National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) Placement Interview Questions

• Q1. Introduce yourself.
  View Answers (1)
• Q2. Why the firm?
  View Answers (1)
• Q3. Where have you travelled?
  View Answers (1)
• Q4. Basically, this round was to test communication ability, many candidates were rejected in this round. Focus on what you speak and how you speak, keep a smile on...read more
  Add Answer

First Question was to introduce and talk about my experience.
I introduced and in my experience, I talked about project and asked about the interviewer. He said he was from IIM B, so I talked about doing my engineering from Bangalore and how I found Bangalore a wonderful place to live in.

The interviewer then gave me a case to solve.

The case was: The client is a company in the good living space like NDTV good times space. They are facing a lot of issues in profit. Their profits have been decreasing in the past 2 years and need us to help.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

Interviewer: Tell me how will you go about the case.

C: So, our client is a TV channel which deal in shows like travelling and cooking shows and are facing issue in profit, their profit is decreasing from the past 2 years. Is there any objective other than this?

I: No

C: Can I have 2 minutes to think about it and draw a proper structure for my solution.

I: Certainly.

C: As this is a profit problem faced by our client I will use E(P=R-C) M. I told him that as we are growing with around 7.5 % GDP and a lot of youth travel the economy of such a sector is in good shape.

I: Yes, go on.

C: I would like to know about the market. Is the declining profit issue faced only by us or also by competitors also?

I: Competitors are not facing such an issue.

C: Okay, so this is our client’s problem. I would now go into the parenthesis and find the sources of revenue and potential cost.

As I had no idea about how a typical show is produced and what are the costs involved, I told the interviewer upfront that I will try to come up with some revenue and cost drivers as I had no idea about TV industry. He said OK.

Revenue: Advertisement and any package that is being sold in collaboration with travel agency.

I: Good, but you are missing one more revenue stream.

C: Is it the amount they earn from TV channels.

I: Yes.

C: Then I asked about individual revenue streams, he told me everything is either stagnant or increasing.

So, the problem lies in the cost part. I will go towards the cost. I listed down some of the cost streams as below:

1) Actors
2) Directors
3) Rent of the set (Including lighting and clothes)
4) Administration charges (Including logistics)

I: Good, these are the important cost heads, but our client has outsourced production to another agency.

C: Okay, so how is agency charging us, per episode or is it for a defined number of episode.

I: Per episode.

C: Can you provide me last 3 year numbers.

I: I don’t want you to go into numbers, just concentrate on the issue.

C: Then asked if the agency increased the price.

I: Yes, they have increased their fees considerably and that is the issue for the lower profit. He then asked me to give some recommendation on how to solve this issue.

C: We can go for a long-term relationship with the agency. We can try to negotiate better.

If the show is not a new show, then we can change the agency all together. I told him some more points which I don’t remember. He seemed satisfied and said that would be all. I asked him what should I do to improve my case solving ability. He answered there is nothing to improve you at this moment.

Suggestion: Consulting firms looks for people who can come up with Suggestion/Recommendations to solve the case. So, while practicing cases practice providing suggestions too.

• Q1. She talked about my CV points, how college is treating me, different things I have done in the past 3 months during the college, some normal HR questions. Again...read more
  Add Answer
• Q2. Then she said let’s play some numbers. I thought it would be some puzzle, but it turned out to be a case. The case problem: Our client is a manufacturer who mak...read more
  View Answers (1)

• Q1. Walk me through your CV.
  View Answers (1)
• Q2. Why Consulting and why the firm.
  Add Answer
• Q3. Asked a few questions from my Work Ex. Points mentioned in the CV.
  Add Answer
• Q4. Then he asked me to do a zero-based costing for a pen.
  Add Answer
• Q5. The interview went for around 30-40 mins. (Be prepared to ask a relevant question to the interviewer at end of the interview.)
  Add Answer

Walk me through your CV.
I introduced and in my experience, I focused on the Work Ex. Achievements, then academic achievements and then my interests. Interviewer asked me about my hobby (that is travelling).

Case: The client is a Bicycle company selling cycles of all ranges pan India. The CEO had a thought of venturing into motorcycle business. He approaches us with his thought and wants to know whether they should enter him into motorcycle business.

We had a discussion for around 30 mins on this case.

Next was a guestimate to find number of black/ white boards available in Mumbai. Time given for this was 10 mins.

Next, the interviewer asked if I had any questions for him. I asked a question regarding the automobile projects in consultancy.

The interview went for around 50-60 minutes.

After this he guided me for the director interview.

Telephonic interview with the Director.

Walk me through the CV.

What is GST? Tell me about the Tax structure change? What will be its implications on the Automobile Industry?

Are you following any current Business news. What is happening in the Indian Telecom Industry? Reliance Jio and other providers.

