IIM Calcutta Cutoffs CAT Safe Score by IIMking
IIM Calcutta selection criteria for 2024-2026
The IIM Calcutta selection criteria document for 2023 is out! Similar to last year, engineers are eligible for some diversity points in IIM Calcutta’s selection process. But there’s a catch.
Only those who’ve done engineering at the undergrad level BUT have a non-engineering Master’s degree are eligible for diversity points. Engineers with only a Bachelor’s degree won’t be eligible for diversity points.
While everything remains largely similar to the criteria for the batch of 2023-2025. Here’s a closer look at IIM Calcutta’s selection criteria for the batch of 2024-26.
- The minimum overall CAT 2023 cut-off has been set at the 85th percentile for the ‘General’ category. The minimum cut-off for the QA section has been set at the 75th percentile. The cut-offs for the other two sections are at the 80th percentile.
- Graduation marks continue to not be included in IIM Calcutta’s selection criteria (phew!). But 10th and 12th marks still count. However, anyone with an 80%+ in 10th and 12th gets the maximum possible marks.
- If you have 6 months (or less) of full-time work experience as of January 31st, 2024, you get no marks for work experience. But if you’ve got between 2-3 years of experience, you get the maximum possible marks.
- In terms of academic diversity, most engineers still lose out. BUT engineers who’ve done a non-engineering Bachelor’s program still get some marks!
- As has been the case before, CA/CS/ICWA or an IFAI and lawyers, have an edge in IIM Calcutta’s shortlisting process.
- In the initial shortlisting process for the WAT-PI round, your CAT scores account for almost 2/3rd of the total weight. After the WAT-PI process, 56% of the weight goes to your WAT-PI performance, while 30% of the weight goes to your CAT 2023 scores.
IIM Calcutta’s Selection Criteria in 2023, Explained
The IIMs’ selection processes can be somewhat daunting to understand. But it’s relatively straightforward: the IIMs want well-rounded candidates who do well in CAT and the interview process. Here’s a simple breakdown of IIM Calcutta’s 2023 selection criteria to understand what this means.
Phase 1: Eliminating candidates based on CAT percentile cut-off
First, IIM Calcutta will screen candidates who do not meet the minimum CAT 2023 overall as well as sectional cut-offs. IIM Calcutta’s CAT 2023 cut-offs can be seen in the table below.
Here, it’s important to note that simply meeting the minimum percentile cut-off isn’t a guarantee of being shortlisted for IIM Calcutta’s WAT-PI round. It just means you’re eligible to be called for an interview. The actual cut-off will depend on the number of candidates IIM Calcutta wants to call for the interview round, which depends on the size of the incoming batch.
phase 2: Shortlisting candidates for WAT-PI based on weighted score
Now that candidates have been screened based on the CAT cut-offs, IIM Calcutta will calculate a weighted score based on many variables including your CAT 2023 performance, academic profile, and diversity. The table below shows IIM Calcutta’s 2023 selection criteria for the WAT-PI round.
Based on these criteria, IIM Calcutta will create a shortlist of candidates for the WAT-PI round.
Phase 3: Shortlisting candidates for admission based on weighted score
Shortlisted candidates will now appear for the WAT-PI round. Based on their performance in this phase as well as their academic diversity, work experience, and CAT performance, candidates will be shortlisted for admission to IIM Calcutta’s PGP batch of 2024-2026. The selection criteria and their weights can be seen in the table below.
Points for work experience will be awarded as per the table below. Please note that work experience here means full-time work experience in months, as of January 31st, 2024.
if this is confusing, here’s an example. Consider that you have 26 months of full-time work experience as of January 31st, 2024. This means you get full marks for the work experience component. If you have 45 months of experience, you get 3.5 marks as per the formula above. If you have 6 months of experience, you get no marks for the work experience component.
