Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow Placement Interview Questions

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
  Add Answer
• Q2. What are your 3 weaknesses?
  View Answers (1)
• Q3. Why Consulting? And why Operations consulting particularly?
  Add Answer
• Q4. Why PwC?
  Add Answer
• Q5. Tell me more about your primary project. What was the problem statement and how did you approach it?
  Add Answer
• Q6. Describe a project apart from your main project that you believe was impactful.
  Add Answer
• Q7. Explain the end-to-end operations of your plant.
  View Answers (1)
• Q8. Describe an incident where you were under a lot of pressure but had to deliver results.
  Add Answer
• Q9. Describe an incident where you were required to adapt to changes very quickly. How did you accept those changes?
  Add Answer

What is the total area impacted by PepsiCo in India?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Categorized it into PepsiCo owned operations & Franchises. Within each category further classified into agricultural area, cold storages, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, distribution centers and PepsiCo's offices.

I: Focus on the agricultural activities.

C: Categorized it into land under Potato cultivation (Contract Farming & Independent sources), rice, corn & gram cultivation for other food products and water from areas around beverage plants.

You are a company that provides warehousing services in North & Central America. But you want to expand your operations in Southern regions as well, so you decide on merging with another similar company that is a major player in the market, second only to you. How would you go about the whole merger? Cover all aspects - Legal, Operational etc.
Followed the basic M&A framework. Dived deep into operational issues that could arise (the Interviewer wanted to check my understanding of warehousing & logistics). Was asked to discuss inventory management too.

Part 1: A state in Southern India is facing the issue of drying up of its lakes at a very high rate. An MP suggests that they should cover the lakes with giant sheets of thermocol since it is an insulator it would prevent evaporation of water. They implement this at a particular lake, where they find that the sheets keep getting blown away by the wind and the thermocol is unable to serve its purpose. How should the MP proceed if he wants to use these sheets? Devise a business plan for him to present at the budget meeting.

Part 2: Guesstimate the total budget needed for implementing this across 10 lakes each being 200m wide and 1km long?
Started with the harmful impact of thermocol on aquatic life. Suggested that we could use some spacing between the sheets for sufficient oxygen supply.

Asked questions around wind speed and general weather conditions.

Found out that it is a windy area. Therefore, suggested that we use floats or anchors to keep the sheets in place.

For budget, assumed the sheets to be as big as the ones available in the market. Found out the number of sheets required. Assumed a price for each sheet and then found out the total budget for sheets. Further, found the cost of the floats/ anchors based on the cost of per unit material they are made up of.

• Q1. What do you know about consulting & why do you want to join PwC?
  Add Answer
• Q2. What is your understanding about the role?
  Add Answer
• Q3. Explain the audience & customer strategies you used in your work ex.
  Add Answer
• Q4. Tell me something about yourself apart from CV.
  Add Answer
• Q5. What skills have you learned in your work-ex & how will you apply them at PwC?
  Add Answer
• Q6. Have you ever managed a team/people?
  Add Answer
• Q7. How do you manage conflict in a team?
  Add Answer
• Q8. How do you make sure your point is heard across in a discussion?
  Add Answer
• Q9. Have you ever faced a challenging situation?
  Add Answer
• Q10. List out some points of learning from the two companies you have worked with. How different was the experience, what did you notice about the two industries?
  Add Answer

An AI Solutions Provider is facing profitability issues. Help!
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: Our client who is an AI solutions provider is recently facing profitability issues.

C: Clarified the problem statement and asked since when the client was facing profit issue & by how much.

I: Profits have fallen by approx. 20% in the last 1 year.

C: When we say the profits are declining, is it revenue which is getting impacted or the costs are rising for the firm.

I: Primarily, it is a revenue side problem.

C: Where is the client based out of, how long has it been in the market?

I: Client is based out of the US, is an established player in the AI industry with a good client base.

C: How is the industry trend? Since it is an AI solutions provider, I believe the industry would be growing – has there been a new competitor which has entered?

I: Great, as you rightly pointed out, the industry is growing but we are facing issues.

C: When we say AI solutions provider, what does the company essentially do & who are the customers & where are they located?

