SIMS Pune 2011-2013 GE-PI Preparation

Hello All, Congratulations to all those who have been shortlisted for the GE/PI stage. I am kick starting this thread so that we all can prepare together and crack it together. I request seniors to pour in their valuable advice, sugges…

Hello All,

Congratulations to all those who have been shortlisted for the GE/PI stage.
I am kick starting this thread so that we all can prepare together and crack it together.

I request seniors to pour in their valuable advice, suggestions and share their experience.

To start with, let us discuss the topics already given in Appendix 3 of Important Instructions.

P.S. Please refrain spamming...let us just keep the focus and discussion on GE/PI...

Thanks
theidiot

Topic 1: 2G Scam

WHAT IS SPECTRUM SCAM?

2G licenses issued to private telecom players at throwaway prices in 2008
CAG: Spectrum scam has cost the government Rs. 1.76 lakh crore
CAG: Rules and procedures flouted while issuing licenses


WHAT ARE THE CHARGES ON FORMER TELECOM MINISTER A RAJA?

CHEAP TELECOM LICENSES


Entry fee for spectrum licenses in 2008 pegged at 2001 prices
Mobile subscriber base had shot up to 350 million in 2008 from 4 million in 2001

NO PROCEDURES FOLLOWED

Rules changed after the game had begun
Cut-off date for applications advanced by a week
Licenses issued on a first-come-first-served basis
No proper auction process followed, no bids invited
Raja ignored advice of TRAI, Law Ministry, Finance Ministry
TRAI had recommended auctioning of spectrum at market rates


FAVOURITISM, CORPORATES ENCASH PREMIUM

Unitech, Swan Telecom got licenses without any prior telecom experience
Swan Telecom given license even though it did not meet eligibility criteria
Swan got license for Rs. 1537 crore, sold 45% stake to Etisalat for Rs. 4200 crore
Unitech Wireless got license for Rs. 1661 crore, sold 60% stake for Rs. 6200 crore
All nine companies paid DoT only Rs. 10,772 crore for 2G licences

Sources in the know say that the CAG has accused the telecom ministry for undervaluing 2G spectrum, sold to new players in 2008, and held that the allotment price was not realistic, which has caused a revenue loss of up to Rs 1,76,700 crore to the government.

The report is also believed to have castigated telecom minister A Raja for ignoring the advice of finance and law ministries on allocation of 2G spectrum to benefit a few operators.

It is also believed to have criticised telecom regulator TRAI for standing as a helpless spectator when its recommendations were being ignored or misused.

However, no confirmation on CAG's reported comments could be obtained.

The report is believed to have said that the telecom ministry took arbitrary decisions while allotting 2G spectrum, bundled with licences in January 2008.

Sources said a copy of the report has been sent to the finance ministry and to the President. The process usually takes 10-15 days to finalise and then it would be tabled in Parliament. The month-long winter session of Parliament began on November 9.

Nine firms were issued licences, bundled with start up of 2G spectrum, in January 2008 at Rs 1,658 crore for pan-India operations.

The CAG report said the price at which the spectrum was alloted in 2008 was based on 2001 prices, which was quite low and has resulted in a loss to the government exchequer.

The report also said that Raja ignored the advice of the law ministry and Prime Minister and advanced the cut-off date for giving the Letter of Intent (LoI).

The telecom ministry had, however, hit at the CAG saying the policy decisions cannot be "assailed" as arbitrary and debunked CAG's assertion that 2G spectrum was allocated in an arbitrary manner.

"Decisions (on spectrum) taken on the basis of New Telecom Policy of 1999 and the Cabinet decision of 2003, coupled with periodic and respective TRAI's recommendations.

"(This) cannot be assailed by the audit as arbitrary or cause of exchequer loss until and unless the entire policy devised with legislative backing is changed or modified by the same authorities concerned," DoT had said in its reply to the Comptroller and Auditor General.

