Internship Diaries #51

Vijay Kumar

ZeroWaste

ZeroWaste (ZW) is developing an accessible and convenient, technology enabled reverse supply chain for used and waste electronics. ZW manages collection to refurbishment and recycling with use of mobile and IT. Providing convenient ways, like implementing exchange programs at popular consumer electronics, to dispose waste electronics opens up the locked value in e-goods stored at homes or being transferred to unscientific and unorganized channels, creating potential hazard to environment. Electronics bought via home pickups and collection center drop-offs are then segregated, refurbished & sold through Seconds distribution channels or recycled through authorized e-waste recyclers. Technology is used to ensure that the supply chain is efficient.

Indian e-waste and used electronics market is around $11B today, growing at a rate more than 50%.

Co-founders Mr. Prateek and Mr. Sunil have been working together for past one and half year. Mr. Prateek Goel (B.Tech Computers) is Founder Partner in a successful Software venture Teramatrix. He heads business & product development. Mr. Sunil Saradhna (B. Tech Electronics, MBA Marketing) is Founder Partner at a Jewelry Retail Brand (SKJ). He heads operations at ZeroWaste.

Untrustworthy and random valuation methods by kabadiwalas and local repair centers. Selling e-waste to unauthorized vendors is illegal, but approach to authorized recyclers is inconvenient. Thus most of the obsolete electronics remain buried under layers of dust occupying precious space at home.

For end consumers, ZW offers convenient and simple valuation along with home pickup, drop-offs coupled with exchange programs. ZW pays instant cash for the goods bought.

For retailers, e-tailers and Electronics OEMs – ZW provides optimized reverse logistics channel to liquidate the customer returned, transit damaged and factory seconds goods. Experience the conditions and task was fulfilling to every extent.We had to work in a team with individual projects, its expectations, implementations and its deadlines.The work culture had “No Door Policy” with gave us all the freedom to explore, experiment, learn and create a model which could be immediately implemented in business. I hope I have done justice to the brand we all carry as the reverse logistic business model we suggested was taken to implementation stage with lots of positive feedback.

Internship Diaries #50

N Sri Chandra Sekhar

EKO Financial Services India Pvt. Ltd

I had done my internship at EKO Financial Services India Pvt. Ltd from 11th May to 7th June. It was an enriching experience as I learnt a lot about the payment systems, the way transactions happen between banks, merchants and customers and how the business is being handled at EKO. I also acquired a fair bit of knowledge on how prepaid payment instruments and money remittance work. The work culture at EKO was conducive for learning as interns get the opportunity to work on projects of their interest and mentors were always there to guide them. The following are the details of projects I worked on during my internship.

Project Name: Competition Mapping

A comprehensive analysis of four of EKO’s competitors (Oxigen, ITZ Cash, Suvidhaa and TSS) is done. Based on our meetings with the competition’s agents and distributors, different aspects of their business like cash remittance process, distribution model, agent/distributor on-boarding process, e-money flow and support extended to their agents were elucidated. Special attention has been given to the pricing of competitors from market, agent and customer’s perspective across all remittance slabs. This is useful in making the pricing of EKO competitive to the market pricing.

Project Name: E-money v/s Target Analysis

Taking the daily reports of April’15 and May’15, the E-money at different times of a day (8am, 12pm, 4pm, 8pm and 11:59pm) are studied for the days the targets are met and the days targets are not met. This study has given insight into the pattern of E-money (as a percentage of targets) on a particular day for the target to be met. Depending on the observations of the analysis, it is opined that it will be beneficial to provide e-money on credit early in the day and collect it back in the evening. However, care has to be taken to see that this credit serves its intended purpose of minimizing the loss of business at the e-money starved CSPs.

Project Name: Impact of new commissions (PPI) on profitability

With EKO introducing a PPI of its own, there has been a change in the commission structure and hence the profitability. The commissions for the month of May’15 (based on new commission structure) have been calculated for Mumbai and Rest of India. This included the CSP rupee Commission, SCSP rupee Commission, Gross and net fee, Gross and net margins. The direct and indirect costs were approximated and the break-even revenue and volume of transactions have been estimated.

I also worked on an idea of business development of utilizing the data on customer base of Eko to develop a credit rating system based on their transaction history and on how strategic partnerships can be formed with financial organisations to facilitate money on credit to customers. A presentation on the same was given to the top management of the company.

Internship Diaries #49

Shreyash Borad

Bank of India

I worked on a project ‘Market survey for clean loans to working professionals’ during my summer internship at Bank of India. This is the new financial product the Bank wishes to introduce into the market so that they wanted to survey market for possible requirements of the clients. These loans are without any collateral and given to credible working professionals like doctors, charted accountants, etc. whose income are steady and sustainable. 

I worked under guidance of Mr. Motwani, customer relationship manager. I learned a lot from my internship regarding current trends in financial markets. It was a good experience to have. 

Internship Diaries #48

Parth Malik 

HDFC Bank Ltd.

My summer internship at HDFC Bank corporate office in Mumbai was a great learning experience. My project there was process mapping and streamlining of SAP processes and HR operations of the Bank which involved application of six sigma and lean methodology.

