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

• Q1. Introduce yourself.
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• Q2. Explain what brings you to a B-School after having practiced law?
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Imagine you’re advising the Prime Minister of India on improving the legal system in India. Suggest the changes you’d recommend and why.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: Since I’m recommending the Prime Minister of the country, is it fair to assume that there are no money constraints?

I: Yes.

C: Is there a specific timeline I’m looking at for the recommendations to be implemented: short term or long term?

I: None.

C: Changes in terms of:

A. Policy (The ‘What’):

(a) Simplifying Laws; and (b) Simplifying Processes (For example: reducing the no. of appeals).

B. Judges (The ‘Who’):

(I) The number of judges: filling up vacant posts and having a mechanism in place to fill up vacant posts knowing well the retirement age of judges

(II) The quality of judges: (a) Selection: Making it a prerequisite to have at least 2 years of trial court experience

(b) Training: Placing incoming judges in division benches with senior judges, external training, monthly briefing, yearly training etc.

C. Timelines (The ‘When’):

(a) Judges: incentivize judges, especially at grassroots levels, to reduce the duration of the cases

(b) Advocates / Parties: Making adjournment an exception, not a norm by requiring a written application for adjournment along with a fine. Not allowing more than a certain no. of judgments in a matter.

D. Infrastructure (The ‘Where’):

(a) increasing the number of courts/tribunals

(b) improving the quality of existing courts/tribunals, specifically at the grassroots level.

E. Implementation (The ‘How’):

A lot of changes which appear to be good are brought on paper, but not implemented properly. That is half the reason why our legal system is slow. To ensure changes are implemented effectively, have each subordinate court/tribunal answerable to the higher authority.

For example, the District Court’s work could be overseen by a committee comprising of judges of the High Court.

Your client is a cement company, it is trying to grow its presence in India. Advise your client on how to proceed.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: I’d like to know a little more about the company. Where are we based out of and where do we operate?

A. Based out of Bangalore, operate in South India.

C: Next, I’d like to know what kind of cement/grade of cement does our company produce and how do we price it via-a-vis others?

I: Cement is broadly of 2 two types: grey and white. The grey being cheaper and more commonly used, the white being the more expensive one. We produce more of grey and price it 5 rupees lower than our competitors.

C: I’d like to know about how strong our presence is in terms of market share.

I: We are one of the dominant players in South India and our presence in North India is limited. Our competitors have a strong presence in North India.

C: Is there any way we can categorize our customers: in terms of rural / urban?

I: Primarily rural customers.

No. of places we sell at * no. of customers * no. of products * no. of stores we sell at * price of the product.

C: In terms of places that we sell at, my recommendation would be to stick to South India and penetrate deeper. To this end we could

(a) identify small towns and villages which would be requiring urbanization, shifting from Kaccha houses to Pakka houses, and make our presence there at district levels

(b) identify towns which are likely to undergo construction of buildings and apartments.

In terms of no. of customers, we could have 3 categories:

(a) Builders

(b) Government

(c) retail customers.

Try entering tie-ups with the big builders of the southern region, for future construction. With respect to the government, try entering in tie ups with them for social causes such as building schools, rebuilding cities after natural calamities, the constitution of houses for the poor etc.

In terms of Products, since our main segment is grey, focus on that but ensure white is available specially in urban areas.

In terms of no. of stores, increase the number of outlets our product is available at. Since our major customer segment is rural, every district / big village should have our product available in South India. By taking the product closer to our customer, we can ensure that a pull effect is created for our product.

In terms of Price of Product, since cement is a commodity and our prices are lower than those of our competitors, we can increase our price marginally without it affecting the demand.

• Q1. Casual conversation about myself, under-graduation and my experience at IIM L.
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• Q2. Explain internship project. (Case 2 was created out of my answer to this)
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Client in a global pharma company. It is an innovative company manufacturing biologic. It has a one-of-a-kind cancer medicine that has been available since a decade. The company has patents on this product elsewhere, and not in India. A pharma company in India will be
launching a local copy of the same drug. Design defense strategy
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: Reiterated my understanding of the problem statement. (This was very important since the
statement was very big with lot of details).

What is the time available before the drug is launched by the Indian company?

I: 3 months.

C: We have to design a defense strategy in the sense that the client’s market share must be protected. Is that correct?