I: It caters to AI technology requirements of industries, they serve a wide range of businesses mainly in the US - Retail, Manufacturing, Logistics, IT.

C: What are the different product offerings & revenue streams of the company?

I: There are a wide range of products which the company offers, major revenue streams of the company come from a) Selling hardware b) Contract or subscription basis c) Services.

C: Is the drop across all these buckets or should we focus on a particular segment first?

I: Focus on the services side.

C: Revenue from services only comes from customers having a contract or subscription or there are also companies with which we have a service only relationship?

I: We only offer services to companies with which we have a contract.

C: Within services these can be the possible segments where the company needs to look at in terms of improvement: - Maintenance - Data & Insights - Complaint Resolutions - Technology Upgrade. Have I missed anything?

I: These are all valid in the given context, you have rightly pointed out some of the possible reasons which are leading to a downfall in services revenue. Technology upgrade & complaint resolutions are something which the firm is struggling with. Can you frame some solutions to the problem statement?

C: As far as our discussion goes, the client is primarily facing problems in the services domain and needs to retain services from its existing partners. I suggest below pointers as solutions:

- Strengthen feedback mechanism for queries & complaint resolution.
- Make a separate department to identify current advancement in technology & incorporate those suggestions in current service offerings.
- Establish a ticketing system to see what the possible queries in different industries are (manufacturing, retail, IT etc.), automate some processes to improve the resolution efficiency.
- Speak to BD team & identify partner issues in real time so that there is no lag in information flow across product & market.

Market Estimation & Pricing of a Food Delivery Service in Pune.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: The food delivery service is a personal venture (from home) or we are looking at an established restaurant entering food delivery?

I: It is a personal venture, to be carried out specifically from home & to serve the local population (typical dabbawalla or tiffin system).

C: First, I would like to estimate the market size for the service & then would move to the pricing part.

I: Please go ahead.

C: Assuming the owner is living in a 5000 (population) strong locality, we will segment the population basis demographic factors: Occupation. Divided the locality into 4 parts - a) Family b) Students (age>15 yrs.) c) Working people living alone d) Others.

Since Pune is a Corporate hub & also has many colleges and institutes, I took an appropriate % for each of the mentioned buckets.

Family - 40%
Students - 20%
Working People living alone - 20%
Others - 20%

Primarily, our target market is students & working people living alone, which constitutes 40% of the locality = 40% (5000) = 2000 Total potential consumers for our business = 2000.

Now, I followed the awareness - consideration - conversion framework.

Owner, through his own contacts & referrals, can reach out to roughly 200 people without any promotion activities (banners, paid posts etc.)

Through promotion he can further reach out to 400 more.

Hence total size with awareness about the service = 600.

Further, segmented the awareness pool into people who are a) satisfied with their food service, b) not satisfied & c) do not have any regular system & rely on office & online orders. For the sake of simplicity, assumed this to be equal % i.e., 1/3 (600) = 200 for each segment. Only people who are not satisfied would be willing to try our offering, hence Consideration = 200.

Finally, they would evaluate multiple alternatives. Asked a question about the no of competitors to which the interviewer asked me to use my knowledge about the area.

As Pune has multiple food delivery alternatives, I assumed it to be a competitive market & only 25% of the consideration pool would finally convert as customers. Hence, 50 people per day would be our customers initially.

Pricing: Did a cost based & substitute-based pricing here. Calculated price per meal breaking down into segments:

1. Raw material/ Material 2. Labor 3. Logistics 4. Promotion Cost per standard meal (regular ingredients) came out to be around Rs 80, adding a profit % of 20, gave the final price ~ Rs 100.

I: Okay, now that you have the no of consumers you would have for the service can u think of increasing customers for this business?

C: Gave ideas around menu diversification as we were primarily focused on students & working population gave ideas which would suit their requirements.

- For working people: Fresh menu kind of service where they would get healthy food.
- Students - Protein rich diet (nonveg).
- Promotions: Leverage Social Media, ask customers to post positive reviews, have a good feedback mechanism & focus on quality packaging as its important for people who travel for work.

Calculate the volume of paint needed to pain a Boeing 747.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Asked whether we must paint the jet only on the outside or completely.

I: Only on the outside.