HDFC Bank is rated as the most valuable brand of India and among the top 100 brands of the world. On the first day of the internship itself, I was briefed about the project and what was expected from me. My work required a combination of application of concepts while mapping process and also creativity as I had to come up with new ideas and suggestions for the purpose of streamlining the processes. Everything that I suggested during my weekly presentations was discussed in detail by the team and feasibility was judged. I had to strictly follow a data driven approach and also learned about the cost and time saving aspect of every change in a process. The suggestions that I presented had live implementation which was exciting.

The guidance from my mentor who is an alumnus of DoMS IIT Roorkee and support from the team at HDFC proved to be essential for successful completion of my internship. The hands on experience and the knowledge that I gained during my internship would go a long way in helping me shape my career. 

Internship Diaries #47

Sandeep Yadav

Chrysal Technosysts Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

I had the opportunity to work at Crysal Technosysts Ventures Pvt. Ltd.  which is a start-up set up in 2013. The company is from the ITeS sector and basically provides IT enabled HR solutions to industries. My role during the internship at Chrysal was of market research and lead generation in the Delhi NCR region.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• B2B Corporate sales
• Lead generation and update on CRM tool
• Business Development
• Market Research on different verticals

Major work involved ‘generating leads’ for their flagship product Abscontrack and other products as well in the B2B segment through various mediums viz. telephone, meetings, social media etc. This being my first experience at sales, the job seemed a little challenging initially and took me a couple of weeks to adapt to but later with the support and guidance of my mentor and colleagues I started to enjoy it. We used various mediums for lead generation like cold calling, linked In contacts and also walk-ins in the hot summer days but at the end it was all worth it. I also got the opportunity to interact with a number of prospective clients and pitch to them the concept of the products offered by Chrysal. 

My work at Chrysal also included market Research where in I had to analyze the response and acceptance ratio of various industries towards the concept of Abscontrack. I really enjoyed my internship duration at Crysal Technosysts Ventures Pvt. Ltd. and feel that everyone should experience sales once in their marketing careers as it gives a platform to develop numerous skills enabling you to understand the customer sentiment.  

Internship Diaries #46

Vaibhav Agarwal

Reserve Bank of India

I got an opportunity to do my internship from Reserve Bank of India, Lucknow. The Reserve Bank of India is the central bank of India, which controls the monetary policy of the country thereby controlling the supply of money and ensuring price stability. I was offered to choose a topic of my liking from a vast array of topics including financial inclusion, corporate debt, deepening of financial markets in India, Non-performing assets, foreign direct investment etc. 

Considering the impetus of the present government on the make in India initiative and the trillion dollar requirement of the infrastructure sector, the current environment called for a more focused approach towards improving foreign direct investment in the country and thus my topic of research for my internship was FDI in Emerging Market Economies: Determinants and Impact. Nine countries were identified as the Emerging market economies for this research work including BRICS countries along with Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia. Secondary data was collected from websites such as World Bank, IMF, DIPP and various government websites. The focus was on determining the factors responsible for FDI Inflows in India. Various factors were identified and a conclusive regression analysis was conducted to statistically establish there relevance to FDI inflows in the country. Also, Foreign Direct investment inflows in India were compared to corresponding inflows in other countries. Scope of further FDI inflow in India was established and it was seen that India is better poised as compared to other Emerging market economies to receive future FDI inflows. Also, using statistical analysis and past data, we tried to establish the future Inflows in India. As part of my final presentation, I got to submit my research findings to my mentor and also I got to give a power point presentation in the presence of the Regional director of Reserve bank of India, Lucknow.

As part of my internship, I got to work closely with some of the brilliant minds in the organization. These are the people who are largely responsible for steering the current economic and monetary direction of India. The insights I got into the macro economic factors that go into deciding the monetary direction of the country was a great learning experience. RBI has a great working culture where people are supportive of each other and always encourage a free flow of ideas. People there are always happy to share the immense knowledge base that they have developed over the years. Working in Reserve bank of India was without any doubt one of the best experience of my life.

Internship Diaries #45

Varun Yadav

Cashkaro

E-commerce was an enticing word for me since the very beginning because the way it disrupted conventional market of buying and selling is revolutionary. After having an experience of 30 months in TCS, I wanted to work in some startup, having business in the same domain. Luckily I got this opportunity through cashkaro.com which is a India's No.1 Cashback and Coupons website. Cashkaro helps their members save on their regular online purchases at leading Indian and International Brands. Cashback and Coupon partners include your favourite brands like Myntra, Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart, Jabong and 500 more. I worked in cashkaro as an Intern for two months. Where I got to know the key challenges that a company faces in its early phase of life and various other aspects like how analytics, public relations and customer support are helping companies to develop an ecosystem for themselves.

I was working in Analytics department of cashkaro. My key responsibilities were

•  Automation of reports using R environment and language

•  Developing price comparison strategy for different categories of e-commerce

•  Generating and analysing Insights using Google Analytics

As I had an inclination towards analytics and big data. So I learned R during my MBA first year, as it was needed to do market research and other related analysis in different academic projects. I used R to automate the weekly and monthly reports. I was also actively involved in generating and analysing insights using google analytics tool. Which gave me quite good knowledge of e-commerce industry and how customer behaviour and their buying patterns vary with offers and discounts. Price comparison was another key area in which I was working. In price comparison, you can compare price of product across different websites and it gives you the best deal along with other available options. Which is quite unique feature and incorporates different-2 algorithms to compare products and give you the best deal.