I: Yes.

C: How old is this global pharma company? Where is it located? What are its other products?

I: Established firm in US, leading player. Other products include medication for arthritis etc.

C: Can you explain more about the particular drug in case?

I: One-of-a-kind drugs curing a specific kind of breast cancer.

C: Can I get more details about the Indian company and its drug?

I: Large global player. The local drug is 30% cheaper than the current drug.

C: Is only the price a point of distinction here? Is the API, formulation, administration, and efficacy of both the drugs same?

I: Yes, that’s correct.

C: I can primarily divide the defense strategy into two:

1) if we can stop the launch of the local product

2) If not, what should be our steps post launch.

I: Launch cannot be stopped since there is no patent or any other legal right available in India.

C: In that case, I’d like to delve deeper in the second bucket of post launch actions.

I: Sure.

C: I can primarily think of 4 strategies. I’d like to explore each of them sequentially.

I: Go ahead.

C: I’m assuming that this is primarily a B2B sales scenario wherein our customers are hospitals.

I: That’s correct.

C: In that case, doctors would be the influencers of purchase decision of the product. The end users (patients) would have little say. So, we can create customer lock-in with the doctors by say, demonstrating value addition provided by the product or incentivizing the doctors to procure our products.

I: Good. How would you demonstrate the value addition here?

C: Tried giving examples but interviewer kept cross questioning and dismissing all my ideas. So, moved on to next strategy.

C: Since price is the problem here, can we bring down our price by rationalizing cost structure and/or reducing margins?

I: Not possible to reduce price since the medicine is priced at the same level in all other countries. If price is reduced in India, other countries can leverage on this arbitrage opportunity.

C: Is there any way to create barriers to avoid exploiting this arbitrage opportunity? For example, in India, certain products are priced at a particular price if sold in certain states and higher price if sold in other states.

I: Doesn’t seem feasible. Move on.

C: My third idea was to explore if we can acquire the Indian company. This would avoid all the complications and competition. This would however be subject to not being anti-competitive according to the Competition Act.

I: Not possible to acquire. The Indian company too is a large established global player.

C: In that case, can we get into some kind of agreement with the Indian player with regards to the drug, in exchange of probably something else that’s attractive to the Indian company?

I: Doesn’t sound feasible.

C: Okay. So, my last strategy would be somewhat similar to the 1st strategy but create lockins with the supply chain players/distribution network.

Again, we’ll have to ensure that Competition Act is not contravened with respect bro these exclusive supply and tie in arrangements.

Company X is looking to enter India. It manufactures baby foods. Evaluate if it should enter India.
Calculated the market size to assess the attractiveness of the expansion opportunity

• Q1. Questions on my background, work-ex and some discussion about the payments industry.
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• Q2. Introduce yourself.
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If you were to launch a post payment product for the low-income households, how would you go about it? Which product, what features, market penetration etc.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

The partner wanted me to solve the case as I would on a consulting project and also asked me to use my existing knowledge of the payments industry.

So, I stuck to minimal questions and explained my approach every step of the way and took his confirmation from time to time.

C: Who wants to launch this product? Could you provide me some background information on the issuer?

I: A well-known bank in the low- middle income group, has 20+ fragmented competitors, looking to disrupt the mass affluent segment.

C: I want to divide my analysis into 3 segments:

a) Type of product and features

b) Marketing and Communication

c) Onboarding of customers

Choice of products could be debit card, credit card, co-branded card, a virtual card, replenishable cards.

(I explained what each type of product is and what they are suitable for. In the end the choice comes down to either a physical credit card or a virtual credit card for maximum benefits on every rupee spent. I made a matrix of the pros and cons considering the following metrics: Cost and Time to launch, Convenience to consumer, Consumer preference (specific to target segment), Revenue generation and concluded on the physical credit card option.)

C: Should I move on to the kind of features we should go for?

I: Leave that. Tell me what according to you are the main barriers to growth in the credit card space?

C: I divided the barriers to growth into 2 parts- merchant resistance and consumer preference.

a) Consumers: Lack of trust in credit cards due to high interest rate on late payments, not as convenient as cash or UPI payments.

b) Merchants: Interchange fees, payment regulations

I: Then how would you market such a product?