CAG has reportedly put the revenue loss to exchequer at up to Rs 1.40 lakh crore, in addition to another Rs 36,700 crore on allocation of spectrum beyond contractual limit to existing nine operators.

TOPIC 2
2G Spectrum Scam - Allocation of spectrum or loot of spectrum?

2G Spectrum allocation scam of Rs. 170,000 Cr. (Rs. 1.7 trillion) in the Indian Telecom industry is considered as one of the largest scam in recent times. In 2008, Mr. A K Raja, who was telecom minister at that time, took the decision to allot the 2G licenses to new entrants in the telecom industry.


The licences were allotted on the basis of "First come First serve Method" rather than through the process of auction as stipulated under the national telecom policy 1999. The ministry had also reduced the cut off time form October 1, 2007, to September 25, 2007 without consulting and informing other related ministries, even though when it is mandatory to have approval from the cabinet committee (economic affairs) in such important decisions. The Telecom Ministry informed those companies whom they wanted to allot license about the cut off date in advance while others were not informed and they were not able to arrange money in such a short span of time.


At the time of scam, the Indian telecom industry was growing exponentially. The subscriber base had grown from 10 million subscribers in 2002 to 250 million in 2007, due to low tariffs and falling prices of handset. The wireless subscriber base had grown from 52.22 million in 2005 to 165.11 million in 2007 which further grew to 391.76 million in 2009. The growing demand of the wireless connections caught the attention of the companies who wanted to enter telecom sector. The companies who were allotted the 2G licenses did not have any experience in the telecom sector or the technology and thus sold their stake to foreign telecom companies at high prices. The 2G spectrum was allotted in 2008 at a price level of 2001. The 2G spectrum allocations resulted in a loss of approx. Rs. 170,000 Cr. to the exchequer, which is the biggest financial scam in the Indian history.


Out of the 122 new licenses that were given out, 85 licenses were won by companies that did not meet the eligibility criteria. Some companies who did not have any telecom infrastructure, network, subscribers, knowledge or proven track record in the telecom business also got 2G licenses. Swan was awarded the license for Rs. 1537 crore to operate in 13 circles, while Unitech got the licenses for Rs. 1651 Cr. to operate in 22 cities and within short span of time both the companies sold their stake to foreign companies at Rs.9400 Cr. and Rs. 11,620 Cr respectively.
Few days back, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India held Mr. A Raja as personally responsible for the scam. In his report, CAG informed the parliament that telecom minister ignored the advice of 2G allocation from PMO and other related ministries such as law and finance, and took the decisions to allot the 2G spectrum at throw away prices.



Till now Government has not taken any action against Mr Raja. It seems that it has turned a blind eye to the fact that the scam of Rs. 170000 cr. which is approximately 3% of India's GDP would have helped in the development of country or could have helped in reducing our deficits. The reason for this is the compulsions of coalition politics. As of now, the coalition partner of Congress, DMK is not willing to agree for the sacking of A.Raja as telecom minister.



For the companies who have already been allotted licenses in the 2G scam such as Swan telecom, Unitech and Tata teleservices, no decision has yet been taken by the government. There are high chances that licenses of the companies like Swan and Unitech, who did not clear eligibility criteria at the time of 2G allotment, might be cancelled.

where are all the puys who got selected for gd/pi???????:lookround:
Requesting all the puys who got selected to contribute in this thread, atleast for one topic each.
only 10-12 days are left, so better we should start preparing and crack it together.

Social networking


A social network service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people.
This newer generation of social networking sites began to flourish with the emergence of Friendster in 2002, and soon became part of the Internet mainstream. Friendster was followed by MySpaceand LinkedIn a year later. Facebook, launched in 2004, has since become the largest social networking site in the world.
Today, it is estimated that there are now over 200 active sites using a wide variety of social networking models.
47% of online adults use social networking sites
73% of teens and young adults are a member of at least one social network
More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
Facebook has 400+ million active users.
Twitter has 24+ million unique visitors per month, with 500 million tweets per day.
LinkedIn has 60+ million professionals worldwide, including all Fortune 500 companies.
Favour(boon)
Social networks are new meaning of staying in touch with whole world. Normally, people try to stay in touch with friends via phone calls and the occasional letter or e-mail, but busy lives make it difficult to maintain contact. However, social networking is such a regularly used medium that it's easy to stay in touch with people even when they move away.