My experience in cashkaro was really good, work culture is conducive for new ideas, innovative solutions. Being a startup it focuses on healthy work environment among employees and inculcating teamwork spirit. So I must say cashkaro helped me to understand e-commerce sector and various tools, technologies and latest developments. People say there is nothing like free lunch and the best part is you get free lunch in cashkaro.

  

Internship Diaries #44

Varun Chauhan
Toshniwal Equity Services

I did my internship with Toshniwal Equity Services which is a stock broking and investment consulting firm located right in the heart of Dalal Street and Bombay Stock Exchange. Internship started with a lot of expectations from our mentor and CEO of the company Mr. Jay Toshniwal. We were expected to work not only on financial aspects but also consult on minor but vital aspects of the company like operations and marketing.

The title of our project was Financial Statement analysis and Stock price movements. First week started with through learning of broking operations. In this we learned about how the flow of information/order happens from a retail customer to other retail customer via exchange and vice versa. We were amazed to know the robustness and fool proof check measures enforced by sebi and exchanges. Also we got to know deeper insights into the stock markets. 

We always reckoned BSE to be bigger than NSE but actually the position was reverse. In the second week financial aspects of our project started, we understood technical and fundamental analysis of equities. We did our technical analysis on Technical Analysis Software. Many other software are available in the market which provide technical analysis. We were required to make algorithms so that best scrips (stocks) can be retrieved and transaction can be executed on basis of these calls. Fundamental analysis was done of cement sector which included 6 major cement companies of India including ACC, Ambuja, Birla, Heidelberg and Ultratech. Additionally we worked on understanding the management discussions and their interpretation in financial terms. 

We also gained experience on core corporate operations of the company by attending Annual General Meetings of Reliance and Hindustan Unilever in subsequent weeks. Our next task was analysis of Nifty Junior, Nifty 200 and Nifty from Feb ’15 to July’15 and to come out with stocks which were resistant to such fluctuations. We also worked on updating client portfolios on moneycontrol.com which was an arduous task but this was also successfully updated by us. Our last assignment was revamping the website of the company, which included coordinating with the vendor on all aspects of the website including content and design. The website was successfully revamped with full email access services running all over the company. We also shared our knowledge on how technology can be used to further improve the core operations of the company. This was my internship experience.

Internship Diaries #43

Swastik Gaurav Drona

EKO, Gurgaon

Serendipity it was when I was selected for my summer internship at EKO in Gurgaon. The excitement of first work experience in a corporate world was at its high since the final list of shortlisted names for the internship at EKO had my name. It was time for me to leave my cocoon and explore the plethora of opportunities of the corporate world.

The most difficult task even before the internship had started was to find a place to live in Gurgaon, being one of the most expensive cities and us being students it was a hard nut to crack. Thanks to the online renting portals such as housing.com which provided us with lots of contacts of the brokers which finally led us to a good place to rest our backs.

Then came the most awaited day, the first day of our internship. We properly dressed in formals reached the sharp 9 in the morning. The office interiors were amazing, it was literally beyond our expectations. All the green plants had proper place in the office, bean bags lying around, dart game hanging in middle of the office, white boards all having some data, small tasks and big targets, an eye catching CCD coffee maker and for coffee lover like me it could be the best thing.

We were asked to sit in a separate cabin which was looking very appealing as each cubical was beautifully decorated with the personal interests of the employees. Then came a sparkling smile to end our wait and I mean it, it was worth waiting as the company’s HR manager Miss Pooja entered the room we all greeted her good morning ma’am, but we saw some unexpected expression on her face, all of us were perplexed, she noticed it and then we were explained there is no sir or ma’am culture at EKO and gradually with her personal experience at EKO and HR skills she charmed us with the beautiful experience she had working at EKO.

The next day we were assigned the projects and fortunately I got the operation’s project with my batch mate as a team member. The project was to define a new age customer experience and define a superlative channel for the E-value process. The projects sounded interesting and gradually working under Mr. Deepak Singhal our mentor and simultaneously with Mrs. Mugdha Bhargawa it felt like working in a homely environment. Our mentors were extremely supportive both professionally as well as in personal life. Their was no time boundation as well as attire code for us which created a very comfortable working environment for us.

Till now it was just the silence before the storm which was followed by turbulence of work pressure of study and analysis of the company data. When you sit on huge chunk of data either you ruin the opportunity to extract diamonds or you end by satisfied with some silver. With help of both our mentors and the whole operations team which was extremely cooperative as well, we at least managed to extract gold i.e. gave some fruitful results of the data analysis. It was followed by meetings with our highest business providers and customer care center of EKO where we tried to drill to depths of customer issues. The trust which our mentors showed in us motivated us to do better and better with course of time.

Time just flew by in the two months of internship and at last it came to an end. But wait it was not over yet the last week of ours was booked for parties and I mean ample of wonderful parties by EKO. It was a wonderful experience and I would recommend the coming students to give it a try at EKO and I assure you will not be disappointed. 

Internship Diaries #42

Raghvi Kumar

Middle Earth HR

Since the day I joined MBA, my aim was to make a remarkable carrier in field of Human Resource and my dream got its way through a remarkable internship at Middle Earth HR. This company was found by alumnus of IIT Roorkee. This company has 30 bases in 7 different countries, and is headquartered in Hyderabad. It offers numerous HR certification courses for professionals to increase their competencies and provides HR consultancy to other companies. My role here was – “Product Development for a Certified HR Analyst”. 