C: I followed the basic principles of mode, medium, message and customized it as per the target segment.

I: Do you know of any existing unique products for this specific target segment?

C: I spoke about Simpl (a platform for credit-based payments for online retailers) and we had a brief discussion on it.

A group of people want to start an online fitness app.

They want your help with 3 things:
a) Steps to analyze the target group and demand
b) What data do you need for this?
c) Sources for this data
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: Target market based on the below:

a) Age

b) Occupation

c) Location

d) Income levels

Narrowed down on 18–40-year age segment in tier 1 and 2 cities focusing on: students, working professionals, sports enthusiasts.

I also did a quick guesstimate of the market size on the basis of the above.

Sources of data:

a) Google location services for current place of residence and frequently visited locations.

b) Cred or similar payments apps for information on spending.

c) Zomato/ Swiggy to check food preferences for product tie-ups.

d) Social media presence and internet usage from telecommunication companies.

• Q1. NA
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We are a steel pipe manufacturer, and we are working on a cost transformation program and wish to reduce our cost by Rs. 150 Crores.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: What is the time horizon within which we would like to reduce the cost?

I: 12 months.

C: What is the product that we manufacture and whom do we cater to?

I: Large steel pipe and we cater to B2B and large customers.

C: Do we deal in separate product SKUs?

I: We have different diameters and variants depending on the process. But let us have one SKU for now.

C: What would be the location?

I: Hanjar port. We can import raw material from China and export it to the neighboring countries.

C: Given we are looking at reducing costs, what would our total current cost be?

I: Rs.6000 Cr. What are the various costs that I incur?

C: Raw Material (RM), production, distribution, marketing, and support. And considering the Heavy Goods Industry, most of the cost should come from Raw Material Purchase and Inbound Logistics.

I: Yes, RM is my major cost, and it accounts for 60% of the overall cost.

C: How much of that is Steel Pipes?

I: Steel which we bend and make the rolls for our pipe is 95% of our raw material.

C: Great, we can look at cost for Raw material in terms of the price/tonne*quantity.

I: How would you look at the price?

Opened the Cost Structure and then proceeded with procurement as per discussion

C: I will start looking at the procurement process currently and try to find potential optimization methods.

I: We procure for the entire year in one shipment currently.

C: Do we have possibility to alter this, as we might be saving on inventory costs.

I: Inventory is not a problem. But we can break the total order in multiple orders.

Efficiency and utilization are an issue. But if we have the liberty to order as many times as possible as possible, we like, what should be the number according to you. Like, 1,2,3,4 or maybe even more?

C: I would go with 2 as we can assess efficiency from the first order and order according and saving on transportation.

I: Great. Should I order 80% in the first or 20% in the first?

C: Should be 80% as would have safety margins and reduce stock out costs as it might disrupt the entire process.

I: Sure. Doing this we can reduce the steel cost by 2%. Can you come up the number?

C: Sure. 60% of 6000 would be the cost of raw material, which is 3600 and since we use 95% of RM for steel, the number comes to around 3420. 2% of which is around Rs. 68 Cr.

I: Great, are we able to reach the goal through this?

C: No, we are only able to reach less than 50% of the goal. Should I scope further for other means of optimization.

• Q1. Tell me about yourself.
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• Q2. What motivates you in life?
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• Q3. Describe one of the best projects you have done in Deloitte USI.
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Your client is an IT Service Company. You have been hired to analyze their cost structure and recommend solutions to reduce costs.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate] 

C: I reiterated the problem statement to ensure I was not missing any information. I also asked a few clarifying questions to gain a better understanding of the problem at hand.

When you mention IT service companies, can I assume it to be like TCS, Wipro, Infosys?

I: Yes, you can assume it to be like TCS.

C: Just to know a bit more about the client, can you help with the following details - locations, client bases, age of the company, size of the company in terms of the workforce?

I: The company is based in India and has offices in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Gurgaon. It started its operations in the mid-90s and has approximately 5000 employees. Most of its clients are based out of the US, majorly Fortune 500.

C: Sounds good! To get a better understanding of the offering, is it safe to assume that it offers customized solutions to every client?

I: Yes, the requirement would vary based on its scale and specific need.

