Rohit Narnoli - Man of his Own Image!

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...

Paytm has launched an offline payment mode called Tap Card , which is being claimed to be the India's first ‘ truly offline payment solution ’, that will allow customers to pay from their Paytm wallet within seconds. A user can scan the QR code printed on the Tap Card to transfer money at a company-authorized Point of Sale (PoS) terminal without requiring internet connectivity. The process that uses NFC technology has been introduced in a pilot mode in Chennai in collaboration with  Yeldi.com . It is also being said that the foundation on which internet-less digital payment will work, has been laid down by Tap Card. It is primarily targeted towards counting-in the non-internet users to the existing customer base. Here is a systematic working of the Offline Digital Payment – Suppose Rohit want to buy groceries from a merchant who accepts Paytm. And he is using Vodafone network whose internet service is pathetic in that area. In this scenario, Rohit will execute the belo...

The futuristic cars portrayed in the fantasy world of animation and Rohit Shetty’s movies years ago, had some thinking that the cars would fly instead of drive one day. Bygone, the evolution of auto industry has married technology with the primary mode of communication. Moreover, even before vehicles rolling off the assembly lines are equipped with technologies such as GPRS , RFID and telematics devices etc., which enable them to remain connected all the time. In fact, the demand is driven by pull from the customers. Including these technologies allows such connected vehicles to interact with devices like mobile phones, other cars, or even infrastructure elements. A recent Industry wise Digital Maturity report published by PwC clearly proclaimed automotive industry as a Digital Champion (20%) followed by the consumer goods industry (6%). However, 46% of the automobile companies are still Digital Novice or Digital Follower. According to McKinsey & Company, cars and the ...

I recently posted a question to the participants in my WhatsApp broadcast , that ‘ if Google knows everything, then why don’t we predict the likely criminal behaviour of a person ’ (Courtesy– Viraj P., SIBM Pune graduate & a good friend of mine ). I had received interesting arguments which I have collated in this article, supplemented with my own research. ‘ A man is innocent until he commits a crime ’. Conspiracy to commit a crime is not a crime unto itself. Moreover, there cannot be a bigger crime than incriminating a person. Even AI make predictions with 95% accuracy. Hence, this would imply that 5% of the accused might face false convictions. In addition, we should not pay heed as to what somebody thinks about an event that ‘might’ occur in the future, says my friend Soumik. The presumption of innocence , sometimes referred to by the Latin expression “ ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat” (the burden of proof is on the one who declares, not on one who den...

This is my second article on PNB fraud where I am trying to explain why we cannot do much about Mallyas, Modis and so on. And why, a commoner is forced to be a Lannister (who pays their debt :P) while rich can easily do away with it. For that, it is very important to understand the difference between the two. A home-loan is taken by an "individual” and it becomes his asset when the loan is paid off. That individual is solely responsible for the repayment of that loan and owns all the gains (or the losses). He has full liability of the loan. On the other hand, corporate loan is issued to a "company" and the assets belong to the firm and its shareholders instead of one individual. In most of the cases, ownership of the proprietor is 51% or less. Point to be noted here is that, the owner and the company are two different entities and there is something called limited liability clause that comes into the picture. In the case of corporate loans, many factors such as Gut...

The following stories are glimpses from the lighter moments that I encountered while interviewing MBA aspirants. (* This post might get updated* ) PI Stories #1 Q - What is your strength? Candidate - I am deterministic. Me (in my mind)- * Word-meaning nahi pata to kyu show-off kar raha * PI Stories #2 Q - What are your strengths? Candidate - I am Diploma-tic. Q - Why do you think being Diplomatic could be a strength? Candidate - Because IIMs offer a 'Diploma'. Me (slow claps)- * you are the next Bill Gates, my Buoy! * PI Stories #3 Q - Tell me any one female chief minister from any state of India. Candidate - 'Mayawati' Me- * She is a prominent figure indeed * PI Stories #4 Q - Why do you want to do an MBA? Candidate - I want to start my own B-School. Me - * I see !* PI Stories #5 Q- Why do you want to do an MBA? Candidate - I want to be successful! Q- What is your definition of success? Candidate - Something that gives me happiness! Q...

On 14 th of February, the Punjab National Bank, India's second-largest state-run lender, said it had detected "some fraudulent and unauthorized" transactions amounting to around Rs 11,360 crore at a branch in Mumbai. The fraud involved unsecured loans that were given to Nirav Modi, a diamond and jewellery merchant, and his associates. This piece is an attempt to explain the issue in the simplest possible way and is my personal interpretation. What is a bank :   A bank as ‘a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates credit. Lending activities can be performed either directly or indirectly through capital markets’ ( Wikipedia, sic ). Hence, in a banking system a group or network of institutions provides financial services to people. These institutions by managing deposits, operating payment systems, and providing loans, enables trade and money management. It is evident from the fact that all the major financial centers in world (lik...

Stress is the epidemic of modern times. It has negatively affected every person and every system of our body. A survey projected that atleast 46% of the Indian workforce suffers from some or the other form of stress. Are you one of them? Another survey brings out that, the Indian employers rank stress as No 1 lifestyle risk factor. One’s stress could be related to his personality traits like impatience, aggressiveness, Faulty diet and improper eating habits, workplace environment, psychological, environmental or psychosocial, climatic conditions, health issues or simply targets and deadlines. Typical symptoms of stress can be insomnia, loss of mental concentration, anxiety, absenteeism from work, depression, substance abuse, extreme anger and frustration, family conflict, and physical illnesses, such as heart disease, migraine, headaches, stomach problems, and back problems. Studies have suggested that most of the chronic disorders definitely carry traces of stress. A person can d...