NIBM, the think-tank of the banking industry, where peace is in the air and strength is in the academics, where lush green campus and chirping of birds will make your day,  where interaction with kingfishers, peacocks, beautiful cats and other splendors of nature (not leopards) are daily dose of happiness. Till now, NIBM has been the best place I have ever lived in. Now I have friends from every corner of the country who have expertise in different domains and are placed in reputed institutions at different positions.

Whenever I walk through the memory lane, I go back to old college days when I was confused with everything. I was in Hansraj College of Delhi University where I was pursuing B.Sc (H) in Chemistry. In those days I was unsure about everything except that Chemistry was not my cup of tea. Second year on wards, my friends started their career planning to join coaching institutes for IIT JAM, SSC, IBPS PO or MBA, it was the time for me to take a call and I decided to go for CAT. I wrote CAT and scored enough to secure a call for interview from NIBM. In the interview the panel was polite and did not grill me with tough questions but yes they checked my knowledge of basic banking (demonetization, GST, CRR, SLR, Inflation controlling measures and role of RBI etc.) Since I am inquisitive about things happening around me, I could make it through the interview.

Although NIBM was not my dream college initially, it did change my perspectives on it later, seeing its placements and academics. Now, I can assure that NIBM will prove to be the Dream College for those students who want to make career in Banking & Finance.

I am a Chemistry Graduate, PGDM first trimester was the most difficult for me. I did not have the basics of Accounts and Economics so I was quite unsure of my survival at NIBM. I was so under confident that I used to ask my seniors about the possibility of my survival and the best part is that I got support from everyone who I asked for. I started working hard and got the subjects under my control. Macroeconomics was one of my favorites and it helped me in understanding the movements of interest rates, financial stability in India and the role of RBI as a linchpin.

In next semester we were exposed to Econometrics and Model building which helped in understanding the researches done by elite bankers of different countries. After that we came to core risk management and treasury management and with the help of ace faculty of NIBM I was able to score decent in all those subjects. So for all those students who are afraid of not having background in commerce or economics I can assure you that you will be able to sail through it successfully if you keep working hard.

Apart from rigorous and rich academics we also have group of Chai addicts, Uno players, cricket and football lovers. Professors will give you surprises by throwing assignments, projects, presentations at most unexpected times and some of them will also surprise you by cancelling the projects when you are ready with it. They have taught us the flexibility in our nature which means it is not always about postponement it’s also about preponement or on the spot presentations. For some faculty members your presence doesn’t matter and for some of them you will have to hold your pee during the lecture. We all went through it and made it successfully.

I, Prafull Pandey, placed in Treasury Department of Federal Bank, want to assure all the aspirants for NIBM that it will not disappoint you and believe me all the hard work and sacrifices will definitely pay off with good CTC and profile in your hands.

All the best!

Prafull Pandey

PGDM 2017-19