Students’ Speak: Ace these 10 common CAT GD-PI topics with ease

The Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds can be very tough to crack due to cutthroat competition. Aman Kumar shares responses to 10 commonly asked GD-PI topics to ace the selection rounds of IIMs and other top-tier b-schools with ease.

1. Is FDI in retail good or bad for the Indian Economy?

For: Yes, it is necessary for the Indian economy because India is a developing country, so there is a need for massive transformation. FDI in retail is of two types — single retail and multi retail stores. As we all know, the government of India has allowed 100 percent ownership and 51 percent ownership for single-brand retail and multi-brand retail. Additionally, there is a need for minimum Rs 500 crores investment for multi-branded retail stores.

One important benefit is that there will be more innovative opportunity in the retail sector and it will be helpful for reducing unnecessary expenses of the local manufactures. Products would be available much easily and will create more employment for the locals. FDI brings economic development to a country and we all know that India is a developing country that makes it very much necessary. It will be helpful for companies to link the business with e-commerce and in return, it will bring huge business and profit. It will be easily approachable for all the consumers. Many companies will open their outlets, which will create manpower requirements.

In simple words, we can say that under one roof, we will get all types of products easily. One important thing that will be helpful for a customer is less fuel consumption. And less fuel consumption means less pollution in the environment. It will be also helpful in generating GST revenues (The main tax structure in India right now).

Against: Where there is a rose, there is a thorn also. Allowing FDI in retail will create a conflict between the local manufacturers and bigger MNCs. FDI will result in job loss in the informal sector because India is the market comprising the informal sector, more than 90 percent of the market in India is composed of the informal sector. It will reduce the value of local and hand-made products in the market. The government will create policies according to the framework of bigger companies. It will create more competition in the market from a negative point of view. Every city administration needs to provide big lands to these MNCs for opening their outlets.

The worst thing here is that it will increase import and right now India needs is export because import creates short-term benefit for any economy but export creates more long-term avenues. We also know that importing is too expensive for any country because of the involvement of foreign currency. It can create a monopoly in the market that is not going to be good for any developing economy. Moreover, electricity consumption will also increase in every state of India.

2. Retirement Homes: Pros and Cons

In India, the concept of retirement is quite an interesting topic for discussion nowadays. See, a retirement home is just like a simple home where everyone gets all the basic facilities. However, there will be some extra facilities for elder people. Kindly keep in mind that this is not the old age home. There are many people from metropolitan cities who are initiating

retirement home programs.

Pros

• Here, people will get friends of their own age. They can make friends and interact with each other.
• They will get the chance to interact with the same community. Here, everyone will get special facilities as compared to old age homes. Among them, the most important being individual. Whether they are suffering from diseases or any other issues, they will get individual monitoring.
• Nurses and basic medical facilities will be available on 24*7 at retirement homes. The motive of these retirement homes is to make senior citizens more comfortable.
• They are designed in a way that there will be less damage at the time of natural disasters. There will be facilities for disabled people such as lift, arthritis-friendly fittings and other extraordinary features.
• Here, officials will not create any burden for elderly people and their kids to pay more. They will be treated with respect.

Cons

• Senior citizens can feel awkward in retirement homes because they will be totally cut-off from the real world.
• It can be quite expensive to manage for many middle-class families in India.
• Many families will put their senior family members into the retirement home and simply forget. They will leave their burdens without any moral obligations.
• Many of these senior citizens might be ill-treated by staff at these homes.
• Sometime, there may be situations where senior citizens may feel depressed.
• They will not get the actual feeling in the retirement home that they get in their real homes.

3. Can India becomes a $ 5 trillion economy

For: Yes, India can become a five trillion-economy dollar by 2024. Setting-up and managing business in India is going to be easy day by day. We all know that ranking in terms of ‘ease of doing business in India’ got Improved – it’s ranked 77 for 2018 term, earlier it was 130. It helps in the development of the Indian economy. The budget in 2019 was totally in favor of the 5 trillion economies.