Social networks connect people at low cost or free of cost; this can be beneficial for entrepreneurs and small businesses looking to expand their contact bases. These networks often act as a customer relationship management tool for companies selling products and services. Companies can also use social networks for advertising in the form of banners and text ads. Since businesses operate globally, social networks can make it easier to keep in touch with contacts around the world. One popular use for this new technology is social networking between businesses. Companies have found that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are great ways to build their brand image.
One other use that is being discussed is the use of Social Networks in the Science communities. New Biotechnology Firms are using social networking sites to share information and knowledge in scientific knowledge that helps to increase both their learning and their flexibility in ways that would not be possible within a self-contained hierarchical organization
Similarly, NASA has taken advantage of a few social networking tools, including Twitter and Flickr. They are using these tools to aid the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, whose goal it is to ensure that the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path to achieving its boldest aspirations in space.
Social networks are also being used by teachers and students as a communication tool. Teachers and professors are doing everything from creating chat-room forums and groups to extend classroom discussion to posting assignments, tests and quizzes, to assisting with homework outside of the classroom setting. Social networks are also being used to foster teacher-parent communication. These sites make it possible and more convenient for parents to ask questions and voice concerns without having to meet face-to-face.
Social networks are being used by activists as a means of low-cost grassroots organizing. Extensive use of an array of social networking sites enabled organizers of the 2009 National Equality March to mobilize an estimated 200,000 participants to march on Washington with a cost savings of up to 85% per participant over previous methods. Several websites are beginning to tap into the power of the social networking model for philanthropy.