My work included Market Research, gaining insights into trends, customer requirement and analysing the present course wares. After an exhaustive research I came up with few findings which were implemented. Then my work included studying courses on HR analytics and preparing a full 2  day courseware on HR analytics for Middle Earth HR, which included a 350 slide presentation and 250 page word document. 

My work in middle earth will be going live this October, as they are launching new program for certified HR Analyst. I was awarded with GREAT/BEST Project award for doing this work. Company culture was good and people were dynamic. Hence it was a good experience working at Middle Earth HR. It was a true learning experience.

Internship Diaries #41

Prachi Jain

American Express

I did summer internship in American Express which is best known for its credit card, charge card, and traveler's cheque businesses. I interned in Global Merchant Services (GMS) department which is mainly into acquiring merchants, processing transactions, and helping merchants who accept the card to build business. The on boarding and induction program was very well planned which eventually helped us a lot. As part of the induction, a brief overview of the assigned project was given and a mentor was assigned who guided us throughout our internship. For the first 2 days, we had sessions with the senior leaders talking to us about the history and also about the different functions of the company. Thereafter we were given training sessions on card economics and an overview of different departments. 

It was then I realized that so much work goes into deciding the outcome of simple transactions and how deeply the organization is focused on giving the best experience to its card users. As a summer intern at American Express, we were encouraged to push ourselves, generate new ideas and take calculated risks. My key learning includes understanding end-to-end customer relationship management, gaining an overall idea of Merchant acquisition Cycle and hands-on experience of how to analyze and improve a process. 

Internship Diaries #40

Pallav Angrulla

TATA International, Yangon  

                                                   

I got a golden opportunity to work with a renowned company TATA INTERNATIONAL, that too in a third world country like Myanmar. TATA INTERNATIONAL is a separate wing of TATA and they are into several businesses in Myanmar like agri trading, minerals trading and distributors of heavy construction vehicles etc. As Myanmar’s economy has just opened up and there are a lot of foreign investments going on from countries like Japan, China and US, it was a great chance for me to work in there with TATA INTERNATIONAL. I was mentored by country head of TATA INTERNATIONAL Myanmar, Mr. Sunil Seth.  I got an opportunity to understand their distribution business and to work in a unique project of doing market research to analyze their business model, prepare a feasibility report and also do comparative analysis of their distribution business and to understand customer perception and expectations towards TATA’s products.

As most of our market research was based on primary research, where we meet loads of people from different origin like Chinese, Americans, Burmese, and Japanese etc, so communication barrier was one of the main hurdles that I faced there, but it turned out of be a beautiful experience as I was able to tackle it every time and extract all the relevant data for my project. Our research was not only restricted to Yangon but also to some of the remote places like SEZ Thilawa and many other villages. In my tenure I not only was able to understand their business but I also meet hundreds of people from a construction labor to project managers to MD’s and CEO’s of big companies. This gave me a holistic picture of how work is carried on in private corporations.

Working in a totally different environment different culture and with different people was a great experience for me; it not only gave me immense working experience but also made me a much improved person in terms of temperament.

Internship Diaries #39

KAPIL GUPTA
WRS Info India Pvt. Ltd.

I have always enjoyed writing. Expressing my self through written words is something that comes naturally to me. I recently stepped into the world of website content writing with my internship at WRS Info India Pvt. Ltd. My work profile included developing content and designing social media marketing campaigns for their website deal4loans.com.

Thanks to a pool of articles that I did over my internship and my super co-operative colleagues, I was slowly able to adapt myself to the methods of how online content writing and content marketing is done. Website content writing is not an easy job. It requires loads of creativity, patience and devotion to learn. At the same time, flunking deadlines is not an option. Further, the finished job needs to be crisp, informative and interesting. So, content writing is a gigantic job but is extremely fulfilling if you enjoy what you write.

If you are serious about what you do, there is a lot to learn. I learned a lot about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SMO (Social Media Optimization), blogging and Content marketing.

It is to be understood as doing business is becoming easier thanks to the Internet, online copy-writing has a very important role to play. However a word of caution- copy-writing is not facile and at times can also get really boring, especially when the products/services you write about are very dry, like in my case: loans and insurance policies. In advertising convincingly about all these services through your content, lie the skills of a good copywriter.

It is to be understood that the road to content writing is no easy path. It requires a lot of brainstorming. A lot of research needs to be done on the company and business markets. But, the most difficult part is coming up with ideas. It takes a toll on your grey cells to come up with good ideas worth writing for and that are in sync with your company's mission and strategy. Anyone can write but not all can come up with ideas. Now that is what distinguishes other writers from copywriters.

In my short time as a content writer, I realized a few important things that a good content marketer should always follow:

1. Play around with the words: Avoid using everyday words; show a little knowledge of the English dictionary.

2. Emphasize on certain keywords: This along with catching the reader's attention will also help in search engine optimization (SEO) which will maximize the volume or quality of traffic to your web site from search engines.

3. Be Concise and Clear: Do not beat around the bush. Don't make the work ambiguous, it will lead to you losing the customer. Your idea should easily reach consumer's head. Provide attractive material in a short span which stimulates the consumer to do more research.