IIM Calcutta Ranking
IM Calcutta ranks are an evidence that it is one of the leading Management institutes in the country. At the international level, the institute has bagged 76th rank under the ‘Global MBA’ category by the Financial Times Ranking 2023. Candidates will be interested to know that IIM Calcutta has been ranked at 4 by the NIRF Ranking 2023 under the ‘Management’ category. Let us go through the category-wise IIM Calcutta national and international rankings in the table provided below:
QS World Ranking 2023 has ranked IIM Calcutta 51 under the ‘Masters in Management’ category. The institute has secured 56.1 score in the Academic Reputation criteria by the same ranking body. Talking about the Financial Times Ranking, IIM Calcutta has been ranked 60 under the ‘Masters of Business Administration’ category in 2023. Let us look at the year-wise international rankings secured by IIM Calcutta in the following table:
IIM Calcutta QS World Ranking 2024
Needless to say, IIM Calcutta is the oldest and one of the best Management institutes in India. The institute is ranked between 501-530 in the QS WUR Ranking 2023 by Subject. The institute has secured 70.9 score in the Reputation criteria under the ‘QS International Trade Ranking.’ Not just this, but IIM Calcutta scored 66.1 and 43.9 in Alumni Outcomes and Thought Leadership criteria under the ‘World University Rankings – Masters In Business Analytics’ category. Check the IIM Calcutta year-wise QS World Ranking in this space:
IIM Calcutta Placement Trends
IIM Calcutta Placements 2024 is concluded with 100% placements for the MBA batch. A total of 464 students participated in the placement drive & secured 529 job offers. The highest package stood at INR 1.2 Cr and the Consulting sector emerged as the top sector with 31.6% placements (167 students). 194 recruiters participated in IIM Calcutta Placements 2024. Some of the top recruiters included Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG, Bain & Company, McKinsey & Company, Goldman Sachs, JP Morga Chase, Bank of America, HCL, Microsoft, Adani, Aditya Birla Group etc. Earlier during the 2023 placement drive, the highest package stood at INR 1.15 CPA whereas the average package stood at INR 35.07 LPA.
IIM Calcutta Summer Internship Placements 2024 is concluded. IIM Calcutta average stipend stood at INR 1.59 lakhs while the median stipend stood at INR 1.5 Lakhs. Most of the internship offers were made from the Consulting and Finance sectors, with the top recruiters being Accenture Strategy, Bain & Co, BCG, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Macquarie Group, etc
IIM Calcutta Placements 2023 Sector Wise Analysis
As per the Information Collected by Collegedunia, the highest CTC of INR 1.15 Crores was offered in the General Management sector followed by BFSI sector. Following is the sector wise analysis for the batch 2023 at IIM Calcutta:
IM Calcutta Placements 2023 Cluster-Wise
The IIM Calcutta MBA placement 2023 was conducted in a hybrid mode, allowing recruiters to conduct the process in both online and on-campus methods. IIM Calcutta follows a cluster-cohort-based policy, where companies of similar sectors visited in clusters. IIM Calcutta also offers a ‘Hold and Wait’ option to its students, allowing them to choose from the desired jobs and not restricting to the first offer made.
The data of Cluster-Cohort placement 2023 are as mentioned below:
In Cluster 1, around 102 recruiters mainly from the finance and consulting sectors visited the campus and made a total of 266 offers to the students. Some of the top companies included Avendus Capital, Citi Bank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered, Accenture Strategy, Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group, Ernst and Young, Mastercard and McKinsey & Co, etc.
In Cluster 2, around 65 recruiters visited from the cohorts like Conglomerates, E-Commerce, FMCG, and Fintech and made 253 offers to the students. Some of the top recruiters were Aditya Birla Group, Adobe, Amazon, Arteria, Capital One, DTDC, Google, Hindustan Unilever, Media.Net, Microsoft, Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, Tata Administrative Services, Salesforce, Samsung, etc.
In Cluster 3, around 23 firms participated from cohorts like IT Services, Banking and Financial Services, Research & Advisory, Analytics, Manufacturing, and Startups & Local Organizations and made 54 offers. Some of the top recruiters include Cogoport, Exide Industries, EXL, HCLTech, Merilytics, Park+, etc.
IIM Calcutta Placement 2023 Salary Statistics
The salary statistics for 2023 placements are mentioned in the table below:
IIM Calcutta Summer Internship Placements 2025 Report
IIM Calcutta Seat Distribution
For the 2024 academic year, the seat distribution for the Post Graduate Program (PGP) at IIM Calcutta typically includes the following breakdown:
- Total Seats: Around 462 seats for the PGP program.
The exact seat distribution might vary based on factors like category reservations and program specifics. IIM Calcutta usually reserves a certain percentage of seats for different categories:
- General Category: Approximately 50%
- Other Backward Classes (OBC): Around 27%
- Scheduled Castes (SC): About 15%
- Scheduled Tribes (ST): Around 7.5%
- Economically Weaker Sections (EWS): 10% as per recent guidelines.
IIM Calcutta GD-PI Experience
1 – I had my WAT-PI for IIM C in IIFT, New Delhi on 4 March, 2014. They had different time slots for different set of candidates. Before coming for the WAT-PI, we were given a form to fill. It had basic questions about our profile ( resume based question). On reaching the venue, all the students for that time slot were assembled in a room and their documents checked. After that we were given 1 hour (I think, might be half an hour also) for the written ability test. The topic was very easy – Should caste based reservation be abolished.
