MBA/PGDM

Group discussions and presentations are an integral part of the MBA curriculum in any business school. Be it a premier institute or Tier II college, there are a lot of presentations and Group discussions. The number also depends on the college and the student to some extent. Talking about the average, we can say that a student has to give around 25 to 30 presentations throughout the two-year course. It also depends on the course structure and the professor but let us ignore it.
Group discussions are used by companies to differentiate between the exam sitters and future employees. So commonly Group discussions take place during the placement season. Besides the placement season, students can take part in informal group discussion sessions conducted by the institute or themselves to prepare for the real ones. So the number is less and is around 7-8.

Hello,
IIM's are still in the phase of earning a recognition for their 1-year program. I would rank ISB as the top most choice for the same. It is ranked under top 30 colleges for doing MBA from around the world. The program, course structure, faculty and post-MBA placements are excellent in ISB and have been a threat to all major IIM's one year MBA programs.
While getting into ISB's one year program is extremely difficult, it is comparatively easy to get into EPGP of IIM B. The second choice would be SP Jain. While ISB is pretty much ahead of SP Jain with respect to the above parameters, SP Jain is slowly catching up with the top colleges around the world. SP Jain is too ranked under top 30 colleges in the world to do an MBA from.
If you are really looking for a one year MBA, then please consider ISB and SP Jain as your top choices, and in an extreme case, consider IIM B EPGP.

Yes, it increases your chances but it is not necessary.
So, why do CFA or FRM? These are courses for individuals interested in specific fields. CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) is for the ones who want to go in money/asset management. Those interested in equity research and analysis finds this course interesting. FRM (Financial Risk Management) is for those interested in risk management of various investments. So pursue these courses only if you want to go into that particular field and are genuinely interested. CFA takes almost one year for each level. There are three such levels. Only having level one will not help much for your career. During the interviews for admission it will surely sow your interest in finance as such. For CFA you need to put in lots of hours of study, so if you are not interested don't do it. Most of the students entering IIMs don't have a CFA. So it is okay not to have such certifications. Just go through the portions of the exam and see if you are interested.

Operations management is a field that can, at times, be confused because of its multidisciplinary character. However, its functions form the lynchpin of businesses the world over and success can often rest squarely on its shoulders. The MBA in operations management is a familiar specialization among leading business schools all over the world. There are two big terms that can help answer the question of what is operations management more precisely: supply chain management and logistics. So if you are willing to some additional course during the MBA, you can go for certification courses in Supply Chain Management and Logistics. SAP courses are available in many fields. There are also diploma courses offered by All India Management Association for MBA students. The time taken in these courses is 6 months to 18 months.