4. Stick to one Chief component: It is very easy to overthink the process and make your work useless. Too many ideas in one article will blemish your work. Let the reader follow one theme at a time. Do not confuse him.

5. Proofread: Double check what you have written. Be sure of the grammar and language used. Business jargons may not be effective as your customers will not understand them.

Other Project: Apart from all the content writing, in my last week I developed a calculator on excel as a part of my project. This calculator can be called a future loan eligibility calculator and provides estimation based on your current career path, as to when you’ll be able to fulfil your dreams of owning your dream house, car etc.

In all my internship was a great learning experience. I learned a lot about loan and insurance markets and developed some good quality content over the period of 2 months.

                                                                                                                                                                           

Internship Diaries #38

Karishma Manik

Central Bank of India

I was fortunate enough to do my Summer Internship from Central Bank of India, which is one of the oldest and largest commercial banks in India.

Central Bank of India was established in year 1911 and was the first Indian Commercial bank which was wholly owned and managed by Indians. Working with such a historic and renowned organisation was a huge learning experience. My objective during the internship was to understand the whole concept of “Customer Intelligence and Bank Marketing”.

My work was mainly to understand how Marketing Strategies are made and carried out in the bank to provide excellent customer experience and overall profit to the bank. I worked as a part of the Regional Marketing Team at the Regional Office of Delhi (North). The main objectives of the Team were to co-ordinate with the Zonal Marketing Team and the Branches under its jurisdiction for various marketing activities and Business Development.

During my tenure, I worked on various assignments in the Marketing Department. First one was the Customer Intelligence exercise, where I worked on determining top 50 customers under Current, Savings and Advances portfolio for each Branch; and top 100 Customers under Advances and Savings portfolio for the entire North Delhi Region. This was done to understand the Branch portfolio and clientele. Also, I along with another Intern, worked on the “Family Tree” concept where we worked on the strategy for getting business from these customer’s relatives, friends, acquaintances etc.

Then, I worked on identifying the weak branches of the region by assessing their growth during the quarter and worked on strategies for their Business Development. During this, I performed Mapping of ‘A’ rated Universities/colleges/Institutions in the region with their nearby branches so that they can act as nodal branches for providing education loan to students of these institutes so that students getting admission to these institutions are able to avail the education loan in a hassle free manner in the current academic year. A similar Mapping exercise was performed for Government Institutions as well, in which I worked on identifying 120 Central/State Government Offices and PSUs across Delhi, and prepared a report consisting of the existing business canvassed by different branches with these Government Institutes as well as the strategy for forming new business alliance with these institutes.

In addition to this, I worked on developing Publicity Campaigns for Marketing of Retail Lending Schemes and PM Social Security Schemes; and I also got an opportunity to organise different marketing events like Townhall Meeting, Marketing Executive Meet and Customers Meet for the Bank.

I was lucky enough to have a wonderful mentor whose encouragement, guidance and support enabled me to learn the nitty-gritty’s of Marketing as well as the entire Banking Industry. Also, the excellent working environment and group commitment of the Bank made my internship experience worthwhile.

Internship Diaries #37

Mohit Gupta

EduExcellence

This internship with EduExcellence gave me an excellent opportunity to learn new and emerging technologies, feel, understand and appreciate the startup culture and work with a bunch of amazing people. I was very happy to see the enthusiasm of my mentors and my colleagues which motivated me to perform and give a best shot in every task. Mentors were found to be very creative and always asked to give inputs in all the live projects. Sometimes they appreciated, sometimes they told to dig in more, during the times when I couldn’t think of the idea or approach for the problem, they never criticized in-fact they boosted to go out of the box and think something I never thought of.

We worked closely with the Lead Generation team in analyzing new business opportunities. Our main roles and responsibilities include – Managing CRM activities, Lead generation for new clients.

The project involved a lot of traveling and a hectic schedule and understanding the market and client of a product that was more of a B2B type. I was able to see a clear difference between it and a B2C product with respect to Branding, Advertising, Promotion and the Marketing Strategy as a whole. 

Again, I was fortunate enough to have an IIT Roorkee alumnus as my mentor during the period, who guided me right from the start and took utmost interest into the project. He made sure that I was provided with all the necessary resources during my association with them.

Internship Diaries #36

Mahender Singh

Ordnance Factory Muradnagar, Ministry of Defence

First and foremost I will like to express my heartily thanks to Mr. Ram Prakash (HOS/WO and IED) for their kind guidance in my summer internship. My summer internship helps me to learn about Production Planning, Material Management, Cost Accounting and 5S. Ordnance factory Muradnagar is a metallurgical factory under the Ordnance Factory Board, Kolkata (Ministry of Defence) came into existence as a Transplantation Project during the Second World War with effect from 1.3.1943. Initially, production started with one Heavy Steel Foundry having one Electric Arc Furnace of 7 M.T. Capacity, 2 machining sections. The factory is a premium casting and forging unit among family of 40 ordnance factories in India.

I was part of Planning and Progressing Division which comprises-

•       Production, Planning and Progressing Section
•     Works Office
•      Industrial Engineering Department.

These Sections look after the Production Planning/Reporting, Liaisoning with other Factories/Establishments, Contract review, Customer complaints, Budget, Audit and Financial Monitoring activities of the Factory.