After that they started calling candidates one by one for the interview session. It was a very coordinated process with each candidate being allowed a panelist before hand. There were ~ 10 panels operating in that time slot. Each panel had 2–3 panellists sitting on it. After waiting for around an hour, I was called in the for the interview.
My interview was conducted by a Marketing professor and an Economics professor. Both are brilliant professors and during the interview, they did their best to keep me at ease. They were genuinely interested in getting to know me and my profile. After a basic round of introduction, they asked me basic math questions – types of means, how is it calculated, the formula for all types of means. Since I belong to Punjab, they asked me to elaborate on 2 problems ailing Punjab and how would I tackle if given a free reign. Then they asked me about my hobbies (mine was reading novels) and then probed further to know why I loved reading books. Then they asked me if I had researched about the institute and about the courses they had to offer.
Then the last and most expected question – “Do you have any questions for us”. There were no questions from the essay topic. The essays are marked and their score is taken in the cumulative score prepared in the end to make the final list.
I came happy out of the interview room and had a good feeling about the interview. Needless to say, I cleared it in the first go.
2 – Date: 28.02.20
Location: The Orchid Hotel, Vile Parle, Mumbai.
Interview: IIM Calcutta
Time: 8 am
Profile: X – 92.8 % (SSC), XII – 91.69 % (HSC), UG-80.9% (Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras Final Year) GEM Fresher
CAT – 99.71%ile
Calls: C, L, I, S, CAP, SPJIMR, MDI
WAT: (25 mins) Social Media has become a powerful tool. Many feel we need to control the content on social media. But some people feel it will violate the right to express of people. What are your view on this? (not verbatim)
PI: (20 -25 mins)
Before I start, I want to state a few things. I was 4th in my panel, a panel of 10 students. There were 4 panels – M1, M2, M3, M4. I was in M3. Having talked to the students around, I got to know that M1 was chilled out with friendliest profs. They were having casual conversations with almost no technical and academics asked. M2 was the worst with a lot of grilling and stress interviews. They were asking extensive math, current affairs and work ex domain related stuff. M3 was somewhere in between. There were some who were asked statistics and math while some had completely non-technical interviews. Some claimed the panel was chilled out while some felt it to be strict. I had no idea about M4 as it was far away and hence I didn’t get a chance to interact with the students.
Three panelists P1, P2 and P3 (from left to right) in their mid-40s
P1 came out and called my name. I went to him; he asked for my documents file and asked me to wait outside. I was outside for about a couple of minutes and I suspect they must be deciding the strategy to question me.
P1 calls me in. I greet them and was asked to have a seat.
P2: So you study at IIT Madras?
Me: Yes, Sir.
P2: So why take an interview in Mumbai?
Me: I live in Pune…
P2: (cutting me off) That’s no good reason. You should be in college right?
Me: *atleast let me finish* I took a two week leave for my IIM interviews. My father works in Mumbai so it was convenient.
P2: Which other calls do you have?
Me: Apart from IIM Calcutta; Lucknow, Indore and CAP.
P3: What is CAP?
Me: CAP stands for common admission process. It is for new IIMs…
P1: (cutting me off, looking at P3) CAP is for new IIMs like Udaipur, Sambalpur, etc.
P2: So you did not get a call from Ahmedabad and Bangalore?
Me: No, Sir.
P2: Why do you think?
Me: It is hard to say.
P2: What’s your percentile?
Me: *shouldn’t you know that, you looked at my file* 99.71
P2: And 10th, 12th?
Me: 92.8% and 91.69 % respectively.
P1 shows P2 my document list.
P2: Are you from state board?
Me: Yes, Sir. Maharashtra SSC Board.
P3: That’s even tougher to score in. In fact, Maharashtra Board is said to be the toughest among all the state boards.
Me: (pleasantly surprised) Yes, Sir. It is said so.
P2: So why do you think you didn’t get a call?
Me: Maybe because I’m a fresher, I don’t have work experience. But of course, this is all conjecture, we cannot say for sure.
P2: (mockingly) And what is your “conjecture” as to why Calcutta gave you a call?
Me: I have a decent academic record. Calcutta is said to have a slightly higher number of freshers and an inclination for quant background.
P3: But all engineers have a quant background. Why you?
Me: *realizing my folly* No, I meant engineers with an inclination for quant. Actually, I’m not really sure about the exact reason for my shortlist.
P2: How is IIT Madras? Is Chemical of IIT Madras known?
Me: Yes, sir. In fact, IIT Madras is known for its Mechanical and Chemical labs and faculty.
P2: (mockingly) Really? I thought Mechanical of IIT Bombay was well-known. Anyways, all IITs feel they’re the best… So why did you choose Chemical Engineering?
