Meet Souradeep Chakraborty, NITIE Mumbai Student talk about MBA After BTech, tips to crack CAT, & more

Considering the popularity of NITIE-Mumbai among MBA aspirants, Shiksha.com got in touch with Souradeep Chakraborty from the MBA batch 2020-22 to understand life NITIE Mumbai. Check out some interesting excerpts from the interview below:

Souradeep Chakraborty: NITIE Mumbai, MBA Class of 2020-22

Nudging the top Indian Institute of Management across the country, NITIE Mumbai has made its own name among the best business schools in India. Popularly known as ‘Mecca of Operations and Supply Chain Management’ NITIE has made it to list of almost all top CAT scorers.

Considering the popularity of NITIE-Mumbai among MBA aspirants, Shiksha.com got in touch with Souradeep Chakraborty from the MBA batch 2020-22 to understand life NITIE Mumbai. Hailing from Kolkata, West Bengal, Souradeep, a Mechanical Engineer from NIT Durgapur took a leap toward his management career. 

Name: Souradeep Chakraborty

CAT Percentile: 99.34
MBA Pass Out Year:2022
Overall Score at NITIE: 8.49 CGPA
Current Profile: Sr Mgr, Procurement, GAVL Creamline Dairy Products Ltd

Chakraborty shared about his experience at NITIE Mumbai, placement process, tips to crack CAT, his transition from a working professional to an MBA student and more. Check out some interesting excerpts from the interview below:

Q: What was the key part of NITIE Mumbai’s MBA programme that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you?

A: I got inclined towards NITIE, simply, because it is the “Mecca of Operations and Supply Chain Management”. Having worked in the Operations and Maintenance domain for 3 years prior to NITIE, I had always wanted to join a college that could provide opportunities of every kind, experienced faculty, and a community that shared a similar interest, whom I could network and collaborate with.

Established in 1963, NITIE has 60 years of legacy in the field of management studies, with excellent infrastructure, interesting teaching methodology, and alums spread across the globe, which made it one of my top preferences.

Q: Which one habit that you followed during your CAT preparation helped you crack the management entrance exam?

A: If I had to speak honestly, I started preparing for CAT just 1 month before the D-day. As an engineer, I was fairly confident in my quantitative and verbal ability skills. One habit that I inculcated during preparation, though, would be consistent time management- from taking out time to study every day after work hours, to solving previous year papers.

One thing I regret though is that I wasn’t left with enough time for mocks, which fortunately didn’t impact my actual scores.

Q: Describe your educational background:

A: I graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Durgapur in 2016, with first-class distinction and a CGPA of 8.50. I took CAT and XAT for the first time in 2019 and 2020 respectively, making it to NITIE PGDIM, from which I graduated with a CGPA of 8.49.

Q: From BTech in Mechanical Engineering to MBA at NITIE, what was the driving force behind this transition? What is the next milestone you want to achieve after graduation?

A: As a Mechanical Engineer, I had always wanted to work in the core Operations domain. However, having worked for 3 years at Vedanta Aluminium Limited, and growing through the organization, I came to realize that you need a holistic viewpoint of different scenarios, be it technical, financial, commercial, sales, or even human resources to flourish as a leader. This served as the driving factor for a course correction, and apply for MBA.

Having passed out from NITIE, I am currently working at Godrej Agrovet Limited, in their Creamline Dairy division, looking after strategic procurement and supply planning.

Q: Describe the biggest accomplishment in your career so far:

A: As a professional, I led several projects as a part of multiple cross-functional teams, which had long-standing financial implications. However, there are two I am most proud of.

First was a project to “Improve the Liquor productivity”, where we achieved 25% increase in productivity, resulting in annual savings of Rs 147 crore. Second was a combination of projects to “Reduce turnaround time of HST” by 46%, “Improve availability of filter units” by 11%, and “Improvement of pump seal life” by 300%, realizing annual savings of Rs 66 crores. These projects provided significant learnings professionally, and were instrumental in building project management skills, which I am sure will be useful for the rest of my life.

Q: Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student.

A: The fast-paced life of an MBA student implies juggling classes, assignments, case study competitions, placements, projects, and much more. Every day you are prioritizing tasks from most-to-least important in a cognitive manner. I thing this has been my biggest achievement as an MBA student.

Q: How was NITIE Placement Process? How NITIE Mumbai helped you in developing skills that industry demands?

A: For the batch of 2022, we had 100% placements, with 150 PPO offers. I chose not to sit for NITIE Final placement process, since I had already received a PPO from Godrej Agrovet.

NITIE has a case-based pedagogy, with experienced faculty, which help you gather insights in different domains. The peer-to-peer discussions that happen as a part of assignments or competitions, also help you learn from the expertise and experiences of people coming in from various walks of life. NITIE has also stated organizing digital courses, in association with renowned global universities, in addition to having tie-ups with several companies, that add to the real-world experiences that you would not easily get sitting in a classroom.

Q: How MBA helped you transform your skills as per industry?

A: As an engineer in the manufacturing sector, I had already realized what the industry demands is a skillset that encompasses multiple domains, to make it big. An MBA degree, with an amalgamation of diverse courses, ranging from finance to marketing to analytics, will help scale up my skills to meet the industry standards and explore the varied scope of application. The confidence to take on those challenges head-on, and the awareness of what is going on in the business world, are valued at an individual level.

Q: Important advise for aspirants aiming to gain admission at NITIE Mumbai

A: Firstly, be clear on why you want to pursue MBA. Also, introspect to find your strengths and weaknesses, and devote time to work on them.

As far as CAT is concerned, do not neglect any section, and work on your weaker areas through dedicated mock exams, and analyze them diligently. For the interview preparations, prepare your CV backups properly, and have a robust framework ready to explain every minute detail mentioned. Read about the course and institute details, in order to form a clear image of why do you want to join NITIE.

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