school, St. Xavier’s from class 7 onwards, topper in B.E. and even the topper in his MBA. Presently he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Management from a University in Meghalaya.

He started his career in Wipro Technologies after his graduation where he was a Module Leader for Telecom & Internetworking Division leading a team of 12 Software Engineers for a Telecom Project for Ericsson.

Then after completing his MBA, he joined in Coca Cola where first 2 years in he was in a region marketing role as Area Marketing Manager and next 2 years as Area Sales Manager for North Bengal & Sikkim. Then he joined Nokia India as RSM looking after sales, service, marketing, Nokia priority dealers, Operator management & Modern Trade for 3 years.

After Nokia, he ventured into the telecom domain with Idea Cellular where he was responsible for setting up the zonal operations is East.

A few things we do not know about you
You know me as a faculty of your institute and as the G.M. Sales of PepsiCo. Apart from that I also have a keen interest in dancing. I won the Mr. FMS Competition during my FMS days and I also like reading books.

Opting for a career in management despite being a meritorious student and not going for research
If it had been USA or UK, I would have definitely gone for research. But the expectation of my family to work after my course was finished and lack of general awareness about the viability of research work in a small town of Bokaro were some of the factors that made my mind up to work as a professional after my course was finished.

Starting a professional career with an FMCG company, Coca Cola India and not in the banking sector.
I did my summer internship from ABN Amro Bank and did a good project and was given a pre-placement offer. But I did not like the banking culture. I liked the dust and heat of travel and also liked to have flexible working hours which one cannot get while working for a bank. And also these banks and financial institutions are very prone to the ups and downs of the economy whereas the FMCG sector rarely gets affected by that.

An experience that left a deep impression in your career and made you what you are
When I first joined Coca Cola India as a fresher after passing out from FMS Delhi, I had to work as a salesman for Sunfill concentrated drinks for a period of 1 month. I was only given a bicycle and a definite target. I have always been good academically but this experience taught me that however meritorious a student you are, you have to start from the scratch if you have to be a good manager and face hardships in life.

Shifting from FMCG to telecom sector and then again to FMCG sector.
In India, almost all companies of any sectors work in an FMCG model, at least for their sales and distribution processes. So in India it is very easy to shift from sector to another as marketing or a sales manager.

Recruiting process undertaken by PepsiCo for management trainees.
Campus placements are undertaken by organizing a Group Discussion followed by two rounds of personal interviews and the placement offer is made during the placement process. The successful candidates are recruited as management trainees and they go through management training for a period of one year and have to work in almost all the departments.

Qualities that a student must have to be recruited to PepsiCo.

• Malleability
• Flexibility
• How much hardships the candidate is willing to take.
• Learning abilities.
• Percentage of marks or the merit level of a candidate is not given too much of a weightage.

Importance of good interpersonal skills for budding managers.
A candidate hoping to make it big in his managerial career should have good inter-personal skill. A candidate might not be meritorious as I previously mentioned but he/she also needs to have good communication skills. We normally recruit candidates keeping in mind that at some stage of their career they would be sales manager and heading a team for which they would need good inter-personal skills.

Importance of GD and PI practice in MBA course
For a candidate pursuing an MBA course and aspiring to work in any big company, he/she must do well in the selection rounds of the recruitment process of the company. Emphasis should be given on practicing communication skills during GD and PI sessions. A candidate may have knowledge of a subject but if he is not comfortable in sharing it with his peers is not expected to be productive for the company.

Hobbies and past-time
I like teaching bright young minds of tomorrow. That is the reason why I am associated with BIBS and come to teach here on weekends even after working hard throughout the weekdays. Teaching is my only hobby and I enjoy it and try to share my knowledge and experience with budding managers.

10 years down the line….
I will probably take up full time teaching as a profession. I am currently doing PhD from CMJ University in Shillong and have already completed one year of the 3 year course. I do not want to go abroad, I love India and would love to stay in this country and take up teaching as a profession.