Case Interview: Client is a mobile company. Wants to enter smart phone market in India. Should they launch a smart phone. How would you do the market sizing for the same.

After that director asked if I had any questions for him. I asked him a question regarding GST.

This interview went for around 45 minutes.

HR Interview:

Next I had a 5-min interview with HR and then she informed me that I was selected.

• Q1. I was invited into the room and asked to take a seat. There was a single interviewer, a Sr. Consultant. The following questions were asked there after: Tell me ...read more
  Add Answer
• Q2. Some questions regarding work ex and CV points.
  Add Answer
• Q3. Why consulting?
  Add Answer
• Q4. Since I mentioned that I am passionate about football, he asked a couple of questions regarding that.
  Add Answer
• Q5. Guestimate: Estimate the number of MRI scanners in India.
  View Answers (1)
• Q6. Finally, I was asked if I had any questions for the interviewer.
  View Answers (1)

This is one of the most important round of the selection process as most of the candidates get filtered here.

The interview started on an informal note, the interviewers asked me about myself, hobbies etc. I had mentioned that I am a Chelsea supporter, there was a discussion on the football match the previous weekend.

Case Statement: Company XYZ is an electronic retail chain, with many outlets across the country. In the recent times, the profitability has decreased. Suggest steps for improvement.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

I: What is the essence of the case in one line.

C: Increasing profitability for the chain.

I: What are the different aspects that you would like to consider?

C: (Like any normal case, I broke it down into Profit= Revenue – Costs) Mentioned points like whether there is a decrease in Revenue or increase in cost.

Is it a market wide phenomenon or only specific to the chain. Have the customer requirements changed?

(Basically, majority of the points that are mentioned in Victor Cheng’s videos).

I: Answered my questions. (This was not used in the case as such, just to check if the interviewee was thinking in a structured manner).

The chain has decided to start an offer wherein they plan to sell 20 TV’s at a discount, they think that they can attract customers to the store and push them to a higher valued TV, with higher profitability. How many TV’s must they sell so that they are profitable?

C: Did some basic mathematics and answered their questions.

I: We have noticed that if we decrease the price of the TV’s by 5,000, we lose 1 customer. Develop a mathematical equation, keeping the previous question in mind, to find the number of TV’s that need to be sold to remain profitable.

C: Used some basic mathematics and came up with a formula.

I: The chain would like to close some stores and move to an online platform. How many TV’s should they sell to ensure they maintain the same profitability, keeping in mind the discounts applied on the ecommerce portal.

C: Again, developed a mathematical formula to answer the question.

I: Should they move to an online platform? Will there be a decrease?

C: Spoke about push marketing, how they might lose sales as a person who comes to buy a TV might also buy a home theatre system.

I: Some stores are making lower profits than the others, if we close these stores, how much more money should the others make to compensate for the decrease in profitability.

C: (They had provided me some numbers) Basic mathematics was used to answer the questions.

I: Thanks, it was a pleasure to meet you, any questions?

C: Asked about how you manage through the Strategy and Operations.

• Q1. Director Round. How are you? How was your day?
  Add Answer
• Q2. Walk me through the case study.
  View Answers (2)
• Q3. Asked some questions regarding my CV and work experience.
  Add Answer
• Q4. Any questions?
  View Answers (2)

• Q1. (Duration – 15 mins) Asked about two points in CV.
  Add Answer
• Q2. Why consulting?
  View Answers (1)
• Q3. Guesstimate – “Number of fans currently (that point in time) running in the state of Kerala”.
  View Answers (1)

(Duration – 25 mins)

Asked about the day, how’s it going and then asked to introduce.

Gave basic introduction, work experience and interests. Stopped by saying about my interest in football and that I am a Manchester united fan – The interviewer knew a lot about football and this resulted in the following case “Manchester United’s profits down from last year. What is going on?”
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

C: Can I have 2 mins to structure my thoughts.

I: Yes.

(I followed the basic profit loss framework.)

C: I would like to consider revenue side first. How has been the trend in revenue. Has it gone down from previous year.

I: Yes.

(He gave me a few numbers.)

C: Listed all the revenue streams for a club, as a big supporter this was fairly easy for me. Once I listed all I asked the interviewer for the trend in revenue for all these streams. He gave me the trend. There was a drop in the Sponsorship revenue.

I think here is the issue. I want to dig further to see why exactly the problem arose. And listed few reasons that could be causing the issue. The main reason could be because some deals might have expired and the club might not have been able to get equally good deals.

I: Yes, that’s the issue, the main kit sponsorship ended this year and the club was not able to strike a good deal. What could be the reasons?

C: Explained about the poor performance of the team in recent years, not playing Champions league football, No Asian players (Most of the United supporters are in Asia).

I: Good, how can we improve the situation?