OFM has the specialization in Alloy and Steel Castings- Armoured as well as Non-Armoured, Ammunition Hardware, Grey Iron Castings for Ammunition Hardware and Moulds and open die steel forgings for Hot die Steel and other tool steel. OFM main products are Aerial Bombs, Ammunition Hardware (Steel), Ammunition Hardware (Grey Iron), Forging Products.

I was given an opportunity to study on the Project “Overview of Production, estimate revision and its impact on cost”. In this project I worked with Planning section, Works office, Material Management section and Account section. First production is estimated for next month. Exercise of control over expenditure in a manufacturing business is the main function of the Production Manager. Production management is an integral part of all good management. The ascertainment of production costs is not an end in itself, but the object is to provide means whereby costs can be controlled. Time to time target was revised to attain minimum cost.

It is necessary for a Works Manager to be an expert in the Mechanical processes. His works involves and possess the ability to control men, but these abilities do not complete the requisites for the successful performance of his function. He must also possess a cost sense, or ability to analyse the cost of operations, materials and expenses under his control with a view to carrying out manufacture at the minimum cost. He is engaged to produce at or below a predetermined cost, or in the absence of budgeted cost, at the minimum practicable cost. A costing system must be adopted to suit the nature of the work it deals with, and this can only be achieved by the fullest collaboration between the Works Manager and the accounting department. At last I must say that it was a fantastic experience to work with Ordnance Factory Muradnagar.

Internship Diaries #35

Nikhil Dhamija

Foodpanda

Foodpanda is the global name in mobile food delivery business serving 40 countries across the world. Their service allows customers to find a restaurant near to your location and order food online directly from that restaurant. Foodpanda has a global base of more than 58000 restaurants, which includes 13000 only in India.

Though being offered a profile of Lead Generation, company being a start-up was open to give all sorts of experience and giving chance to interns to prove their metal. The 2 months of experience can be broadly classified as:

•          Customer Mapping
•         Restaurant Classification
•          Lead Generation
•          Inbound Leads Processing
•          Area clustering for on-field sales
•          Business model to bring kitchens on-board

Customer Mapping:

With the extracted data from a business analysis report, find the number of hits for restaurants in particular area, number of order selection and number of converts. The ratio of number of order selection to the number of hits for restaurants gives us the satisfaction level of customers with number of restaurants in those areas. If the ratio  is less, all the restaurants that are in those area and are not on-board are the top-most priority and are termed as Sales Coverage Target Partners (SCTP). The ratio of number of converts to the number of order selection defines flawlessness of our online payment process and if the ratio goes less in some particular weeks raises red flags for the IT department. Mapping of areas on Google maps, checking overlapping of different areas and mapping of restaurants in those areas makes situation clearer to find SCTP restaurants.

Restaurant Classification:

Classifying restaurants by the area they fall in and number of hits they are expected to get before bring them on board

Lead Generation:

To find new leads for sales team from Zomato in a particular city. Developing leads with suitable fields on salesforce.

Inbound Leads Processing:

Leads that approach foodpanda to get registered, I use to collect their information, making them understand the policies, settling commission margins and finally contracting.

Area clustering for on-field sales:

Clustering Delhi NCR area in different clusters and assigning on field head counts for different days in different areas.

Business Model to bring Kitchens on-board:

Market research to understand the business structures of online kitchens in India and customizing foodpanda services to bring them on-board. Initiated daily changing menus in foodpanda which was must for contracting these Kitchens.

Overall Experience of working for Foodpanda was amazing and got a glimpse of how e-commerce industries are setup, their working models and the factors involved in better management and being Competitive in market.

Internship Diaries #34

Nikita Batra

Chrysal Technosysts Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

I had the opportunity to work at Chrysal Technosysts Ventures Pvt. Ltd.  which is a start-up set up in 2013. The company is from the ITeS sector and basically provides IT enabled HR solutions to industries. 

My role during the internship at Chrysal was of market research and lead generation in the NCR region. My major work involved ‘generating leads’ for their flagship product Abscontrack and other products as well in the B2B segment through various mediums viz. telephone, meetings, social media etc. This being my first experience at sales, the job seemed a little challenging initially and took me a couple of weeks to adapt to but later with the support and guidance of my mentor and colleagues I started to enjoy it. 

We used various mediums for lead generation like cold calling, linked In contacts and also walk-ins in the hot summer days but at the end it was all worth it. I also got the opportunity to interact with a number of prospective clients and pitch to them the concept of the products offered by them. My work there also included market research where in I had to analyze the response and acceptance ratio of various industries towards the concept of Abscontrack. I really enjoyed my internship duration at Chrysal Technosysts Ventures Pvt. Ltd. and feel that everyone should experience sales once in their marketing careers as it gives a platform to develop numerous skills enabling you to understand the customer sentiment.

Internship Diaries #33

Satadeep Biswas

Eduexcellence Education Society

I still remember the first day I stepped into the office space. I won’t lie, the first impression was not exactly what I expected or for that matter anyone else would expect, in my place. The office was setup in an apartment of sorts with small cubicles separated by plywood planks. People were looking into their laptop screens and were all busy in their respective work. I felt out of space and was looking for my mentor. I took my place before one such cubicle and waited patiently. Then I saw a few familiar faces of that of our seniors who are employed there. The butterflies in my stomach seemed to settle down. I met my mentor next and he was the perfect host. I was introduced to all those faces which were earlier buried deep into their laptop screens and I got a warm welcome from each one of them. The initial hospitality that I got touched me deep. I was no more a stranger; I fitted right into the space. The next few days were relatively free; I didn’t have much to do and again I started feeling restless. The lack of work made me feel tensed as I was of the opinion that the 2 months of internship are the most crucial and I was determined to gain as much exposure as possible but little did I know that the next few weeks will not only fulfill my expectations but exceed that as well.