C: Approach - We will calculate the total surface area of the jet, dividing it into constituent parts - (Cabin - Cylinder, Cockpit - Hemisphere, Wings - Triangle, Stabilizers (for brand logo) – Triangle).

Used my height as reference to calculate the radius of the cabin (3 meters), length of the cabin = 70 meters, assumed wings to be equilateral with 30 meters side, stabilizers ~ 1/4th size of wings, cockpit - hemisphere with radius 2 meters).

Used formula is for Surface area (Hemisphere, Cylinder, Triangle).

Assumed 1 sq meter of area to consume 200 ml of paint & multiplied the total surface are by 200 to get volume of paint in ml.

• Q1. Tell me about yourself.
  Add Answer
• Q2. Go through your work ex starting from KPMG and briefly go through the work you did there?
  Add Answer
• Q3. Talk about the major projects you did at Grail Insights.
  Add Answer
• Q4. Asked me about my PORs and the challenges I faced and how I managed everything.
  Add Answer
• Q5. Questions related to the applicability of marketing concepts in my work experience.
  Add Answer
• Q6. Tell me about your biggest achievement.
  Add Answer
• Q7. How did you work in a team when there was a personal conflict between you and a team member?
  Add Answer
• Q8. What are you plans post MBA?
  Add Answer
• Q9. Why PWC? Why this role? Why consulting?
  Add Answer

Estimate the number of cows in Lucknow.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: I would do this by the following approach: [(Cow milk demand in Lucknow (month) + exports - imports) / Average milk given by a cow] + Non lactating cows + Stray cows. My assumption here is that the first two 2 categories of cows are kept in a closed facility.

I: Seems fine, go ahead.

Note: There were some cross questions when I was calculating the numbers, but he was happy with the approach.

Part 1 – Estimate the revenue of a food delivery platform in Delhi.

Part 2 – Case: Pricing strategy case for a food delivery platform.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

Some questions that I was asked during the interview are:

- Develop the pricing structure of a food delivery platform comprehensively for a particular area?

- What is this pricing strategy called?

- What are other pricing strategies?

- What are the factors that you would consider while deciding pricing for a particular area? What are the pricing drivers?

- Will the pricing be different for an area like Old Delhi and for an area somewhere in South Delhi? Why?

• Q1. Tell me about yourself.
  View Answers (1)
• Q2. Why consulting?
  Add Answer
• Q3. What are your 3 skills which can be useful while working in PwC?
  Add Answer
• Q4. How did you manage a conflict while leading a team?
  Add Answer
• Q5. What do you know about cloud applications, CRM, IT?
  View Answers (1)
• Q6. What do you think constitutes IT of a company?
  View Answers (1)

What are the different factors that should be considered for IT integration while merging two companies?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: First thing that should be considered is the data of two companies such as employee data, customer data, vendor data etc.

I: What factors need to be considered while integrating data?

C: Integration depends on how it is stored, if it is in cloud or on-premises data center, if the same cloud provider data could be migrated, if different data need to be exported and imported. Data models might be different for the same entity type as employee data fields. Then, the kind of databases being used become relevant, such as the use of SQL or not. This will also determine the time and cost of integration. One thing that needs to be considered is the privacy laws in different countries as some countries might require the data to be stored in the same country as the GDPR law.

I: Okay. What are the other bottlenecks other than data?

C: Infrastructure will be a factor like servers, data centers, etc. Companies might have different infrastructure requirements. One may be completely in cloud while other on premise or a combination of the two. So, decisions need to be taken regarding what to use and which one to use. Some might be obsolete and can be sold off.

I: What do you think about applications?

C: Companies might have different applications being used by different departments such as ERP, CRM, HRM etc. Some might be cloud applications and some installed in local data centers. The license needs to be changed or updated, some applications need to be removed and employees need to be trained. So, data associated with these applications also needs to be moved.

I: You almost covered the basic buckets. Read more about IT Due diligence and see what you have missed.