C: Cost can be broadly categorized into HR, infrastructure, and miscellaneous costs. HR cost would include employees’ salary, employee mix, benefits, and perks such as traveling, stay, F&B and insurance.

Infrastructure cost would consist of computer servers, maintenance, software license, rent, utility, hardware such as laptops/desktops and technological accessories.

The miscellaneous cost would include stationaries, security, salaries to maintenance staff, taxes, S&M. Would you like me to focus on any of these specifically, or should I explore each one by one?

I: Let’s focus on HR cost, which accounts for more than 80% of the cost.

C: Employees’ salary: fixed + variable component, and employee mix includes team composition: Onshore & Offshore, and team utilization.

I: Good, now I would like you to think of a few major cost components associated with support departments?

C: Could you please help to understand what does support department do?

I: They provide support to the core teams involved directly with the clients’ deliverables. Such as delivering laptop services, IT security team, so on and so forth.

C: Majorly, the cost would comprise of salary: perks and benefits, employee mix, and the number of employees supported per support staff.

• Q1. Have you experienced a situation where you had to overcome an obstacle? How did you react? What were your learnings?
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• Q2. Was there any situation in our workplace where you had to convince your manager for a task?
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• Q3. What was your most significant achievement?
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• Q4. Have you come across a situation where you had to perform a task in an unconventional way?
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There is a square and coins. Area of the coin is less than the square. There are two players A and B who have to fill the square with coins. The person who puts coin in square at last place wins, i.e., after which there is no space to put another coin. Among A and B who can go first and what will be his strategy to win the game.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Can the coins be of any size? And will the size of the coins be constant throughout?

I: Yes

C: Whoever goes first will fill the square with the area such that there is no space left for 2nd player. So, whoever goes 1st, wins.

I: Your solution is correct but think a generalized solution. The first mover will place the coin at center. Take this as a hint.

C: Okay, thank you for the hint. In whichever position the 2nd player places the coin after the coin is placed at the center, the first player will always have a position of reflection of 2nd player. Thus, the last mover will be the player who had placed the coin first.

I: Correct!

• Q1. Tell anything from your life so far which you are extremely proud of?
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• Q2. I see you have worked quite a lot on coal industry, can you categorize what are the challenges faced by the industry in India?
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Our client is an NBFC and they want to reduce their loan turnaround time to 1/10 of existing so that they can match the best in industry. Identify the levers through which it can be done.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Explained him about my understanding of NBFC. So, our client is an NBFC and they want to reduce their loan TAT to 1/10. Is there any other objective? Also, in order to achieve the same do we have some constraints on time and investment?

I: No constraints on investment. We want to see the result within 1 year.

C: Asked about the company, the type of loan in case, target customer segments and strategies used by the competition.

I: Bangalore based NBFC. 4th largest player in the market. We are looking into home loan segment for the case.

C: Told and confirmed on my understanding of TAT in loan disbursal i.e., starting from enquiry of loan, to loan disbursal by bank. Laid out the value chain of the process.

Need of getting home loan > consideration set of all banks (based on brokers, online search, and marketing by bank) > Going to the bank’s site to put request > Submit documents > Property Verification > Approval and Loan Disbursal.

Asked questions and suggested recommendations which could lead to increase in TAT because of each block in the value chain. E.g., Online submission of documents, document handling (physical/digital), e-verification, verification of property via government registry, automated approval based on past sanctioned loans based on Machine Learning Algorithms etc.

Our client is an IT firm based out of Bangalore. They are looking for international expansion. Suggest ways and tell whether the firm should go for it or not.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Reiterated the case. Applied CPCC framework to know about the firm, its existing customers, kind of services provided, presence of Indian IT players overseas. Asked about monetary and timeframe constraints. Laid out the framework of case.

International presence could be done in 3 ways: Inorganic (acquiring overseas players), Organic 1 (Opening a branch over there to attract foreign customers), Organic 2 (Marketing and get overseas customer and function from India).

I: Asked about what key cost drivers for an IT firm are.

C: Human Resource, Infrastructure, Sales and Marketing etc.

I: What are the key risks associated with setting up industry by the organic 1 way which you mentioned?

C: Customized Porter’s 5 forces and PESTER to identify risks. Classified them to Industry and Macro Risks. Included government norms, growth in IT industry, availability of skilled human resource, response from local players etc.