P1: (laughs) No, he didn’t choose chemical. He got it because of his rank.
P3: What is your take?
Me: I wanted to be in a core branch, mechanical to be honest. But as you said, I didn’t get a good enough rank for mechanical in old IITs. However, I was sure about pursuing engineering at old IITs because of the opportunities and brand value they offer. My best choice was Madras Chemical and in hindsight, I’m happy with my decision.
P2: If you’re happy with Chemical, why do you want to do MBA?
Me: (realizing I’ve been trapped in my own words) No, Sir. I meant I was happy with my decision to choose Chemical. However, … *inserts a well-prepared ‘Why MBA’ answer*
P2: Do you think IIM Calcutta will be able to offer you all of this?
Me: Absolutely. I talked to the students of IIM Calcutta. In fact, many of them were alumni from IIT Madras and they have been all praise about it. They talked about the challenge and opportunities offered, which led to their development.
P2: (laughs) I really hope we can live upto your expectations.
P1 and P3 laugh too. I join in with a nervous smile.
P1: in IIT, placements must be going on, right?
Me: No, Sir. They were done in December.
P1: Where did you get placed?
Me: I did not sit for placements as I had a Pre Placement Offer from Piramal Pharmaceuticals. I did an internship there at the end of my third year.
P2: And how much are they paying you?
Me: (surprised, paused for a couple of seconds) 18 lakhs, Sir. 14 lakh base, 4 lakh bonus.
P1: Wow. Then why do you wish to come to IIM Calcutta? Average salary here is 20 lakhs and you’ll losing 2 years’ worth of pay as well as an opportunity at Piramal…
Me: MBA is not about money for me. I want to learn. I have an interest in Operations Management having explored it in my undergraduate curriculum. I am looking forward to the plethora of opportunities as well as networking experience at IIM Calcutta…
P1: (cutting me off) Okay okay, I get it. So do you know that Donald Trump almost got impeached recently?
Me: *relieved* Yes, Sir.
P1: Why was he considered for impeachment and why didn’t it proceed?
Me: So Donald Trump is a member of the Republican Party…
P1: (mockingly) Oh, so you came prepared for this answer?
Me: No, Sir. I am aware about it because I have been following national and international news.
P1: Okay, go on.
Me: *gave a detailed answer*
P2: Trump was also in India, at the Motera stadium and walls were erected in order to hide slums. Do you think it was a right move?
Me: *gave a diplomatic answer revolving around creating a hospitable environment for hosting Trump but how the move was unfair to the people living in the slum areas*
P3: So you think we should be honest when dealing with nations?
Me: (again feeling trapped) No, I did not mean utter honesty. Of course we need to diplomatic and careful. But honesty helps build trust which goes a long way in establishing good relations to negotiate trade deals.
P3: So how would you go about striking a deal with Trump?
Me: *gave a diplomatic answer revolving around putting forth terms which have something for America too, not just India*
P3: So you say you follow International news right? Do you know who Bernie Sanders is?
Me: Yes, Sir. He is a Democrats Politician in the US. Apart from this, I don’t know anything else about him.
P2: Alright. So you do stand-up right?
Me: *relieved that they are in my strength now* Yes, Sir. I watch and perform.
P2: Which genres do you perform?
Me: Mostly observational and anecdotal.
P2: What is the process of writing a piece?
Me: *gave a detailed process for both the genres through examples*
P2: Do you know about Kunal Kamra? What happened with him recently?
Me: *answered properly, just a minor mistake of mentioning Vistara as a flight which banned him, along with Indigo and Spicejet*
P2: No no, Vistara didn’t ban him.
Me: (realizing my mistake) Oh yes, of course. I was wrong. Vistara didn’t ban him. *then I realized why I made that mistake: mental flashback of his tweet where he mocks Vistara by saying they banning him won’t make a difference as they have very few flights*
P2: If you had to make a spoof of IIM interview, how would you go about it?
Me: *Oh, a googly* This very interview or IIM interview in general?
P2: Anything is fine.
Me: *told 2-3 premises whose escalation would make tight pieces. They, however, were wearing their poker faces the entire time*
P2: Okay, perform your latest piece for us? Not the entire thing, we don’t have time. Just 2 minutes.
Me: *performed*
P2: So what about Yoga?
Me: (confused, but held my nerve) It is something that I haven’t been able to do till now, but I want to practice it in the future.
P2: Hang on, Yoga is one of your hobbies, right?
Me: (internally spiraled) No, Sir. I have mentioned Stand-up comedy and Cricket as my hobbies.
P1 points out the hobbies in my application form to P2 and P3.
P3: (mockingly) Oh, a connoisseur of cricket. What do you mean?