C: United need to perform much better, and suggested some points – new players, academy revamp, more tours in Asia to keep the fan base. I looked into the cost side as well, but there wasn’t anything noticeable hence concluded the case.

He further asked about my work experience and if any questions for him – I asked about the career progressions, if it’s merit based and so on.

(Duration – 30 mins)

Asked to introduce, Couple of questions from CV, Why Consulting, why would the firm suit you?
Answered all. Talked about my previous consulting experience, why I found it challenging and focused on the work culture in the firm.

A food preservative industry in loss despite increasing its market share.
Profit and loss frame work, checked the revenue side to find why market share has increased. Looked at all the trends – the clients and competitors and found out overall market size has reduced but our market has remained the same.

The reason was that the client has kept the price as same, but competitors increased the price. Looked at the cost side to gain more insight – asked for different trends for cost streams – found out that the supplier has increased the cost because they had spent money on R&D too develop a new ingredient eliminating most of the health concerns.

This change was not communicated properly to the customers, who were not willing to pay higher prices, forcing the client to keep the price constant despite increase in the cost.

Interviewer asked for a few suggestions: Discussed about effectively marketing the product based on the improvements and health factor, targeted marketing, increasing price, releasing as a new product to change any perceptions, changing suppliers in worst case. Explained in details the circumstances where these steps must be taken.

She was satisfied.

• Q1. (Duration – 5 mins) Casual discussion on Kerala, Work experience and a challenging project.
  Add Answer

• Q1. Introduce yourself.
  View Answers (1)
• Q2. Most challenging project?
  View Answers (1)
• Q3. Number of local football leagues in Mumbai. This is the advantage of talking about your interests during the introduction, guesstimates usually come from here.
  View Answers (1)
• Q4. Asked couple of questions about Manchester United.
  View Answers (1)
• Q5. Asked for questions if any.
  View Answers (1)

Was asked to introduce and asked about my work experience.

The client produces and sells industrial valves and hoses mainly used in petroleum, petrochemical industries – four industries were mentioned. And they had four main products. They were a dominant player in Northern America. But they are trying to expand to Asian countries especially India and China. Client has come to us for advice.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

The interviewer read out the case to me. I took some notes and summarized. Stated the objective and asked if anything more needs to be explored.

I: What are the risks associated with expanding to these markets.

C: Can I concentrate on India?

I: Compare between India and China

(I compared the political and economic situations of both the countries. And, mentioned the technological and political risks. They did not seem satisfied.)

I: You missed a major factor.

(I couldn’t think of anything else.)

I: What all are the factors you would consider before deciding whether to expand to India.

C: The current demand for such products – total market size, level of competition and market shares, financial situation of the company, laws & regulations, economic situation etc.

I: What do you think the demand for any one of the product will be.

I selected one of the products and estimated the demand – This was a guesstimate and did well. The problem I faced here is that there was no structure to my case and at a certain point in time, I was all over the place. The discussion continued for further 5-10 mins where I tried to compare the Company, competition and customers to reach a conclusion.

• Q1. It started with the basic introduction, and then the interviewer asked me a few questions on my CV points and some questions on inventory management & forecasti...read more
  Add Answer
• Q2. Case - Client is an ice cream manufacturer and is facing stockouts and delays. How will you help them manage their finished goods inventory? Round 1 - 25 minute...read more
  View Answers (1)

An Investment bank wants to automate some of its processes, what are the factors you will look at, and provide your recommendation whether they should proceed or not.

(This case is very similar to case - “To Automate or Not” from Darden Case Book 2018-2019).

(25 minutes)
Stated the qualitative factors (tried to be as MECE as possible), and was provided with data (no. of employees, revenue, total cost, people which will get fired etc.) to do the cost benefit analysis.

• Q1. In this round I was asked about the projects I did during my work ex at ZS. Interviewer deep dived into many of my CV points to understand about my work. Then I...read more
  Add Answer

• Q1. This was the final round where interviewer focused to assess the cultural fit of the candidate. I was asked questions around my goals and objectives in life and...read more
  Add Answer

First was CV based shortlist. Though, the criteria are not much clear, but consistency (in a positive way) in academics, and having a core background/work ex improves your chances of getting shortlisted.

It was a case interview which lasted for 30 minutes. The interview panel consisted of only one person. The first question was ‘tell me about yourself’. Later he jumped to my work-ex. I explained my responsibilities for a couple of minutes. But he again asked me to explain more. So, I continued for 2-3 minutes more. Then he asked me about my hobbies. He also showed interest in Placement Grid, a YouTube venture which I started in 2012.

He then asked me why consulting. This initial part was to more of a behavioral interview and he wanted me to be comfortable.

Then he started the case. The case was a profit/Loss case. There was no data involved. It discussed about a bicycle manufacturer in US whose profits are declining. This was the problem statement. He wanted me to identify the core issue and give some recommendations.
I took off a minute to formulate the framework. I started with some questions about the industry and how it is doing, new competitors in the market, the company’s market share, and the products it manufactures.