I: What would be the major components of your pitch to any major IT foreign client.

C: Impact created on other clients, service time compared to other players, skilled workforce and support provided post implementation.

• Q1. Talk about 3 highlights from your CV.
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• Q2. How is Ola doing right now? What do you think is the way forward for Ola?
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Client is a tyre manufacturer in Mid-west US. Market is growing for automobiles and client wants to expand capacity. Two options are available with the client, either expand in the US or tie up with a Chinese manufacturer. Analyze the options and recommend the solution.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: To understand more about the company, where does it sell tyres and how many different types of tyre does it sell?

I: Its market is in the US itself and has only one single type of tyre.

C: Is the client the leading manufacturer in the market?

I: Yes, it is the leading player across US.

C: Is there any constraint on the capacity with either of the options?

I: No, we can cater to the increased demand with either of them.

C: I would now like to delve deeper into the available options. First, I would like to proceed with expansion in the US market. I would break down the different costs and then look at each of them. Setup of plant (land and equipment), procurement of raw materials, manufacturing operations, distribution network. Should I go ahead with these heads or am I missing something?

I: Sure, go ahead.

C: Are we planning to setup a new unit or acquire an existing unit in the mid-west? If we plan to set up a new unit, what will be the cost of land and equipment?

I: We want to setup a new unit. The government is supporting local manufacturers and we will be able to purchase land at subsidized rates with a tax holiday for 5 years. Machines will be of better technology and will also be subsidized.

C: Understood, there is a clear benefit in terms of acquiring land and purchasing equipment. Now I would like to know more about the procurement and manufacturing costs. Will we be procuring from same suppliers? Will there be any reduction in costs of manufacturing like manpower due to better automation?

I: Yes, cost of raw materials would be same and labor costs will go down due to advancement in technology.

C: Moving on, how will our distribution costs change if we open a new plant? Will the overall logistics cost increase?

I: No, so there is a mother warehouse in mid-west US from where we deliver across the country.

C: Right. So, I have covered the costs for new set up in US and would now like to move on to the tie up with Chinese player.

I: Sure, go ahead.

C: Since the player is already manufacturing tyres, I would like to understand what the nature of the deal and the overall cost will be associated with tyre. This would include margins of the Chinese player, import duty and shipping costs.

I: Right, so the margin of the player is 10% over the price of the tyre, import duty is 20% and shipping cost is additional 5%.

C: So, assuming base price of manufacturing to be same, it is 1.35x of current price, but China has lower manufacturing rates compared to others and thus, the cost would be lower.

I: What is your final recommendation for the client?

C: From the data we have analyzed, it seems that with the subsidy of the US government, the new setup seems to be a more beneficial option and would recommend setting up own plant.

A new hotel has opened up in a metro city in India. What would be the number of water bottles consumed annually in the hotel?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: Let us do a quick guesstimate. A new hotel has opened up in a metro city in India. What would be the number of water bottles consumed annually in the hotel?

C: What kind of hotel is this and where is it located in the city?

I: It is a regular business hotel with rooms, restaurant and a business center located in the city center.

C: I would like to break the calculation into 3 parts, the calculation for rooms, the restaurant, and the business center. To start with the rooms, I would calculate it using the formula, Rooms*average occupancy of rooms*no. of people in a room*bottles consumed per person per day*365.

Is it correct or am I missing anything?

I: Let us talk about factors affecting occupancy of rooms and consumption per person.

C: The occupancy would depend on the type of rooms, day of the week, the seasonality (March might have higher no. of customers compared to October which is a festive month). The consumption of bottles would depend on size of bottles.

I: Correct, the bottle is a 500ml bottle. Let us move to restaurant now.

C: For calculating no. of bottles for the restaurant, I will use, working hours of restaurant, split it into peak and lean, multiplied by avg no. of people visiting in an hour*bottles used per person* %people using bottled water.

I: This is alright, could you think of another approach to calculate people visiting the restaurant?

C: We can take a supply side approach b calculating customers through number of tables. Tables*per table seating*%occupancy*bottles per person.

I: How will you break down occupancy?

C: The occupancy would be influenced by factors including meal of the day and average time spent per person in the restaurant.

I: Right, I think we can end here. Thank you.

