of the case, as descriptively as Revenue−Costs

Profitability=
possible Revenue

In order to increase, profitability, we need

to increase profits for the same revenue. On
questioning the interviewer about the
limitations, he suggested that increasing
revenue is difficult. Hence, the objective
was modified to decreasing costs for the
same revenue.

I identified the various cost levers for an

IT/software company. The important ones
were rent, server costs, salaries, and travel
to client location. The interviewer asked me
to focus on the last two.

I looked at salaries outlay as product of no

of employees and average salary of an
employee.

I suggested several methods of productivity

improvement to decrease the no of
employees required for the same amount of
work.

To tackle the average salaries, I analysed

and suggested modifications to the
 organisation structure.

I also suggested investment in remote

working capabilities to reduce the cost
outlay in travel of employees to client
locations.

What do you think went right for you I broke the problem down mathematically
from the beginning to the end, not losing
in the interview?
structure at any point.

The interviewer could relate to some of the

things I said in my “tell me about yourself”
answer. We had a brief discussion about it.

I was tested on math here due to the error I

had made in the previous interview.

What do you think I missed out on travel as a cost lever in this

problem.
went wrong in this
I started solving this problem as a profit
interview
case, where as it actually was a profitability
case. (know the difference)

Any tips for the future batch based
on this interview
You don’t need in depth domain knowledge,
but being aware about various industries
(their sources of revenues, costs, business
model) is always helpful.

Outcome Cleared for next round

Name Priy Ranjan

Interviewing with McKinsey and Company

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer Ashish Tuteja, Partner

Round and Interview Number Partner round

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Tell me about yourself

Asked me about my experience with Raftar

and Saarang

Case question Flipkart currently owns Mytra, Jabong and

Flipkart Fashion. Three entities in the same
space. They are posed with a decision of
whether or not to merge the three

Case Type M&A Aquisition

Narration of the case, as descriptively as I asked a few preliminary questions,

possible primarily to understand the priority of
Flipkart at this stage of their growth. I
hypothesized that a startup in a competitive
space such as e-commerce should be
looking to maximise their market share (no
of customers). The interviewer confirmed
this hypothesis.

The problem is essentially a decision

between two options, merge or operate
individually. I had to evaluate the impact on
the market share, the parameter of
importance here.

I listed down the factors that affect the no of

customers, from a demand (consumer)
 point of view. This included attractiveness
of the platform, brand presence and loyalty,
and the value proposition. I then compared
the two options with each other and with
the offerings of the competitor.
Additionally, I also looked at if there are
certain capabilities that these three entities
possess now which may not be transferable
to the combined entity.

The interviewer was not really looking for

an answer, but an approach.

What do you think went right for you
in the interview?
I structured the problem well and asked the
right questions. In such a nebulous
problem, it’s easy to drift away into
unnecessary details. I asked only the
relevant big picture questions, to ensure I
solve the problem in time.

What do you think Nothing in particular

went wrong in this

interview

Any tips for the future batch based
on this interview
Take your time when facing a completely
new problem. If you don’t start off with a
solid approach, it will be practically
impossible to recover.

Outcome Cleared for next round

Name Priya Ranjan

Interviewing with McKinsey and Company

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer Prashanth Vasu, Partner

Round and Interview Number Partner round

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Tell me about yourself

Asked me about my experience with

Saarang

Asked me to recount an experience where I

showcased leadership

What makes you unique?

Case question A bank is looking to recruit consumer

relationship managers to support its
revenue growth ambitions. It is currently
growing at 16% and would like to grow at
25%

Case Type Unconventional problem

Narration of the case, as descriptively as I started by asking more about this bank (it
possible is a MFI) and the CRM role (they are the
ones that sell loans to customers).

I structures the problem as,

Amount of work
No of CRMs=
work per employee

I was initially looking at work in terms of

 time. I was trying to identify various
methods of increasing revenues and
calculate the approximate work (in hours)
that would be needed.

The interviewer simplifies the problem by

suggesting that the work can be measured
by the loan amount sold by the CRMs.

I calculated the loan sales required to

support the revenue growth targets and
average revenue a employee brings in.

The interviewer then further complicated

the problem by including the learning curve
for new employees. It was basically to test
my math.

What do you think went right for you
in the interview?
I handled the PI questions well, especially
because there was a few which I was not
prepared for at all. E.g. what makes me
unique

What do you think I made a small math error.

went wrong in this

interview

Any tips for the future batch based

on this interview

Outcome I was made an offer to join as a Business

Analyst, one and half months later.

Name Giridhur 
Interviewing with McKinsey and Company

(consulting firm)

Name of the interviewer

Round and Interview Number 1

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions What makes you better than other

candidates?

Case question What is your estimated annual income

necessary to fund your life?

Case Type Guesstimate

Narration of the case, as descriptively as I broke life down into its constituents,
possible family, work etc, and went down the tree,
adding a reasonable cost element to each
leaf, and finally summing it up

What do you think went right for you I was able to make a thorough analysis and
didn’t mess up math.
in the interview?

What do you think Personal Interview didn’t go really well.

And I wasn’t high on their preference list. 
went wrong in this

interview

Any tips for the future batch based Not sure, my interviews weren’t indicative
on this interview of anything. 

Outcome

Name Gokulesh T G

Interviewing with McKinsey and Company

(consulting firm)

Round and Interview Number 1st

(first/second/third)

Personal Interview Questions Greatest achievement in institute life –

describe the efforts involved in
achieving it, what are your best personal
traits.

Case question Our client is a boxer and he wants to

improve his revenue. Help him out in
choosing the best possible way to
achieve this.

Case Type Almost like market entry, but involved a

lot more customized framework.

Narration of the case, as descriptively as My preliminary questions were mainly

possible about scoping out how many folds the
revenue should be improved and in
what time frame, details of the boxer,
his abilities, his current revenue sources
etc. Once they were set, my framework
 consisted of various options he could
have. Revenue source could be
temporary or permanent. Temporary
revenue sources could be through more
winning competitions, teaching others,
endorsing products through ads etc.

The interviewer pushed me into

endorsing through ads. Framework for
ads was developed and the case was
pushed to choosing one product over
the other.

What do you think went right for you in
the interview?
Initial structure was very MECE and the
interviewer was impressed with the
notion of permanent jobs and its
importance for sports people. The path
towards ads was reached quickly.

What do you think The case was not completed because

there was not much findings about
went wrong in this
which product to endorse. Expected
interview
metrics were not delivered at this stage.

Personal interview was also not

satisfactory since I tried to be formally
right while they were expecting the
interesting truth.

Any tips for the future batch based Detect the requirement of interviewer
regarding the answers to the personal
on this interview
questions and then answer accordingly.