Me: *saw this coming* I am passionate about it. I follow and analyze cricket. I used to play for my school too. In fact, I have written match reviews for our department magazine.
P3: Okay. Name 3 women cricketers who are a part of the Indian Women Team in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
Me: Smriti Mandhana, Harmandeep Kaur… (paused for a while) Mithila Raj is not a part of the team… (thinking hard)
P3: Young cricketer brought in for world cup. Woman of the match in the last match against New Zealand. First name starts with S, Last name with V.
Me: (under deep pressure by now) I’m sorry, Sir. I’m unable to recall right now. [The answer is Shefali Verma]
P3: Okay, can you name 3 Indian cricketers in the T20 World Cup Team?
Me: (elated) Definitely, there’s …
P3: (cutting me off) See, here’s the problem. You know all about Men’s cricket even though they lost 3-0 in the ODI series, but naming women cricketers takes time. It is because of people like you there are in the backseat.
Me: (taken aback by this rant, but held my composure and mustered a smile) I’m sorry, Sir.
P1, P2 and P3 look at each other and nod in confirmation, a sign that my interview was over.
P2: Alright, you can go now.
Me: Thank you. It was lovely talking to you all.
As it turns out, P1 (Dr. Anindnya Sen) and P2 (Dr. Parthapratim Pal) are Economics Professors at IIM Calcutta while P3 must be an alumni from the same B-School.
Tips from my side: This is a classic example of a stress interview (in my opinion, of course). I suggest putting on your best smile and keeping a clear head in such a situation. It is imperative to keep calm and maintain composure so that one can answer to the best of one’s abilities.
Edit – I was waitlisted at first but converted eventually 🙂
3 – My IIM Calcutta interview was one of the best. This was my 4th interview after IIM Lucknow, IIM Shillong and IIM Bangalore.
Date: 24th Feb, 2023
Venue: ITC Grand, Mumbai
Class 10: 91.2% (CBSE)
Class 12: 84.4% (MP Board)
Grad: B. Tech (Aerospace Eng.) from IIT Kanpur – 62%
Work Experience: Management Trainee, Ninjacart (11 months from July’19 to May’20) and Probationary Officer, State Bank of India (2.1 years from March’21 till present)
After reaching the venue we were asked to check the panel number and serial number and wait for our turn for Document Verification (DV), WAT started just after DV.
WAT: Covid has brought out many changes in the lifestyle of people. What according to you are positive impacts on their lifestyle? (Not the exact words but along these lines)
We were given 30 mins to think and write (one sheet is provided, no extra sheets allowed)
I wrote about self-awareness, more focus on healthy lifestyle, passive income, etc and linked the same to the business opportunities it has created in the given fields like cultfit, groww, etc.
Just after the WAT serial number 1,2,3 were called to wait for their interview and others including me went for snacks.
I approached the first candidate interviewed by my panel he was not happy with his interview. He was badly grilled on his academics (he had 2 years of experience). (This was the only thing I was afraid of, I was not prepared for questions on my grad, though I knew how to convince them not to ask questions from the same)
Interview (Duration- 20 minutes) –
I was 5th one to be interviewed in my Panel. There were 3 panellists – 3 Male
P1 – Male (~ 40 years)
P2 – Male (~ 40 years – Prof of Operations management)
P3 – Male (~ 35 years – Prof of Human Resource Management) (checked institute website after the interview to check their credentials)
P1 invited me in. I greeted him at the door and the remaining panellists before sitting. (They were having a look at my biodata form. I handed over my file containing all my certificates to P2)
P1 – Tell us about yourself.
Me – Told them about my home town, medals in athletics, my role in UDGHOSH (Inter college sports fest of IITK) as Head Events, my work-ex in Ninjacart and SBI
P3 – Tell me what Ratlam (my home town) is famous for?
Me – Sir, It’s famous for the 3 S’s (Sev, Saree and Sona (gold)). Also said I am working hard to be the 4th S’s (S – Shubham). All the panellists had a good laugh including me. (icebreaker for me)
P1 – So, why are you willing to leave govt. job?
Me – Told them about slow growth and monotonicity in my current job.
P3 – But it’s a dream job for many. Don’t you think you are making a big mistake?
Me – Yes Sir, It’s a dream for many but it is all part of the plan. It’s starting point for me in the finance world. I joined SBI so as to learn about how the finance sector works and I have learnt a lot in the last 2 years and I am ready to skill myself up with MBA in Finance and move ahead in my career.
P2 was the most silent and serious one and was pointing out my marks to other panellists (It felt like they were noticing my consistency in maths)
P1 – So Shubham, Why have you joined a non-tech job after Aerospace Eng. from IITK?