I should mention here that although I joined office in the month of May like everyone else, my project started back in the month of February. I was well versed with the job in hand as I had to browse through lots of literature before joining office as an intern. This being said, one fine morning the CEO called me to his cabin and told me that based on the literature that I have studied I should design a product addressing the same, then I need to fetch sponsorship for the same and get clients on board as well. In a nutshell the whole project right from design to implementation was up to me. It was challenging but rather than being intimidated by the same I relished the opportunity. I spoke in length with my mentor and after a week of brainstorming we came up with a product layout, a conference of sorts. In the mean time I was laden with loads of operational duties and was also handed over a Market Research project for an upcoming product. Each piece of work was challenging and needless to say was a huge learning experience.

Coming back to the main project I was part of, the next task was to secure sponsorship and with my mentor’s help we fetched a handsome amount. But the real test was laying ahead, the task of selling. I realized why Sales is the buzzword in the industry. Designing and strategizing seemed a piece of cake; I realized how apprehensive people can be to part with their time and money. But once again with the invaluable support of my mentor I met the target set for me and that was the moment I realized what true satisfaction feels like.

In the midst of all these little did I realize that 2.5 months had passed and it all seemed like only yesterday.  Don’t get me wrong it was not all work. The culture at the organization was homely. There was a character for every occasion. The last day of the internship the CEO took us all out on a perfect outing and I was overwhelmed with the kind of farewell that I received. I cherish every moment of my time that I spent there.

Internship Diaries #32

Abhijeet Doshi

SBI Capital Markets

It had been a great and enriching experience working at industry leader in investment banking. It actually gave me sense of working methodology and practical knowledge to implement what I had learned so far in the course. Work ethics and intensity with which employees work here had a great impact on my professional being. Being part of team discussions and conference call with clients helped develop business acumen and technical competency. Working under deadlines and coming out with spontaneous solutions were part of daily activity.

Internship started in second week of May. I was the last one amongst the interns to join and felt nervous about being a good mix. But as days passed the entire group became integral part of internship. I was allotted project on the very first day and after a brief induction directed towards my desk at the centre of infrastructure and telecom team surrounded by CA’s, MBA’s and investment bankers. At first it all felt intimidating but after showing inclination and curiosity towards the field everyone assisted in providing friendly and habitable environment.

The internship program lasted for 2 months that consisted of rigorous research and application of financial fundamentals (lot of jargons) that provided me with an opportunity to decipher my abilities that may be applied to come up with solutions and further identified ones I need to improve upon. I was working on a business model and financial viability of specific project initiated by RBI to further financial inclusion that included financial modeling and cost-revenue analysis of the same. Apart from providing the technical exposure, it flexed my research and writing skills that would go a long way in my professional career. Excel sheets and powerpoint presentations were all over and nothing but the best was expected that made me deal with pressure and deadlines with a strode. I was not restricted to the project assigned to me and could ask for being part of internal meetings and discussions (though I had to take notes which I didn’t knew before).

After a month spent there, monsoon season started and Mumbai is the place to be at that time. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay with spectacular views and legion of places to visit. Weekends were well spent over with other interns sharing college memories and relishing street food. By God’s grace the quarter ended very well for SBI Caps and a grand party was organized to celebrate the occasion. I think interns were the most excited among all and had a great fun evening.

Internship acted as bridge between academic learning and practical implementation. This professional apprenticeship program not only added technical experience to my candidature but gave me exposure to one of the most sought after field in finance from varied angles. Networking was an added advantage that came as frill with the internship. I used to dream working at an investment bank and that was what I got. 

All the efforts and hard work was worthwhile and paid in terms of rich experience. It sometimes became difficult to keep up with the pace but marine drive view from 19^th floor and black coffee kept me going. It’s time to head back to college but the lessons learnt and amazing company of some of the brightest minds in the field will hold a place in my memory forever.

Internship Diaries #31

Bratati Roy

Hindustan Copper Limited

I got the grand opportunity of doing my internship from Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL), Kolkata, a public sector undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of Mines, is the nation’s only vertically integrated copper producing company.

I worked on the project which pertained to build up the Marketing Strategy for Nickel. HCL, being known for manufacturing Copper from the stage of mining to converting to commercial products, decided to manufacture a new metal, Nickel, by recycling their by-products. I handled the responsibility of analyzing market of nickel, its usage in industries and strategic approach of its competitors in India.

I was mentored by two esteem personalities, Mr. Jayanata Mukherjee, Chief Manager, Marketing, HCL and Mr. Saurabh Chaturbedi, Asst. Manager, Marketing, HCL. I feel myself extreme fortunate to get the guidance of them. I was factually treated to be the business analyst of HCL instead of just an intern. I got break of attending meetings with the production managers and team, discussing with managers about  the approaches to make the effective strategy so that HCL can have the benefit of penetrating the existing market of Nickel in India.