There are two companies A and B. Company B is divesting a vertical to company A. Company B came to PwC to help them in their divestiture. How will you go about it? Company B has 20 SaaS applications, 20 Vendor Applications (On-Premises), and 20 Company Applications (On-Premises) that need to be migrated.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: According to me IT can be divided into broadly 3 buckets – Infrastructure, Applications, and Data and People. Under Infrastructure come the servers, data centers (power and cooling systems), networking equipment’s, user workstations, meeting room equipment’s like projector, mouse, laptops, and all cables. Under Applications come all the applications being used by employees, vendors, customers and all the automation tools. Employee applications include enterprise applications like ERP, CRM, HRM, applications used by Accounting and Finance teams, customer service tools, other applications like IDE for developers, third party applications integrated by using Open APIs, payment gateways etc. Also, if it is a tech company there would be projects which are being developed by the R&D team. The data associated with all these applications is either stored in a public cloud, private cloud, on premise data center or workstation of an employee – all need to be considered.

Also, the licenses of the 3rd party applications need to be re-negotiated and the owner changed. Third come the people who run and maintain all the applications. Technicians who maintain the servers, developers who build and support applications, the IT guy who provides the necessary devices and fixes them on time, all constitute the people of an IT company with the CTO and CIO at the top depending on the hierarchy of the company.

I: There are two companies A and B. Company B is divesting a vertical to company A. Company B came to PwC to help them in their divestiture. How will you go about it? Company B has 20 SaaS applications, 20 Vendor Applications (On-Premises), and 20 Company Applications (On-Premises) that need to be migrated.

C: The 20 SaaS applications should support multi tenancy so that a new tenant needs to be created for company A and all data needs to be transferred to the new tenant DB. Company B our client can now reduce its OPEX (Operational Expenditure) as SaaS applications usually charge by the no. of users and the number of resources used. Here both are getting reduced, so a new deal needs to sign with the SaaS application providers.

I: What about On-Premises ones?

C: The 20 vendor applications need to be installed in Company A on premise and corresponding data needs to be moved. If not on premise, they can migrate it to cloud. As company B is also using the applications, a new deal can be signed with the vendor or if we do not require the on-premises data centers which were previously used, company B can sell it off depending on the new capacity requirement. Company A might require some time to migrate so it cannot be done strictly on day 1, hence, a TSA can be signed so that company B allows company A to use its resources by paying a premium to company B.

I: If company A is using the company A data centers according to the TSA what are the disadvantages for company B?

C: Previously all the resources were being used by company B. Now since it shares the resource servers, storage needs to be given to company B. If virtualization is not there, under-utilization of resources will take place.

I: Okay. We can stop with the case. Tell me What are your 3 skills which can be useful while working in PwC?

C: One, problem solving skills that I have developed with my 3 years of work ex. Second, knowledge on different technologies and expertise in working cloud and third, being a people’s person, I will be able to handle different clients and my experience being part of pre-sales demos will help in communicating with clients.

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
  Add Answer
• Q2. What do you know about the work PWC does?
  Add Answer
• Q3. Why is cashflow statement important?
  View Answers (1)
• Q4. What are the ratios in manufacturing sector?
  View Answers (1)
• Q5. What is zero based budgeting? What are the sub-functions under the CFO?
  View Answers (1)
• Q6. Describe the work done during your articleship.
  Add Answer
• Q7. What is P2P?
  View Answers (1)
• Q8. What is a 3-way match?
  View Answers (1)
• Q9. How would you reduce the SGA of a company?
  View Answers (1)

Estimate the number of thermal scanners in India.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: By thermal scanners do we mean the temperature measuring devices used at malls, restaurants, etc. before entering, to check for fever during COVID-19.

I: Yes, that is correct.

C: I will be using the demand side approach to figure out the number of thermal scanners. Does that seem okay to you?

I: Yes, please go ahead.

C: I would like to bifurcate the users of thermal scanners into hospitals/clinics and others (theaters, restaurants, offices etc.).

I: That sounds like a fair approach.

C: I would look at the number of people going to the above places in Pune. I would then use a relevant multiple for the entire country keeping 2 things in mind;

1- Population of Pune,
2- Pune being a Tier-1 city will have more restaurants, malls, etc. than Tier-2 cities and rural areas.

(Some figures were discussed but more than the final answer the interviewer was looking for sound logic. Also, being a telephonic interview, it was slightly difficult for the interviewer to keep a track of the numbers.)