Me – Sir to be frank I was not at all interested in the field that I was studying. This was because of my rank that I had to settle for this branch. But since IITK is a good brand in itself I preferred to take it for better exposure.
They all were quite surprised by my boldness in accepting this.
P3 – Means all your 4 years of Grad are a waste?
Me – I explained how I participated in sports, took various management roles in different clubs and fests, and how all this has upskilled me to grow as a manager.
Everyone seems satisfied with my response.
P2 – Since you said Aerospace was not your preference it makes no sense for us to ask you questions on it.
Me – (in my mind – This was all that I wanted)
P1 – Tell me 3 things that you like and 3 that you hate about your Job at Ninjacart?
Me – told them about
1 )how I was given a free hand to innovate and try new strategies to achieve my sales target and eventually be awarded the Best Area Sales Manager, Mumbai.
2 )how we were allowed to hire/interview to build our own team and train them.
3 )how every single second things were changing (rigorous environment) and someone was achieving something new.
told them I didn’t like only one thing which was their HR policy in which we used to fire employees frequently with a notice period of only a few days (5-6 days).
The panellist seems satisfied.
P1 – Since you want to be an investment banker (referred to my form), which firm do you want to join after your MBA?
Me – Morgan Stanley or J P Morgan.
P1 – So you might have heard recently that one of these firm (don’t remember which one) has recently laid off over 10,000 employees. Don’t you think you are joining a company with the same HR policy which you don’t like? (Clean Bowled – That was such a good question. I was never ready for this one)
Me – I told them how this could be a business strategy/cost-cutting. (I was not confident enough)
P3 – It’s not a business strategy. This is done to please investors as the stock price boosts just after the lay-off. You might be aware of this.
Me – Yes sir I am.
P1 – Tell me what will you do as a manager if the CEO of your dream company calls you and asks you to fire your 1000 executives?
Me – I told them that, I’ll not fire them as this decision conflicts with my core values.
P3 – But then they’ll fire you… (they all smiled)
Me – That I’ll accept, it’s better to lose my job instead of firing my 1000 executives, I can survive the lay-off but my executives can’t.
P3 – In that case they’ll first fire you and then eventually fire your 1000 executives also.
I smiled and then P3 explained that that’s why we encourage students to join some good small companies.
Me – I agreed
P2 took charge (he was serious of the three)
P2 – Do you know anything about statistics?
Me – I said I know normal /Gaussian distribution
P2 – That everyone knows what else?
Me – I told Possion distribution, Binomial distribution, CLT
P2 – What does ‘k’ represents in the formula of Poisson distribution?
Me – Told
P2 – What is lamda in the formula (poisson distribution)?
Me – Told but was confused
P2 then explained me the difference
P1 – We are done Shubham thank you
I thanked them and left the interview room with confidence.
Took a break and then headed again for snacks (LOL).
Verdict – CONVERTED!
4 – Date – 23/04/20
First ever Online interview of IIM Calcutta.
Panel 1. Slot 1.
I was second in the panel to be interviewed.
Profile – GEM with 1.5 years work-ex.
10th/12th/B.Tech. – 9.6/86.4/7.58
CAT’19 – 99.93 % ile (95.47/99.96/99.93)
Interview :-
P1 -Male Professor.
P2- Male Professor.
P1 – Hello Nitesh.
* Wished them Good morning *
P1– Good morning. As you know these are very tough times and we are conducting online interviews for the first time, how are you feeling being a part of this history ?
Me – Sir, I am very happy to be a part of this process and In fact, I am feeling quite relieved that this is finally happening, after a long break. All thanks to you and the admission team, who are taking out time and somehow conducting interviews in these tough times.
P1– Yeah. So tell me what brings you here. You have 60 seconds.
Me – Modified my Why MBA answer and mentioned few reasons.
P1 – Tell me why are so many engineers coming to B Schools. What could be the reason.
Me – Talked about the dearth of jobs in their relevant fields and lack of necessary skill set required for those jobs.
P1 – What’s the difference between Education and skill ?
Me – Sir, skill is the ability to do something, or the ability to apply the knowledge acquired through education.
P1 – Which discipline are you from ?
Me – Industrial and production engineering.
P1 – So, don’t you think India need more Industrial engineers ? Why do you want to come here ?
Me – Told him about the technical and managerial subjects of my branch and how I was more inclined towards the managerial one. (Mentioned subjects like Marketing, Supply chain, Operations etc. )
P2 – After graduation, you are working at EXL, right ?
Me – Yes sir.
P2 – Tell me what do you do.
Me – Told about my work in detail.
P2 – Coming back to graduation, did you do some course on inventory control or anything like that ?