This internship at HCL has given me hands-on experience of working as a business analyst in real time business environment. By and large experience was incredibly elevating and gave me immense buoyancy by the end of 2 months at HCL.

Internship Diaries #30

Azim Najam
Chrysal Technosysts Ventures Pvt. Ltd

I did my summer internship in a start-up named Chrysal Technosysts Ventures Pvt. Ltd . It is an IT based organisation in Mumbai. However, my location for internship was in Kolkata. Recently, they have launched few IT solutions for HR named Abscontrack, Campustrack, Videotrack and Exitrack. My role in the organisation was of market research and lead generation.

I started working from 10^th May, 2015 onwards. My team lead was Abhishek who was very encouraging and helpful leader. On the very first day, I was given the demo about the product Abscontrack, Campustrack and Videotrack which I had to pitch in the market. And on that day only I was given the roles and responsibilities which included:

•  Market Research on different verticals
•  Lead Generation
•  B2B Marketing
• Business Development
• Negotiations

I was given the list of 200 companies which I had to pitch. In the later part, I took the help of fundodata and dataguru for data collection. I pitched for the product in different sectors and in different fields. I initially started with calling but later on did many door crashing which helped a lot. During my internship, I learned a lot as Kolkata is a completely different place to work as told by my head of sales Mr. Amit Sen Gupta on the very first day. I realised it as I progressed during my internship. After 2 months of rigorous hard work, I was able to convince few very good companies in which talks are going on in different stages. With all these experience, I am sure working in this part of the country will help me during the professional career in the future.

Internship Diaries #29

Ashutosh Puri

Reserve Bank of India

The internship at RBI, Lucknow was a lifetime experience. To work under the aegis of general manager and assistant general manager at the central bank was something through which my views on not only the monetary policies framework but also the working culture and the management as a whole got a broader perspective. The organization is a mecca for gaining knowledge about the financial intricacies of the country. The people were more than willing to explain every minutest detail and help in grooming and forming an opinion on various insights and steps taken by RBI.

I got the opportunity to do my internship in finding correlation between base rate and repo rate and their inter-connectivity with respect to various banks whether public, private or foreign. I gathered data since the inception of base rate (from 2009) and found fascinating results of the market movement that happens as the RBI changes the rates. The whole research work was aptly completed, only possible through the generosity and patience shown by my mentors who not only helped me with historical data and knowledge but also with the statistical tools like SAS and Excel analysis for regression modelling.

I was filled with gratitude for my mentors seeing their hard work and diligence they took to explain and also how they’re so much attached to the organization having a feeling of working for the country. The two month internship was not only all work, we enjoyed a lot during the period. The Lucknow branch has all the refreshment facilities and gaming areas where we spent some time during lunch hours. In all I would say my internship at RBI, Lucknow was the best one could get during the two month break in the course curriculum.

Internship Diaries #28

Ankit Gupta

Toshniwal Equity Services Private Limited

I did my internship with Toshniwal Equity Services which is a stock broking and investment consulting firm located right in the heart of Dalal Street and Bombay Stock Exchange. Internship started with a lot of expectations from our mentor. We were expected to work not only on financial aspects but also consult on minor but vital aspects of the company like operations and marketing.

The title of our project was Financial Statement analysis and Stock price movements. We started by understanding different faces of technical analysis and fundamental analysis under the guidance of Mr. Jay Toshniwal. He gave us insights on important entities that revolve around the fundamentals of a company such as taxation, royalty and more and where these concept did aroused. We were trained in Metastock Software, which is one of the major software that is being used at the firm for evaluating charts and patterns of BSE and NSE. Fundamental analysis was done of cement sector which included 6 major cement companies of India including ACC, Ambuja, Birla, Heidelberg and Ultratech. Additionally we worked on understanding the management discussions and their interpretation in financial terms. 

We also gained experience on core corporate operations of the company by attending Annual General Meetings of Reliance, SBI, and Hindustan Unilever. Our next task was analysis of Nifty Junior, Nifty 200 and Nifty from Feb ’15 to July’15 and to come out with stocks which were resistant to fluctuations in market. We also worked on updating client portfolios on moneycontrol.com which was an arduous task but this was also successfully updates by us. Our last assignment was revamping the website of the company, which included coordinating with the vendor on all aspects of the website including content and design.

Internship Diaries #27

Akash Rangari

Jabong.com

It was great learning experience with Jabong.com. Jabong is a popular brand for shopping among youngsters because of its world class service and quicker delivery time. I got opportunity to work as an Operations Intern in Order fulfilment Department at Gurgaon Office.

On the very first day I was done with all the formalities. I was extremely surprise to see their speed and enthusiasm of working. The environment was happening. In two months of internship I worked in multiple projects. Like COD, NPS improvement, and to reduce the departmental interaction count. I was under guidance of Ms. Khushboo, she helped me a lot in understanding E-commerce world. How they work, how they carry business in such competitive world. My mentee gives me full liberty to alter or improve any process of jabong.

Especially work culture of Jabong is fantastic. You can enjoy the freedom of work there. You just have to come up with new ideas and if your senior likes them, it will be implemented within no time. I saw people working more than 10 hours on their own will. I got opportunity to meet with top management and discuss about E-commerce in both formal and informal meetings.

Overall it was great learning experience with jabong.com, the perfect place to showcase your talent and creativity.