The government had allocated 100 lakh crore rupees for the purpose of infrastructure development. Now, this will also increase employment opportunities. Government of India and Reserve Bank of India had decided to cut the interest rates. Just because of this, the money circulation will increase and people will also take a loan for their business. The finance ministry had also decided to infuse 70,000 crores to the banks so that they can issue new loans. This is also known as economy support. The government of India is fully confident to support the country to reach five trillion-economy by 2024. Reserve Bank of India is transferring Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the Government of India. This will help the government to improve other sectors and to invest in some bigger sectors.

World Bank’s ease of doing business in India had resulted in the 77^th rank. This will create new business opportunities from foreign soil.

Against

At present India’s economy is slowing down and everything is going against the economy of the country. India is facing massive downfall in every sector, whether it is employment, education, inflation, GDP, manufacturing, etc. For the five trillion-economy, India needs real 8 percent GDP growth. Right now, India is focusing on ‘Make in India’, whereas instead of ‘Make in India’, they should focus on ‘Made in India’ because it will be helpful in putting the economy back on the track.

Especially it will be helpful in job creation. It will reduce inflation and generate more wealth. Right now, in India, non-performing assets are increasing day by day that is affecting the banking sector too much. The privatization of Public Sector companies is not quite good sometimes because it affects employment right now, which will result in job loss. India is right now in the vicious cycle and the government is unable to provide salaries to employees of many public sector companies.

4. We and Us are important than I and You

For: We all know that togetherness creates unity while loneliness creates competition. At every stage of life, we all need someone who can support us during various ups and downs. We all know that, incorporate, working as a team gives better results. Examples will include projects in corporate offices, group assignments, etc.

You cannot win the battle alone whether it is a game of war. Kindly remember, behind every success, nobody achieves anything alone. You know the example of a joint family and nuclear family. In a joint family, the enjoyment level is totally high at the time of the festive season as compared to a nuclear family.

Sometimes we get scared and we need someone to hold us, the best example of ‘We’ and ‘Us’. There are many examples that emphasize that ‘We’ is very important. For this, we can learn from newly born children that they always want that someone should hug them always. Another good example is that no single person was responsible for freedom; several freedom fighters were involved in the struggle. Therefore, individuals can dream about success but groups actually enjoy success.

Against

‘I’ and ‘You’ is important because:-

• It will help to make you task-oriented
• Save you from conflicts in the corporate sector
• Help you to reach your desired result faster
• Always keep you motivated
• Individuality creates diversity
• Sometimes output level are very high in ‘I’ and ‘You’.

5. Universal Basic Income: Is this a good idea for India?

The idea of Universal Basic Income will create many opportunities in India. It will empower new generation. This will also boost the agriculture sector and low-income family groups that are dependent on agriculture. The government of India is ready to introduce Universal Basic Income nationally. It will cost 4.9 percent of India’s GDP in comparison to 5.2 percent of GDP spent on all 950 central sectors.

Here are the positive aspects of Universal Basic Income:

• Alleviation of poverty
• Reduce farmer distress.
• The most important thing is that it will tackle unemployment.
• Helpful in the development of skills amongst youth.
• It will empower the female genders in terms of employment.
• Helpful in the development of small- and medium-scale enterprises.

Negative aspects of Universal Basic Income:

• It will create additional expense to the government.
• The disparity will be more in income generation.
• Labor cost will be more, which means the cost of labor in the country will increase.
• Tax system will be disrupted, leading to less generation of tax.
• Inadequate cash supply.

6. Cryptocurrency, A fad or a bright future?

Cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency in which the use of cryptography to secure, create and control its transactions. It is a new form of currency, which is affecting the economy in both a positive and negative way. Blockchain is the main functional thing that is helping in the growth of the cryptocurrency.

For

• This currency will be independent in nature means no one can control it.
• It is similar to banking transactions.
• Transaction fee is very low as compared to other transactions.
• It will be helpful at the time of inflation.
• Business transactions of cryptocurrency will be anonymous.
• It will help eliminate the fake currency.

Against

• Create doubt about whether it will continue in the future or not
• It is unacceptable in most of the areas
• It may be risky sometimes
• It can unintentionally assist illegal activities
• Due to its irreversible nature, transferred money cannot be refunded
• Cyber-attacks will become more frequent

7. Will automation & Artificial intelligence reduce or increase jobs?

Nowadays, Artificial intelligence and Automation is in full swing. Almost everything is connected with artificial intelligence these days. Artificial intelligence is advancing the future. There are many aspects of AI that have both positive and negative implications.

