Rohit Narnoli - Man of his Own Image!

In this post, I'll share my hands-on experience and review of IDFC credit card (s). This will be my third post on Credit cards. First two were on best value lifetime free credit card and aspirational premium cards . My Experience of owning the card This is still an invitation based process where Bank decides which customer will get which variant. Application process was smooth and document-less. I received an SMS with the link to apply for IDFC First Select credit card on Tuesday, which did immediately. As soon as my application was submitted, I got to know my card number, interest rates, credit limit, bill date and my credit card was ready to use for online transactions. Wow! I received my physical card on Saturday morning ie; effectively in 3 working days. Package was small, simple and elegant with no useless documents and pamphlets. It was a classy bright red colored card inside. Although I love Black colored cards, bright red color of IDFC first Select seemed attr...

The following stories are glimpses from the lighter moments that I encountered while interviewing MBA aspirants. (*This post might get updated*) PI Stories #1 Candidate - I am interested in social work. Interviewer - What kind of social activities have you been involved in recently?  Candidate - I have sat to protest against CAA & NRC. PI Stories #2 Candidate (from Delhi) - I love Delhi. Interviewer - What is 'NCR'? Candidate - NRC is against humanity and, it spreads communalism.  #YouHearWhatYouWantTo PI Stories #3 Interviewer (to the same Delhi candidate) - What is NCR? Candidate - Gurgaon . (Thinks) . Candidate - Delhi is divided into four parts, viz; East, west, North, South. So 4 NCRs.  #TumseNaHoPaayega PI Stories #4 Journey of an MBA candidate - From 'A wannabe entrepreneur or an investment banker' to 'Give me any Job'.  PI Stories #5 Candidate - My hobby is to make flight conversations (literally). Interviewer - How many flights have you taken? Ca...

In my previous article, I have discussed about 3 must have free credit cards. Readers found it so useful that there were 10 conversions with my referral. In this piece, I will discuss about must have Super premium credit cards. A premium credit card gives you the opportunity to earn better reward points. It provides more travel benefits and lounge access than regular credit cards. Also, they offer a higher discount on dining, hotel and flight bookings. In addition to that, certain co-branded premium credit cards offers you world class returns. Super premium cards comes with super premiums to ensure that it is possessed by few deserving ones. Most of these cards have spent based annual fee reversal offers. Hence, the return is fabulous if your annual spent qualifies that criteria. If you are looking to upgrade for a best premium credit card then the article can help you find your next best premium credit card. I am rating each feature (highlight) on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best) bas...

A credit card is a payment card issued by banks (or financial institutions) to their customers to enable them to pay a merchant for goods and services based on their promise to the issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the other agreed charges. If you can use a credit card responsibly, there’s really no reason not to. I am an advocate of using credit card due to scores of benefits that they offer. They provide free airport/railways lounge access, protection against fraud and accident, interest free credit for 20-50 days, which in-turn mobilizes your credit rating (improves significantly if repaid timely). It also helps to tap a number of brand offers, free movie tickets, cashbacks, purchase based reward program and many more. Banks may or may not charge some fees against such cards. Based on my research and experience, I can suggest three  life-time free  credit cards that one should have - 1. ICICI-Amazon co-branded card: This is an invite only card by Amazon...

Oftentimes we assume that creativity and innovation are the domain of the “creative types”. We straight away attribute this quality to the étudiant des arts. In contrast, I believe that everyone is creative. It is not a special gift graced only to a lucky few. Creativity is a phenomenon whereby imagination and new ideas are used to create tangible or intangible value. Also, it comes hand-in-hand with innovation and there is no innovation without creativity. The ultimate goal of both of them is value creation. I believe that one’s curiosity ignites their creative side. Consequently, creativity is an articulation of one’s feelings. Be it developing new statistical model or penning down a new piece, one uses the tools to express the ideas that comes to them. Recently I have been selected by NITI Aayog of India as an Atal Innovation Mission Mentor of change. The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is a flagship initiative set up by the NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepre...

After reading my last article on Paytm’s foray into the offline digital payment system, a friend evoked me saying, ‘like the Samsung pay or the Apple pay, how do you see the future of NFC enabled payment shaping-up in India. Moreover, will the future of NFC merely remain confined to the payment sector?’ Wikipedia defines Near-field communication or NFC as ‘a set of communication protocols that enable two electronic devices equipped with NFC chips, one of which is usually a portable device such as a smartphone, to establish communication by placing them within few centimeters of each other’. They are essentially of two types - Two-way communication & One-way communication. In addition to voice and data connectivity services, the handheld devices are being used for a range of ancillary services. In the current plot, digitizing the payment (e.g. peer-to-peer money exchange) securely and completely will lead to an excellent, hustle free customer service. The NFC is one of t...