He answered all the questions. I segmented the product into three different categories- kids, teen and racing/tourer/sport. After probing into each segment, the teen segment was seeing a decline. I did a profit break up for this segment. And it turned out that fixed cost has increased, causing the decline in profits.

He then asked me to come up with some recommendations to offset the increased cost. He wanted me to think and give him multiple options to increase profits, either to decrease costs or increase revenues.

After this case, he asked me whether I have any question. I asked him about the knowledge transfer among teams.

• Q1. Round two was more of an HR round. It also went for 30 minutes. There was no case as such. Again, the interview panel had one interviewer. She started off by as...read more
  Add Answer
• Q2. Her second question was about how my stay at NITIE has been till now.
  Add Answer
• Q3. Then she asked me to explain the latest nestle fiasco with financials. She also discussed the cost involved in the whole episode and how it will harm nestle. We...read more
  Add Answer
• Q4. Then she asked me whether I have any query.
  Add Answer
• Q5. While I was leaving, she asked me to describe myself in one word.
  Add Answer

• Q1. We started with my CV and I went ahead with mostly the details of my work experience I had prepared earlier which were in most accordance with my consulting pra...read more
  Add Answer
• Q2. Later we discussed two guesstimates, both on interests. Count the number of potholes on the roads of your hometown
  View Answers (1)
• Q3. Count the number of viewers of your favorite 20-year-old movie.
  Add Answer
• Q4. He asked me if I had a question, and I did, to which he gave a complete description.
  Add Answer

• Q1. This round started with the Sr. Managers asking for a fresh introduction which would not bore them.
  View Answers (1)
• Q2. Case - Insurance companies running losses.
  View Answers (2)

• Q1. This round started around 9 am and went on for about 15-20 minutes. This was with the partner who was very jovial and cheered up. We discussed about my geograph...read more
  Add Answer

• Q1. Introduce yourself.
  View Answers (1)
• Q2. Why the firm and why consultancy?
  View Answers (1)
• Q3. What are your hobbies and passion?
  Add Answer
• Q4. Guesstimate – No of cars on road in Mumbai.
  View Answers (1)

Round started with interviewers introducing themselves followed by the question tell me about yourself. Next, there were a couple of CV Questions. After that, they straight away went to case.

A valve manufacturing company (safety valve) used primarily in Oil and Gas sector, a leader in North America wants to expand its presence in India. There were two questions:

1. What factors should it consider?
2. Estimate the size of Indian market.
3. Using the previous calculations, estimate the size of other safety devises as well.
[Please note that I stands for Interviewer and C stands for Candidate]

Not a very detailed case but relating to my mechanical back ground and work experience in core sector, I could relate it very well to the situation at hand. It was a case of market expansion.

C: I first summarized the case & then asked if there are any secondary objectives that we need to achieve.

I: No

C: I would understand the economy of the country first. Looking at the present scenario, India looks to me as the only bright spot in this gloomy global economic scenario. Other factors that I would take into considerations are macroeconomic stability recent government’s reforms like GST legislation, ease of doing business rankings improvement, government stability, Pro business approach. Etc.

I: Looked satisfied and said other things apart from Economy

C: Then I would consider the industry, the factors being:
• Performance of industry (trends),
• Market structure and number of players (both domestic and international if any) in the market and their market share,
• Ease of entry and exit,
• Public sector and private sector (public sector generally have a preference of MOUs with some government PSUs or MSMEs for purchasing while private sector is more focused on cost).

I: I want you to figure it out my market size. Tell me the way to do it.

C: There would be two major segments: existing industries and expansion of the existing ones. Existing would already have these safety devises in place, so my preferred area would be upcoming plants. But there would be continuous requirement of valves even in the existing ones because of the life of a valve -It’s a safety feature and needs to be replaced at certain places based on the hours of its use or duration of its installation, whichever being earlier. To this the interviewer smiled and said You seems to know a lot!

I: Lets now look at new plants. How would u do a market sizing for me?

C: (After analyzing the situation at hand) I would do some market research to find out the ratio of the price of these devices to the overall cost of the machinery. Different industries have different levels of safety consciousness and have according levels of quality of safety spares used. This ratio would help me to estimate the size of the expanding industry based on their investment value.

I: That’s good. Provided me with the amount of investment of companies. And the ratio.

C: Figured it out and said the size.

I: Using this. Find out the size of other products in my portfolio, and decide what should be my priority. A table was presented with the ratio and the investment value of different sectors.

C: Figured it out based on calculation and decided on the priority based on market size.

I: CAGR of 3 industries were given (investment value), Now would your answer be the same?

C: Simple percentage calculation to arrive at the values.