• Q1. Tell me about yourself.
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• Q2. Why do you want to pursue consulting?
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Client is US based archeological site management company. They are entering India and the first site they want to evaluate is Victoria memorial Kolkata. Every year 1 cr. people visit the Victoria memorial. Currently the entry ticket is 1Rs/person and annual operational cost is 150 Cr. Shall we bid for the property or not for 30-year lease period?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Tell me more about the Victoria memorial property.

I: a. Garden b. Lake c. Museum. Garden is 40 acre and has walking and jogging paths. Lake has boating facility. Museum is 3 stories and contains Victorian era artifacts.

C: What is our objective?

I: Primarily Profits. Secondarily, enter Indian market.

C: I would use the following structure for the case. Analyze the investment financially (Revenue streams, Profits, Investments, exit barriers) and operationally (Autonomy, Risks involved).

I: Let us start with revenue stream analysis. Assume lake is not in our control we can only generate revenue from Museum and Garden. How will we price the tickets?

C: What type of people come to visit the Victoria memorial?

I: There are domestic (80%) and foreign tourists (20%).

C: For garden to roam around 40 acre one will spend 1 hour maximum. We can use the value-based approach to price its ticket. Proxies for garden visit can be having a cup of tea, watching movie, visiting a mall or just time-value of 1 hour. Minimum one will be willing to pay is Rs 10 (for cup of tea).

I: Okay. What about the Museum?

C: We can do value based or competitor-based analysis to price the ticket.

I: Okay, let us assume ticket price for domestic tourist is 10 Rs. How much shall we take from Foreigners?

C: We can take a fixed percentage from their expense. Or we can see how much they are spending on similar attractions (like Taj Mahal, Gateway of India).

I: Okay. Let us assume we take 500 Rs from foreigner. Now do you think we can make profits.

C: Let us see how many people will visit garden and museum. Garden is more suitable for generic purpose; hence 75% people will visit it. Museums require specific interest in art and history, hence only 25% people will visit them.

I: Okay, calculate the revenue generated.

C: With the assumed information we will make around 110Cr from the tourist tickets.

I: We need at least 40 Cr more. That means 40 Rs per customer. How will you generate it?

C: We can look into food and catering services, tour guides, photography, transport services. The revenue generation might not be 40 Rs per person it can be more from foreigner and less from domestic tourists.

I: Okay. So, we shall make the bid? What about operational aspect?

C: Financially it looks profitable, as over the year we can look into increasing the tourist volume and reducing costs. We should look at risk factors such as what will be the response of locals staying near Victoria memorial when we implement the tickets, as they might protest to that.

I: Okay, that is all from my side.

Give revenue increasing solutions only to a paints company CEO.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: Give me only revenue increasing recommendation for a paints company.

C: I would like to know more about the company, its product and competition.

I: It is India's second largest paints company, and it is growing very fast. They have already done their cost analysis and they are competitive. They make decorative paints. The largest player is 2 times their size.

C: Can I get to know what is their product mix?

I: They make 3 types of paints. Luxury, Premium and Mass. Luxury is for high-end customer and is price competitive with other companies and has 70% margin. Premium is for middle class customer and has lower price than luxury and has 60% margin. Mass is for general purpose and is price competitive with other companies and low price and has 45% margin.

C: Can you tell me about the company’s value chain? And to whom do we sell it to?

I: The paints company manufactures, then send it to depot from where it goes to retailers. The company has around 50K retailers. From there we sell it to contractors and painters.

C: Structure of the case. We can increase profit margins by increasing the price, changing the product mix and by product innovation. We cannot increase sales by volume because that will lead to increase in cost also. To increase the price, we must look at the price elasticity of each product (in our case premium product's price can be increased little bit to match its competitions price). We can promote more of luxury products because they have more margin. We can try to come up with new types of paints for wider range of application and newer technologies.

I: Okay now let us have a look at cost side also once. Where can we try to reduce cost?

C: We can divide it into raw material, manufacturing, logistics/transportation, and retailer’s margin.

I: Look into the raw material cost as it accounts for 70% of the total cost.

C: We can break it down into Commercial cost + procurement cost + accounting cost.

I: Give me suggestion to lower down the raw material cost.

C: We can make contracts with multiple raw material suppliers to reduce cost. Improve logistical efficiency. Automate accounting processes through inventory management software.