Tecnova India Consultant Interview Questions and Answers

• Q1. Tell me about yourself
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• Q1. What experience do u have with field i was in
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• Q1. Tell me about yourself
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• Q2. The interviewer asked about my exposure to the retail industry based on my workex.
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• Q3. What motivates you to work?
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• Q4. Why do you want to join A&M?
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Suppose you are a consultant at A&M and your client is the Mumbai International Airport Authority. The CEO has approached you to suggest ways to increase earnings per passenger.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: I would like to start by splitting the revenue into aero and non-aero revenue. Would you like me to focus on any particular revenue stream first?

I: Yes, let us focus on non-aero revenue sources only.

C: I would like to map the customer journey here and identify key factors impacting the non-aero revenue. Passenger Mix, Placement of Retail outlets and Retail Mix are the three critical parameters.

At this point, data for Retail spend per passenger, Retail Area and Passenger Mix (International: Domestic) was provided.

C: Calculated the current numbers and what incremental revenue would the airport be able to generate through changes at various steps.

I: Could you please go ahead and compare these parameters with four major airports - Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bangalore?

C: Differentiated the airports based on available data. Provided final recommendations for increasing the revenue.

I: Assume that there is an option to place a Subway or an Apparel shop near the boarding gates. What would you recommend?

C: Calculated the monthly revenue for both options using footfalls and average bill value, splitting into the peak, non-peak, non-operational hours and came up with a final recommendation.

Our client is a PE firm, looking to invest in a mid-market player in the Cement industry. How would you form a view on its pricing growth?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Before I move on to pricing, I would like to understand a bit more about the cement company, its customers and current competition in the market.

I: Interviewer provides details of the company.

C: I now have a fair understanding of the company and would now like to move on to the macroeconomic factors impacting the industry and then would like to understand the cement industry scenario in terms of buyer, suppliers, and competition.

I: Interviewer provides details on the questions asked. How do you now approach the pricing growth?

C: Discussed the three main ways of pricing - Cost, Competition and Value based.

I: Talked about relevant concepts including asset turnover and RoI.

• Q1. Estimate the number of pressure cookers sold in a year in India.
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• Q2. List down the factors to be considered while setting up a hospital on a highway.
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• Q3. How many cricket balls are used in an IPL series?
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• Q1. Life or health actuary?
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• Q2. What is your proudest achievement?
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• Q1. What is your biggest stregnth?
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• Q1. Introduce yourself.
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• Q2. Why do you want to do consulting?
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• Q3. What does a consultant need to do so that a client can really see their value?
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• Q4. What are you good at? (Data crunching, presenting, or talking to client) What are the sectors you like to track?
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• Q5. How do you approach projects under a deadline?
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• Q6. When do you perform the best (under pressure or in a well-planned assignment)?
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• Q7. How would you deal with situations when you are in a completely new environment/region and have to accomplish a task?
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[Some questions from Round 1 were asked again followed by a case:]


Foreign auto manufacturer made an entry in the mid-level segment (5-7 lacs) cars with Maruti Suzuki Swift as the main competitor. Swift sells 50k cars a month but the client is only selling 4k cars a month. The client has very deep pockets and has 2 years to take the sales from 4k cars per month to 10k cars per month. The client sells their car at 10lac in India, while Swift is 5-7 lacs. The customers like the client’s car but due to the price, they buy Swift. How would you try and help the client achieve their goal?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Looking at the case facts, the customers like our client's car but they are not willing to pay such a high price for a car. We could try to use our client's deep pockets to undercut prices, but it may not be a sustainable approach. I think that our client's costs may be too high which is pushing the price up. If we can manage to lower our costs, we may be able to lower prices. I would like to ask about our client's supply chain and business model. Do they import any parts? Where is the manufacturing/assembling units located? Where does our client sell cars in India?

I: Okay, we import our parts from Europe and assemble those parts in India. Our plant is located on the outskirts of Bombay. We sell our cars pan India.

C: We could try to reduce some of these costs. In terms of importing, can we try and change our import source to a cheaper country, maybe China?

I: That would lead to quality issues. Our factory is located on the outskirts of Bombay, near the Bombay Pune belt.

C: Yes, the costs in that region might be high. We can also look to shift our manufacturing locations where labor and rent are cheaper.

I: Alright fair enough. Can you think of some promotion strategies (ATL/BTL) that our client may use?

C: We could also try to target a different market segment or promote our car as a premium and prestigious model highlighting its quality and safety to differentiate from Swift.

I: Okay. Are there any sectors that you like to track?

C: Answered with a sector (Follow up question on that sector).

Guesstimate: Estimate the number of footballs required for a tournament at IIML?
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: Since you like football, can you estimate the number of footballs you would need for a tournament at IIML? You can only order once, and you have 15-20 minutes to decide. I want you to give me a number.

C: I would like to ask some questions before I jump into the calculations. How many teams are participating and what is the tournament format? How many pitches are available for a match (since we may be able to reuse some footballs if matches are held sequentially)? What is the number of balls used per match?

I: The tournament has a group stage, followed by the semifinals and finals. There are two groups with five teams per group. Each team plays one match with the other in their own group. The top two teams advance. Two fresh balls are used per match.

C: Alright, that means there are 23 total matches and 46 balls required. We would also need to order extra balls in case a ball is lost or becomes unusable.

I: How would you decide the number of extra balls?

C: We could set a limit to the minutes in play every ball can be used for before replacement.

I: You have 5 minutes remaining and you need to quickly give a number.

C: We could take a rough estimate of the average number of balls that are lost in matches.

I: How would you get that number; it will be difficult to calculate. Is there someone you can ask?

C: We can ask someone who has done this kind of tournament before and adjust the number of balls required.

I: Good. Now tell me how do you separate a needle from a haystack?

C: We can use a magnet.

I: What else?

C: We can put the haystack in water and the needle would sink.

I: Okay, what else? Think about the chemical properties of the two.

C: If we do not need the haystack later, we can burn it.

Walk me through your CV.
Gave my intro with a focus on describing some of the CV sections.

Cement prices fell during lockdown but have rebounded. We are building a pricing model for rupees/tonne for the manufacturer. What are the factors you would consider for that model? Think from a general industry independent perspective (what would affect the price charged by someone).
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: I would evaluate the demand for cement and the supply of the raw materials required for producing cement.

I: Forget cement. I and my competitor sell a pen. Our product is exactly the same with the same cost per pen. I charge Rs10 from my customer while the competitor charges Rs. 8 and the cost per pen is Rs. 5. My competitor enjoys a much larger market share than me. Should I reduce my price to Rs8? Think from a considerably basic financial perspective. What are the questions that you would ask me?

C: What is the increase in quantity sold if we drop the price by 2 rupees? It may not make sense to drop the price if an increase in quantity sold is not sufficient to sustain revenues.

I: Think from your finance courses at MBA. There is an equation you can use.

C: Is our pen more premium than the competitors?

I: No, they are in the same segment. Think from a layman's perspective. Tell me what does a company need to do business?

C: Capital?

I: Yes, now you are on the right track. Can you ask me the right question now?

C: What are the debt and equity levels of the firm?

I: You should ask about return on capital, should you not?

C: Yes, ROCE should be more than returns on alternate investments for the manufacturer or it may not make sense to be in this business.