Estimate the potential number of persons who would travel by metro in Pune.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: I will use the supply side approach to figure out roughly how many people travel by metro. I will do these calculations for a day. This can be then extrapolated to a week, then a month and then a year.

I: Good. Go ahead.

C: I will take the starting point as the population of Pune and then bifurcate it based on age. For age brackets 0-10 and 60-80, I would assume that only 10% would travel by metro. For the age 11-25, the age bracket of school and college going students, a higher rate of say 40% can be used. For the working class, i.e., age 25-50, I would assume based on my experience that around 65% go by metro. Do these assumptions seem fair to you?

I: Yes, you can proceed.

C: The above calculation will be done for a weekday. For Weekends, I will assume that the crowd is 50% of that on a weekend since offices and educational institutions are generally shut. The results of the week can be extrapolated to find yearly travelers.

• Q1. Tell me something about yourself.
  Add Answer
• Q2. Tell me something about yourself.
  Add Answer
• Q3. What do you know about M&A?
  Add Answer
• Q4. Why do you want to pursue consulting?
  Add Answer
• Q5. Questions around Work Experience.
  Add Answer
• Q6. Personality based questions.
  Add Answer

A cheese company wants to acquire a vegan company. Discuss.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: Company A wants to acquire Company B. Both are retail companies operating in North America. Discussion on the companies and objectives:

Product portfolio:
(Company A: Cheese & related products;
Company B: Vegan products like Yoghurt),
Establishments (both are old),
Growth rates (similar ~10%),
Primary objectives (One-time cost; synergies – operational & back-office), can start with synergies,

Reason for acquisition:
1. Presence in the market;
2. Diversify into product line.

C: Explained ways for operational synergies.

I: Ok. Let us look at back-office synergies. Which areas would you consider?

C: Listed areas like R&D, infrastructure department, etc.

I: Ok. (Discussion on the departments). Can you explain the factors?

C: Explained factors like skills, systems, etc.

I: (Discussion on the factors). Thanks.

Chemical company performing below financial benchmarks.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: Discussion on the company, and the issue: Company produces compounds used for downstream operations like medicines, issues more around working capital, which is higher, financial benchmark is w.r.t competitors.

C: Explained working capital factors.

I: (Discussion on the factors) Okay. Let us say the issue is with accounts payable. What do you think is happening?

C: Listed potential reasons.

I: (Discussion on difference w.r.t the competitors). What would you recommend?

C: Explained ways like quantity, pricing, etc.

• Q1. Asked me to elaborate on 3 work-ex pointers, providing a brief overview of my internship, followed by my experience as a freelancer.
  Add Answer
• Q2. Asked me to summarize myself as a person, including my likes and dislikes.
  Add Answer
• Q3. A brief about my family & their traditional occupation was asked.
  Add Answer
• Q4. A question on strengths and weaknesses.
  Add Answer
• Q5. Overview of academic journey - ups and downs.
  Add Answer
• Q6. Questions on situational questions like a moment when I overcame resistance to accomplish something significant and an instance where I followed an unconvention...read more
  Add Answer

Guesstimate the no. of masks disposed-off daily in the city of Mumbai.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: Commercialization of a pharmaceutical drug in a new geography: how to go about it?

C: Clarified about geographies to be targeted, drug type, the targeted disease, the prevalence of the disease, innovator, or generic drug.

I: Asked me to summarize my approach.

C: Demand, supply, regulatory and pricing to be considered for an economical & seamless commercialization

I: How to estimate the size of the market (demand)?

C: Through disease prevalence, population size and the severity of the disease.

I: What factors to consider in supply?

C: Raw material cost (API is expensive and inhouse development can reduce the procurement cost), manufacturing plant and its operations, warehousing and distribution channels

I: What goes in regulatory approval?

C: FDA reviews the product development report before approving the launch of a drug, preclinical and clinical trials data also required.

I: What other factors?

C: Pricing such that the incurred R&D cost can be recovered basis projected demand. Launch generic version of the same drug if unaffordable in underdeveloped countries. Covered product life cycle of an innovator drug.

I: Further cross questioning on drug patent and other stakeholders involved in the launch.

Commercialization of a pharmaceutical drug in a new geography: aspects to consider?
I covered demand, supply, regulatory and pricing aspects.