Me – Sir, I did a course on Green belt in lean six sigma.
P2 – In layman terms, tell me what is six sigma ?
Me – Sir It’s a data driven approach and use of mathematical tools to improve the process, increase efficiency, reduce time and waste in an organisation.
P2 – But why the term ‘6 sigma’ ?
Me – The term 6 sigma comes from empirical rule of normal distribution which tells us about the area under the curve under different standard deviations. Area under 6 sigma is 99.9996 % which leaves 0.00034% area outside the curve, implying that we have to reduce our errors to 3.4 defects ppm.
P2 – Okay. And you had a course on Operations also ?
Me – Yes sir.
P2 – What all topics did you study ?
Me – Told 5-6 topics.
P2 – Ever heard of Convex set in operations ?
Me – No sir, I have never heard that term in operations.
P2 – But you must have heard this term ‘convex’ somewhere, right ?
Me – Yes sir, in optics. I studied about convex lens and mirrors.
P2 – Yeah. Draw a diagram of the same.
Me – Drew concave and convex mirror and showed them.
P2 – Yes. Now tell this in context of mathematics. What is a convex function ?
* I went blank. As I knew that IIMC interviews are Maths heavy, I was prepared for basic calculus questions and graph-plotting. But this was something about which I didn’t have any idea *
Me – Sir, I don’t know.
P2 – You sure you’ve never heard of how to check concavity and convexity in maths ?
* Suddenly something strikes. *
Me – Oh yes sir. We use differentiation. We use first order differential for this.
P2 – What does first order differential gives us ?
Me – It tells us about the slope of the curve and hence we can find whether the function is concave and convex. ( Said the latter part wrong, probably ). Then mentioned positive and negative slope.
P1 – And what’s double diff. used for ?
Me – Sir it’s used to find out point of inflection, the point where the curve changes its shape.
P1 – Okay. What is Rank of a matrix ?
* Again, a very basic question from Class 11th Maths, but I never knew that a question will pop out of this chapter, so haven’t prepared *
Me – I don’t know, sir.
P1 – What is a saddle point?
Me -I don’t know, sir.
* losing some confidence after two don’t knows *
P2 – What else do you do. What are your hobbies ?
* Ahh, finally a breather 🙂 *
Me – Told about Reading and sports.
P2 – So what do you do in cricket ?
Me – I am a left handed batsman.
P2 – Ohho, Saurav Ganguly, haan ? And what position ?
Me – Sir, mostly as an opener.
P2 – Ahem ahem. Who is you favourite player?
Me – Sir, among the current ones, Virat Kohli. Overall, Yuvraj Singh.
P2 – Discuss some leadership qualities of Virat. Pros and cons.
Me – Discussed how his aggression plays a role in decision making. Told some pros and cons of his captaincy.
P2 – Now compare him with any business leader, and why ?
Me – Elon Musk, as both are risk takers, not afraid of anything, are bold with their decisions and are mostly right, like to do things thier own way.
P1 – I am giving you a situation. You have three job offers in the time of covid – ITC, Bengal chemicals and Mckinsey. Which one will you choose and why ?
Me – I’ll go with ITC. First, I am more interested towards this domain, and second, the FMCG sector is not severely affected by Covid. Demand for FMCG products are still almost the same as it was earlier. This industry is not as badly affected as other ones.
P1– If I’d given you these options one year ago, would your answer have been the same ?
Me – Yes sir.
P1 – Why do you think I mentioned Bengal chemicals , is it because we are sitting in bengal (smiling ) ?
Me – No sir, maybe you wanted to show the volatility in the three industries.
P1 – Actually Bengal chemicals was recently in news, that’s why.
Me – Okay sir. Sorry, I haven’t heard of any such news.
P1 – Okay, one last question. What was the last non bestseller you read ?
Me – The cold war by Robert Macmohan.
P1 – What’s there in it ?
Me – Told in detail.
P1– Heard of the term ‘second cold war’ ?
Me – Sir not exactly. Are you talking in the context of US China trade war ?
P1 – No.
Me – Then I haven’t heard the term sir.
P1 and P2 – Okay Nitesh, All the best. You have any other IIM calls ?
Me – Yes sir, from IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Kozhikode.
P1 – Okay Nitesh. Thank you.
Verdict – Converted.
5 – Somehow I wished to get into IIM C more than any other B school. Finally, I had the call of my dream B school. This was my first interview of the season so a lot of anxiety!
10th / 12th / btech : 93.07 / 80 / 76
CAT : 99.61 (overall)
VA / DILR / QA : 96.57 / 99.45 / 99.27
Date: 26th Feb’2020.