For

• Technology will advance
• Bright future
• Reduce the old traditional jobs but will increase the new jobs
• Skill-development among the youths
• Development will happen in the education sector
• It will improve the banking sector (connect more and more customers easily)

Against

• Since technology has changed, many people are having a hard time to adapt to this change.
• Adopting AI can prove to be a costly affair for the corporate sector
• Many sectors are firing the employees just because they had opted for automation (In manufacturing industries).
• In the current unemployment scenario in India, it is not going to help at any cost
• Training and development for AI can prove to be expensive for companies.

8. Minimum support price: is it helpful or is it a game of politics?

Minimum support price is the price at which the government purchases crops from farmers. MSP is actually a reasonable price offered for crops in order to safeguard the interest of farmers. The government in the year 1967 introduced MSP for wheat. Afterward, they did it for various other crops.

 For:

• Offer fix prices to farmers for their crops.
• Protect them from the fluctuation of prices.
• Save the farmers from unwanted climatic conditions
• Prevent exploitation at the hands of middle-men
• Increase investment from farmers in crop production
• Due to globalization, MSP will be helpful in creating more export demand from other countries.
• Neglect the international level price variation.
• Contain the level of inflation

Against

• Since the decision taken by Narendra Modi government, it is criticised for being a political agenda to gain vote from farmers
• Many analysts are telling that this is going to be just on a paper solution and not executed in reality
• Many farmers feel that the solution is problematic since the government will not fix the maximum selling price according to every year production
• Whatever the government offers to farmers, it will neither reduce the loans of farmers nor reduce the suicide rates of farmers due to lack of proper implementation

9. Mission Mars - Can India afford these types of projects?

This was the first attempt from India to launch a successful mission to Mars. Mission mars were launched on November 5, 2019 from ISRO station, Shriharikota with the launch vehicle PSLV C25. The total duration for the Mission Mars was 300 days, from earth to mars.

For

• After this successful attempt, India’s stature in space exploration has increased manifold. India and specifically ISRO will be counted among the top space agencies after the U.S.A, Europe and Russia.
• It is going to increase the pressure among Asian countries such as China, Pakistan, etc.
• India became the first country in Asia to achieve this feat.
• The cost of the mission was one-sixth of NASA’s any project.
• Increase the space knowledge amongst the Indian students and fuel their interest too.
• As we all know, space program helps in many ways, such as technology advancement in this field helps improve natural disaster prediction.

Against

• The economy of India is in a struggling condition and investing money on these projects is going to help the economy, simply increase the expenses
• Unemployment, inflation, farmer suicide, etc. deserve more attention than this project at the moment
• It will only satisfy the ego amongst superpowers of the world
• Instead of this, the government of India should focus on fulfilling its promise of building Smart Cities. The Smart City program will increase the livelihood of human beings.
• Government of India should focus more on ensuring two times mouthful for the entire population (Rank of India in the global hunger index is 102).

10. Knowledge-based economy, is it good for India in terms of Development?

The knowledge-based economy focuses on products and services through knowledge-based activities. The knowledge-based economy thrives on the skilled workforce for better development. There is a dire need for innovation and research for this type of economy.

For

• India has the highest youth population among all the countries in the world. It is going to encourage youths to learn more skills under one roof.
• It will be helpful for the development of the country in terms of education, employment and livelihood of human beings.
• Encourage global superpowers to invest more in our country in terms of information technology.
• Create an efficient way to use natural resources.
• With the advancement in Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, etc., the overall output is expected to improve.

Against

• Most of the population lives in rural areas - how can we imagine that this population is aware of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, etc.?
• The education system in most parts of India still rely on traditional methods
• Many parts of India are hilly areas and such type of massive development in those areas is quite challenging.
• Knowledge-based economy will result in massive unemployment in the country.
• For a knowledge-based economy, the basic requirement is a need for good infrastructure.

About the Author:

Aman Kumar is an MBA student at Lovely Professional University with experience in marketing, banking, educational management and strategy. Some of the key skills include leadership, team building and strategy-focused work along with problem-handling skills. Experienced in crop residue management, Kumar has worked as an intern at Bihar State Milk Federation (COMFED).