Social network services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. Information posted on sites such as MySpace and Facebook has been used by police to prosecute users of said sites. In some situations, content posted on MySpace has been used in court.
Social networking is more recently being used by various government agencies. Social networking tools serve as a quick and easy way for the government to get the opinion of the public and to keep the public updated on their activity.
A new trend is emerging with social networks created to help its members with various physical and mental ailments. For people suffering from life altering diseases, PatientsLikeMe offers its members the chance to connect with others dealing with similar issues and research patient data related to their condition. For alcoholics and addicts, SoberCircle gives people in recovery the ability to communicate with one another and strengthen their recovery through the encouragement of others who can relate to their situation. SparkPeople offers community and social networking tools for peer support during weight loss.
More and more of the Middle East is getting wired. In Jordan, young people are texting, tweeting, and using Facebook and YouTube to call attention to environmental issues. In Egypt, young people are using social tools to put a spotlight on police brutality and to try to keep their government honest. In Lebanon, the Social Media Exchange is training people to use social media to develop projects such as Building a Culture of Peace.
Against (Bane)
People need to be aware of the environment within which they are communicating to others. If you are discussing things in a public forum then all that information is available to everyone else in that forum. Therefore hey should take a common sense approach to what they should and should not discuss. In the real world we only talk about sensitive issues when we are in private and with people we trust on large social networking services, there have been growing concerns about users giving out too much personal information and the threat of sexual predators. Users of these services also need to be aware of data theft or viruses.
Social-networking sites allow seemingly trivial gossip to be distributed to a worldwide audience, sometimes making people the butt of rumors shared by millions of users across the Internet.
Time waste: addiction to this social networking platforms causes a lot of waste of time..,especially that of the teenagers,who are unable to set the fine line between use and over use of these sites.
A guy who posted a video on Youtube weightlifting,skiing, and performing karate exhibitions. He was fired from his job for showing to much Bravado.
There was one incident where robbers using user's geolocation on facebook to find out when target is at home or not.
Furthermore, there is an issue over the control of data-information that was altered or removed by the user may in fact be retained and/or passed to 3rd parties. This danger was highlighted when the controversial social networking site Quechup harvested e-mail addresses from users' e-mail accounts for use in a spamming operation
In addition, there is a perceived privacy threat in relation to placing too much personal information in the hands of large corporations or governmental bodies, allowing a profile to be produced on an individual's behavior on which decisions, detrimental to an individual, may be taken
Many social networking services, such as Facebook, provide the user with a choice of who can view their profile. This prevents unauthorized user(s) from accessing their information. Parents who want to access their child's MySpace or Facebook account have become a big problem for teenagers who do not want their profile seen by their parents. By making their profile private, teens can select who may see their page, allowing only people added as "friends" to view their profile and preventing unwanted parents from viewing it. Teens are constantly trying to create a structural barrier between their private life and their parents.
Trolling: A common misuse of social networking sites such as Facebook is that it is occasionally used to emotionally abuse individuals. Such actions are often referred to as trolling. online pranks on volatile individuals and controversial comments with the intention to cause anger and cause arguments. Trolling is not to be confused with cyber-bullying.
Online bullying: Online bullying (aka "Cyber-bullying") is a relatively common occurrence and it can often result in emotional trauma for the victim. Depending on the networking outlet, up to 39% of users admit to being "cyber-bullied. Inherently individuals are given the power to post offensive remarks or pictures that could potentially cause a great amount of emotional pain for another individual.
Conclusion
Social network is indeed boon for human race as it is bringing people closer and letting them communicate with each other without any fear and barriar. But still one nee to cautious of what level of personal information they are revealing on the social networks.
Public sharing of private lives has not led to a rethinking of anything. It's just reminded people to use extreme caution when publicly sharing their private lives. If you wouldn't do something in front of everyone you know, don't do it on the internet.
Laws should --never-- be extended to allow privacy protection for things that people say and do in the public domain. Perhaps the greatest part of the internet is the lack of control, the utter and complete freedom of speech. What is needed is a basic warning from parents or friends to those who are new to the internet, warning of the possible pitfalls that can come with such freedom.
Humans are social animals by our nature and social networks are just one other outlet for humans to interact. We should not look at social networks are threats but as opportunities for us to interact with people globally

its a lenghty one..so plz be patient while reading it..