Venue: The Orchid, Mumbai.
Panelist: 2 male & 1 female (Prof. Runa Sarkar). Let’s say M1, M2, and Maam respectively.
M2 didn’t utter a word for the entire duration. He was keenly listening & observing.
M1: Going through my documents he asked ‘tell us something that you don’t want us to ask you’
Maam: It’s a tough one right? with a smile.
Me: Suprised at the question I smiled and started thinking. Meanwhile, M1 was flipping through the documents. I noticed him looking at my experience certificate as a faculty. Pointing towards the document I said “that one sir” and with a smile, he said “okay”.
M1: Looking at my personal data form “ so after Btech you worked at Pidilite post that you had your own QSR then a stint as a full-time faculty then as a part-time faculty… could you explain?”.
(He seemed very confused or I would say unhappy and it was quite visible.)
Me: Tried to explain what I did and why. But he seemed unsatisfied.
M1: “Mere dimaak ka bharta ban gaya hai”.
Me: I didn’t knew how to respond but somehow the reflex action took over and with a wide smile I said “KUI SIR” … yes in Hindi.
(Maam chipped in as a savior and explained duration wise what all I did. I saw she had noted everything on a piece of paper while I was explaining.)
M1: What is your view on the reservation being asked in Maharashtra? answer being specific to a state like Maharashtra.
(I didn’t quite get why the question was asked. It was not a recent news at all.)
Me: Gave a diplomatic answer without picking a side.
M1: You speak like a consultant giving a bird eye view. take a side and give 3 reasons why so.
Me: sir its tough to take a side and I reiterated some of my earlier said points.
Maam: Ohh it was your birthday yesterday.
(Everyone wished a belated happy birthday. I said thanks and then continued.)
Maam: Okay, tell us about your QSR business experience.
Me: Told. But kept it short.
Maam: Right from the beginning. Who all were involved, logic behind location selection, product…… I mean everything.
( I was happy because now I was in my comfort zone. We discussed it for about 10 minutes. I would say I had a good conversation. Was happy for the moment until M1 chipped in.)
M1: Ankit would you answer my previous question. Take a side and give 3 points. Be specific to Maharashtra.
( Now I felt like running away. Truly speaking I was about to take a side but somehow maintained my neutral stand. Although this time I pitched in some numbers specific to Maharashtra and made my previous answer slightly number based.)
M1: Rehne do.
Maam: If given a chance would you like to change your decision of leaving Pidilite? why so?
Me: Yes definitely. Answered to why so in detail. Pitched in my why MBA in the same answer.
Maam: I see you have entered “n” in your personal data form where you had to mention your extracurricular activities. why so?
Me: ( with all innocence look I could manage). Maam I found it confusing to put in certain school and college-level events with proper drop-down options for level of competition. So I entered all my extracurriculars in the next section which said “any other usefull information”.
Maam: Looking at M1 and M2 “We should take note of that. It should be rectified in next year’s form. Thanks, Ankit”
( I felt so relieved !!)
Maam: Given a situation wherein during MBA you have a good idea and a team. Would you choose to work on the idea.
Me: yes but this time I believe I’ll take much more informed and calculated decision.
Maam: Vo keeda abhi tak hai matlab.
Me: Nodded with a yes.
Maam: I think we are done. Do you have any questions for us?
Me: (with a smile and humble tone) No ma’am but if I make it to Calcutta I’ll ask questions in the classroom.
As I was leaving I was asked to have something. I picked a mentos (finally the fantasy of getting a toffee after C ka interview was complete).
Verdict: Converted!!!
IIM Culcutta Fee Structure
Program Fees (2024-25)
Programme fee for the academic year 2024-25 will be Indian Rupees 31,00,000/- (non-refundable) or equivalent US$ for one year, payable in four installments.
- Payment of Indian Rupees 2,00,000/- (commitment fee) at the time of acceptance of the admission offer.
- Payment of Indian Rupees 10,00,000/- by 15th March 2024 (second installment) Furthermore Rs 60,000/- is to be paid as security deposit by Demand Draft/ Pay order favouring Indian Institute of Management Calcutta along with the second installment. This amount will be refunded on completion of the programme after necessary adjustments of dues, if any.
- Payment of Indian Rupees 10,00,000/- by 21 July, 2024 (third installment)
- Payment of Indian Rupees 9,00,000/- by 24 November, 2024 (fourth installment)
This amount includes tuition fees and cost of course material, books, accommodation, economy airfare and some incidental expenses of the immersion programme organized by IIMC.
Over and above the programme fees mentioned in the above payment schedule, please note that other charges such as for electricity, food, expenses of personal nature are not covered by these fees and will have to be borne by the individual student.
