VJTI Alumni Meet

This year's VJTI Alumnni Meet would be the most remembered as I got an opportunity to attend an interactive session of none other than Mr. Narayan Murthy , Cheif Mentor , Infosys.

As Business graduates , we talk about how do we generate money and be profitable. Bot
tom Line is the most important thing for us , As it signifies our progress.

Narayan Murthy started talking with introducing India. He rightly said , there are two India : One with booming economy , high GDP forecast , IIP numbers rising , Explorations on Moon with Chandrayan-1 and other India : With high number of Malnourished children ,High number of children dropping out of Primary school , People deprived of basic needs ,Poor Infrastructure in remote areas.

He talked on Education in India , and the importance given to Examination-oriented study. He rightly said, that most of students learn concepts before exams and after two months they tend to forget the same. He also talked on importance of Mathematics in Engineering and that Examination must be an " Open Book Affair " with high significance given to thought process rather than memorizing. I second this suggestion as this is also goes well to Post-graduate courses in India. Many of the theory subjects demand memorizing of the subject matter which I think is trivial, rather a Case-Study approach must be used which will expose students to real-life examples and help Students start thinking rather than mugging.

With Q & A session , Many core issues were raised , like Companies which come to recruit giving high importance to Examination marks by which students are then tempted to score in exams and avoid learning more about the subject. Politics was also discussed and how one should always stand by one's principles / value system. Mr. Narayan Murthy said that " It is highly disappointing to see decreased number of voting with only. He said that until citizens dont come and vote ,the Political system will not improve and for that system to change we need Better candidates.Ev en after the Mumbai attacks and outrage shown by entire country against the attacks, The same response failed to be seen in Mumbai polling statistics. Voter turnout for Mumbai was 43.3 % from the Eligible voters which was even 1% less than General Elections 2009. Programs such as Jaago-Re campaign associated with Tata-Tea would help in awareness of voting in urban voters.

Gyaan for CFA Level-1 Candidates.

CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) is a course provided by CFA Institute, USA. It consists of three Levels, with Level-1 you can appear in June, December while Level 2 & 3 only in June.
Why CFA?
CFA mainly helps for those who want to work on Equities, Handling Portfolio , Investment Research , Backend of Investment Banking. For Students , It is surely a way to enhance your CV value but only when backed with sufficient amount of Practical Knowledge ( Which you can gain by reading Economic Times daily or doing some Live Corporate Projects based on your area of interests).
CFA Level-1 is the basic level testing in all areas:
1) Ethics
2) Quant
3) Financial Statement Analysis
4) Economics
5) Corporate Finance
6) Derivatives
7) Equity
8) Fixed Income
9) Portfolio Management
10) Alternative Investments
Most of my mates at JBIMS as well as CA friends are planning to take this exam in June'09 so thought of sharing some of my own experiences as well as tips to crack the exam.
How to Start?
Commerce Students can start first with Financial Statement Analysis whereas Engineering grads can start with Quantitative Methods.
Strategy: It is always better to start with comfortable topic than taking a topic which you find difficult to cope with.
Which areas to stress upon more:
Ethics, Financial Statement Analysis , Quant and Economics
Ethics is sort of confusing and you have to prepare well to get cases right. You can do Ethics after completing Quant/ FSA and then regularly practice it. Make sure that you are in touch with Ethics ( All Laws..) till the end of exams else you are bound to get confused in Examination Hall.
Do Not Leave a Single topic:

Make sure that you read up on all 10 areas , Leaving even a small area like Alternative Investments is not advisable.

Mocks:
Make sure that you take as many mocks before the exams.Schweser Book Volume 6 (contains 3 mock papers)and one free mock must be atleast solved before Final Exam provided by CFA Institute, USA.
Work Hard !!!....Work Smart !!!!....All the Best for Exams...!!...Any Queries Please comment.