TOPIC 8. Hero Honda Split
India is the second largest two wheeler market in the world after China. Demand for two-wheelers is up by 24.52% from 2009 to 2010 with total sales of 10.5 million units. The motor cycle segment contributes around 80% of the two wheeler market. The key factors driving the growth are huge demand for two wheelers from rural India, availability of easy financing options and lack of quality public transport infrastructure. The worlds largest two wheeler company, Hero Honda Motors Limited is the leading player in the Indian market. Hero Honda is a joint venture between Indias Hero group and Honda Motor Company of Japan. Hero Honda leads the market with the total unit sales of 4,600,130 two-wheelers in the year 2009-10. Company recorded a profit figure of Rs. 2231.83 Crores in the FY 2009-2010, with 23.6% growth in unit sales.
Recently the 26 years old partnership saw a turn, when Hero group and Honda Motors decided to part ways, with Honda motors selling its entire stake in Hero Honda Motors Limited. Shareholding pattern of Hero Honda consists of 26.2% with Hero group (Indian promoter), 26% with Honda Motors (foreign promoter), 31.75% with foreign Institutions, 7% with general public and rest 10% is with financial institutions, banks and mutual funds etc. Honda Motors stake in the company has a market value of nearly $2 billion which will now be taken by the Hero Groups Munjal family. Till now Honda Motors has provided the technology support for the products and Hero Honda has manufactured and sold the products through its large dealership network. Honda is being paid royalty on each product sold by Hero Honda. The strong technological prowess of Honda group with strong dealership network of Hero has made the partnership as one of the most successful JV in the history. As per the sources, Honda and Hero were sparring on issues such as increasing royalty and spare part purchases through Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India, which Hero group had been resisting since long time. Also now Honda group wants to focus on its wholly owned Indian unit established in the year 1999.
Under the new terms agreed between the two parties, Hero Honda will continue producing and selling all the current models in the market. The company will be free to develop new products to sell in domestic and international markets and to acquire new technology. Honda officials said that there is also a plan to grant new licenses for the new products which will be introduced under the new brand. As per the terms and conditions of the separation, the R&D; support from Honda will continue till 2014 i.e Hero has four years to catch up on their R&D; processes.
There are certain key issues which are coming in light after the Hero Honda split. One, by 2015, it will be mandatory for all the two wheelers to meet the BS IV norms. In order to meet this requirement, manufacturers would need to make large investments in technology. Honda is well versed with the fuel injection system, which is required to meet the emission norms, while the Hero group would lose this technology know-how as a result of the split. Secondly, Hero Honda is facing problem with the unmentioned royalty amount payable to Honda. Hero group also fears that company would be forced to pay huge expenses to Honda for Technology support till the next stage of emission norms.
Both Hero and Honda have future plans to exploit opportunities after the split. Honda first move will be to introduce two entry level bikes in India. With increasing costs in Japan, Honda has decided to manufacture the product locally. The company is coming up with a two and a four wheeler plant in Rajasthan. The company has announced to invest Rs. 500 Cr in the Rajasthan plant with annual capacity of six lakh units. It may be possible that company will bring its two wheeler and four wheeler brands under one umbrella. On the other hand Hero is planning to explore international markets such as Latin America, Africa and South East Asia. Also company will start sourcing the technology from other global markets.
This stake sale will allow Honda Motors to expand their presence in India and launch newer brands in the two wheeler segment. For Hero Honda, it is important to retain their large dealership network and make sure their confidence is not dented due to the split in the JV. It should also take measures to build the technological capabilities at Hero Honda.
utopianpooja Says
its a lenghty one..so plz be patient while reading it..

awesome yaar.. frm wer dd u get dz???

hi and congratulations to all who made it to the second stage,,..the topics which are given in the appendix..will they be asking us to do the gd among those topics or is it exhaustive...

TOPIC 20. Micro finance
Microfinance has played a major role in taking the financial services to the bottom of the pyramid in many regions of the country, especially in the southern and eastern parts of India. The Indian microfinance industry has outstanding loans worth USD 4.6 billion to 70 million borrowers. This industry has helped the poor borrowers of the country by providing them access to loans at a rate lower than being offered by the money lenders.
The failure of the banking industry to reach the rural areas has led to the emergence of Microfinance industry in India. The microfinance lenders borrow money from the banks at interest rates of 9-14% and lend at 24 to 30%. The high interest rates and success of some of the microfinance companies has made the industry highly attractive to commercial players, who might sideline the social mission of the industry in pursuit of high profits.

Most of the microfinance institutions started as non-profit organizations, however some of them are moving towards becoming for-profit organizations. SKS Microfinance, the largest microfinance company in India moved from being non-profit to for-profit organization and completed its IPO recently. But the subsequent sacking of the CEO and issues of governance & transparency in this company has brought forth the major issues & incorrect practices in the microfinance industry. Several erroneous practices such as aggressive lending strategies, absurdly high interest rates, dubious HR practices, callous recovery methods etc are coming out in the open, painting a disgraceful picture of the industry.

The Andhra Pradesh government has recently passed an ordinance against the use of forceful collection methods. It also stipulated the suspension of collection until the microfinance institutions registers itself with the local authorities. This is a result of spate of suicides in the state, allegedly due to the forceful recovery methods used by the microfinance lenders. These regulations will increase the operating costs for the industry and may also bring in bureaucratic hurdles.

