Rohit Narnoli - Man of his Own Image!

Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties to iron out points of difference and agree on matters of mutual interest. Any dialogue between two parties should meet certain parameters to qualify as a negotiation. For instance, neither party should have unreasonable advantage of power over the other (ie, should be similar in stature) and each party should have similar stakes in the game.  The right set of negotiation skills have always been useful not just in business but in personal life as well. It requires preparation & planning, breaking down the issues, understand the POV of stakeholders, bargaining & problem solving, emotional intelligence and closure. Although experts have classified negotiation into various styles and steps, for me it has been spontaneous, impulsive and natural, with a set-out end goal to reach a resolution.  With the rapidly growing role of change management in an increasingly dynamic tech-enabled world, negotiation as one of the key co...

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...

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...