SBI PO Interview Experience 2016

Dear Readers,

Below is my SBI PO 2016 interview experience. I hope, it might help anyone gearing up for the same.

My GD and PI venue was SBI LHO Complex, New Delhi. I was to report on 6th September at 12 noon; reached the venue by 11:30pm and the document verification was over by 12:30pm. The group I was in, was called for GD at around 2:00pm.

Group Discussion

Two gentlemen were overseeing the GD process. The topic of the GD was: Is “selfie” an undesirable feature of the technology?

Each one of us group members was given time of 5 minutes, to collect his thought and then 20 minutes for collectively discussing the topic amongst ourselves. A good discussion was taking place before a gentleman from the group declared that a consensus was reached about the topic and then started pronouncing the conclusion, only to be interrupted by the moderator that how can one person on the behalf of the whole group say- a consensus has been reached! GD resumed on this note and went on amicably towards a consensus of “selfie” not being an undesirable feature of technology and just calls for basic human intelligence to be used just as for any other technology. Overall, the discussion was pretty civil and fruitful.

 Prioritisation

In the next part, we had to prioritise, in order of personal preference, a set of 8 qualities which as a team leader we wanted in our prospective team members for a new project. The qualities were

·         Intelligence

·         Initiative

·         Obedience

·         Independent thought

·         Honesty

·         Job Knowledge

·         Expertise

·         Focus on Goal

The moderators first gave us 5 minutes for individual thinking and then 20 minutes to discuss and bring a consensus about the most and the least desirable quality. Though no consensus could be reached, but the discussion fared reasonably well. After the GD process got over, we waited for our interview turns.

 Personal Interview

Had to wait pretty long before I was finally called in for the interview at 5:40pm. The panel, contrary to my belief, seemed cheerful after a long day of interviewing people and even still, interested in my answers. The panel consisted of 3Gentlemen and 1Lady – all senior bankers. The PI went for about 5-6 minutes. No intro or stuff was asked and the panel meant business right from the word go.

F3:      You’ve done engineering. Which branch?

I:         Computer Science, ma’am.

F3:      Ok, tell me something about the Indian economy.

I:         Told about Indian economy type, RBI, RBI Guv change…

F3:      Mr. Urjit Patel headed a committee in RBI before becoming RBI Guv. Tell me about it.

I:         I didn’t recall it then. But told them that he headed it since 2014.

F3:      What is inflation? (Followed by RBI’s role)

I:         Told about it, inflationary measures, RBI’s role in interest control etc.

F3:      Is controlling inflation that simple? Caused and controlled by merely changing rates?

I:         Told her about cost push inflation; she seemed satisfied

M4:     India produces so much food, still food security not in place. Chief reasons?

I:         Told about lacking cold storage, poor warehouse infrastructure, lacking transport facilities etc.

F3:      Our GDP is performing best year-on-year, still so much poverty. Why?

I:         Couldn’t answer

F3:      Why are so many people poor in our country?

I:      Answered with population, lack of basic education, and other factors…. They seemed somewhat satisfied

M2:    You told about cold storage. The govt. is giving subsidy of up to 50% on cold chains, still not utilized by agriculture stakeholders. Why?

I:       Answered regarding lack of good transportation services (Inefficient last mile service can be added to the answer).

M2:     What RIDF is specifically for?

I:         Didn’t know.

M1:     Ok, quickly tell me the names of 5 national parties and their chiefs.

I:          Answered 4.

M1:     Ok, that’s it from our side. Thank you.

That’s about my GD & PI. Hoping for the best.

Thanks & Regards,

Vats N