The central government is proposing a bill to make NABARD as the regulator for microfinance institutions in the country. The government is planning to fast track the bill to avoid any further crisis in the industry and also to avoid any increased regulation from state governments. The government should also make sure that there is not too much regulation & price controls on the industry, which sometimes may bring in bureaucracy and corruption putting brakes on the growth of the industry.

There are no empirical results on the impact of the microfinance industry on the poverty levels in the country. However, the microfinance industry has improved the access to capital for rural entrepreneurs. The industry has a lot of scope for growth and should reach out to many more poor people, especially in the rural areas and provide them with financial inclusion. However, to survive in the long run, the industry should change its practices such as charging high interest rates, loan recovery tactics, aggressive marketing of loans etc.

I wanna ask guys here tht what r they trying to show here, anyone can do cut copy n paste from google or wikipedia all this stuff. U r not showing ur knowledge level here or u knw what topic u r going to get at the time of gd/pi. So instead of starting discussion u all guys r just doing CUT COPY PASTE, whats the use of it.

raagab1988 Says
hi and congratulations to all who made it to the second stage,,..the topics which are given in the appendix..will they be asking us to do the gd among those topics or is it exhaustive...

these topics are given only to get an idea about gd topics , but it will be better if we prepare these topics first.:thumbsup:
I wanna ask guys here tht what r they trying to show here, anyone can do cut copy n paste from google or wikipedia all this stuff. U r not showing ur knowledge level here or u knw what topic u r going to get at the time of gd/pi. So instead of starting discussion u all guys r just doing CUT COPY PASTE, whats the use of it.

I wanna ask guys here tht what r they trying to show here, anyone can do cut copy n paste from google or wikipedia all this stuff. U r not showing ur knowledge level here or u knw what topic u r going to get at the time of gd/pi. So instead of starting discussion u all guys r just doing CUT COPY PASTE, whats the use of it.


well... by reading the article one can tell that whether ts a "cut copy paste" article or their own article.. so need o u informing us bou dz.. bt wotever they are atleast doin smthn worthy.. may be higlightin the imp aspects o each topic.. or puttin gud pts o each topic in one thread.. so plzz dunt dicourage them.. bt well if u dunt want to read them u re most welcome...!!!
I wanna ask guys here tht what r they trying to show here, anyone can do cut copy n paste from google or wikipedia all this stuff. U r not showing ur knowledge level here or u knw what topic u r going to get at the time of gd/pi. So instead of starting discussion u all guys r just doing CUT COPY PASTE, whats the use of it.



ya we can start the discussion , but the active puys are only 2-3 here.
and you can find the topic on google but it will be better if we get basic knowledge about all the topics here in one thread instead of searching for each topic separately in google.
rahulmind007 Says
well... by reading the article one can tell that whether ts a "cut copy paste" article or their own article.. so need o u informing us bou dz.. bt wotever they are atleast doin smthn worthy.. may be higlightin the imp aspects o each topic.. or puttin gud pts o each topic in one thread.. so plzz dunt dicourage them.. bt well if u dunt want to read them u re most welcome...!!!


Lol r u u so handicapped tht u can not do cut copy paste also n depends on others for this, shame on u tht u r going for mba. Their r many other threads on gd/pi going on pg but no one is doing cut copy paste. I don't knw what u r gooing to do in future if u require their help in developing ur views.

rahulmind007 Says
well... by reading the article one can tell that whether ts a "cut copy paste" article or their own article.. so need o u informing us bou dz.. bt wotever they are atleast doin smthn worthy.. may be higlightin the imp aspects o each topic.. or puttin gud pts o each topic in one thread.. so plzz dunt dicourage them.. bt well if u dunt want to read them u re most welcome...!!!


PPl why are u posting such huge articless ???:shocked:...whts the use ???..better jot down the imp points n then post them,so tht it can be discussed .Simply posting won't help ...i can post about almost all the articles within half n hr ,but tht wud be of no use..plzz discuss the topics u are posting. :-P