In a world with AI jobs, these are the skills HR should focus on
An increasing number of employers and educators feel that current and prospective employees should train for these skills from an early age Stories about the takeover of jobs by machines are no longer science fiction, they’re daily news. From Wipro’s Holmes taking over the jobs of 3,000 people to Bank of America opening three new branches without employees, the new world of work is at a tipping point. Satya Nadella in a recent interview with ET said There are many things AI will never be able to do… (like) show empathy And according to the The Future of Jobs report, at least 4 of the top 10 skills for future will rely on communication and interpersonal skills. These include: 1) People management; 2) Coordinating with others, 3) Service orientation and 4) Negotiation. All of which could be bracketed within soft skills. A recent study by Timesjobs notes that 70 percent of the job seekers are not fully satisfied with the candidates soft skills. This article will outline key trends in soft skills enablement and identify areas that HR leaders should pay attention to. According to Alessandro Giuliani, Managing Director, MISB Bocconi, a leading business school, most Indian MBA aspirants are not equipped to thinking critically and to articulate their thoughts, even though they may possess excellent technical skills. In order to identify the right candidate, employers have been using extracurricular activities like volunteering, sports and sometimes even participation in study aboard programs as benchmarks to assess the qualities of a prospective candidate. At B-schools, like MISB Bocconi, the focus is on providing candidates with ample of opportunities to showcase their team working abilities and also work on live projects during their coursework. Within organizations, companies are turning to programs to equip their workforce. Niharika Jalan, Head Training at Kestone points out that Many organizations are increasingly adopting innovative and fun ways to keep the participants engaged. This includes; specific role playing games, gamified tools, one to one coaching and digital learning platforms. While Gamification is an innovative and upcoming training methodology that will interest the young millennials, the same method of training may not be successful for senior management, says KS Saravanasan, Associate VP L&D Omega Healthcare, a BPO in the healthcare space. For seniors, it will have to be more an outbound and scenario based learning followed by one-on-one coaching, he adds The role of HR The key challenge for HR professionals is two-fold: 1) Mapping skills and identifying individual development areas of the candidate 2) Identifying programs that are in line with the organization’s strategy and culture. Companies are turning to 360-degree feedback, assessments, and communication excellence programs to map a long-term learning roadmap to identify improvement areas. Other than conventional team building activities and capability building initiatives, companies are also turning to non-conventional means of learning. Jalan points out that this includes Skill development programs using art-based tools, such as theater, painting, music and storytelling. Identifying what method works for the organizations culture and demographic and mapping these attributes to the business goals is the next step. In the end, the impact is personal. “If the employee is able to experience an impact in his performance KRA, it will increase satisfaction and motivation levels, Saravanasan notes. HR also needs to play an active role in enabling effective communication that shows employees the value in embarking on a development program. Need to start young While graduate level educational institutions are focused on enabling these skills among candidates, both business and HR leaders, as well as leading education experts, are unanimous about the need to inculcate these skills at a much earlier phase. According to Nina Nair, VP and Head – HRD (India and Latin America) at [24] 7 Inc says, There is a need to introduce and inculcate these skills at the school level as they need to be practiced over a period of time to become an intrinsic part of one’s personality. In an increasingly uncertain future, the potential to think critically and manage business change will be crucial and enhancing soft skills will enable individuals to not only become independent but will empower them to become capable leaders. Author- J Jerry Moses is Assistant Manager – Content at People Matters First Appeared on http://www.peoplematters.in
Semester In Milan – Photo Blog
There are too many pictures… so hold on we are coming up with part 2. 🙂
9 Life Lessons That You Can Learn From Traveling
Written By John Jacob, PGPB Candidate 2015-17 My Second year at Bocconi gave me plenty of opportunities to explore the world. First up was the Campus Abroad Program at the iconic UC campus at Los Angeles. California is a beach boy’s dream and living there for a month taking a course on Entrepreneurship, working with colleagues from across the world including Imperial College London and Bocconi Milan was a lesson in embracing diversity. Spending evenings at the beaches of Santa Monica and Malibu, checking out eateries at downtown LA, boulevards of Hollywood, traveling to other cities in the US, it was an experience of a lifetime. Next up was the exchange semester in Italy. Italy really is a beautiful country, similar to India and the parallels to the Indian culture and people are many. Very family oriented and diverse. University was a big part of our Italy experience and it was amazing to attend a university of the repute of Bocconi. The opportunities that Bocconi gives you in- Italy, there’s nothing like it and during my short stint at Bocconi, it was evident. Travel was, of course, a very big part of our Erasmus plans. Ryan air’s cheap fares were the best thing that could happen to us and we set out to explore Europe almost every other weekend. I visited 17 countries, covering about 35 odd cities. Here’s a tiny peek into what went down during those four months. Western Europe – Paris, Amsterdam, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, and Germany – These countries had the most to offer from a tourist’s perspective. SUPER PRICY! But how can you miss the Eiffel beaming her metallic smile or the Arc de Triomphe on the grand Champs-Elysees? The Louvre (Mona Lisa’s Abode), the canals, windmills and beautiful farmlands of Amsterdam, the snow-capped mountains, serene lakes and natural beauty of Switzerland, the nightlife of Barcelona, Berlin and Munich (special mention to the Oktoberfest), and lastly the waffles and chocolates of Belgium (nothing touristy to see, but eat you must) – are all a must visit/must-do before you die. Greece requires special mention was an amazing Mediterranean experience. From the sunsets at Oia, the food at Fira to the ruins of Athens. Greece mesmerizes you with its history, culture, diversity and beauty. None of us wanted to leave. Slovenia with its underground caves and castles, Prague – Czech Republic, Budapest Hungary, and Warsaw- Poland are top destinations in Eastern Europe. Amazing nightlife, amazing people, and it’s really easy on the pocket too! Budapest was my favorite destination. Cheapest destination, great food, good infrastructure almost like a mini Paris but with really friendly people and how can I forget.. The thermal baths were a treat in the cold-cold winter. MUST VISIT! Finally, I decided that I had to see the northern lights. Wandered to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway – Tromso and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Watching the glorious northern lights in all its splendor was almost like a life changing experience. Vatican and San Marino are two countries to visit within Italy, not to forget Venice, Florence, Trieste, Rome, Turin, Naples and the Amalfi coast all beautiful places to see. Many of my colleagues also visited Finland, Austria, Croatia, and Romania. Special mention to Plitvice lakes National Park in Croatia. What has travel taught me? Learning from other cultures Behaviour, choices and lifestyles you come across while traveling in the local metro, watching a football match, shopping at the supermarket, roaming the streets or even having a meal or browsing a library will be extremely different from what you witness back home. Adopt the good! Empathy. You understand the pains of others and the problems we often think are non-existent in developedcountries. You learn to empathize. Patience – funny story, we waited four hours (12 AM to 4 AM), freezing in the cold, outdoors, on the streets of Paris waiting for our bus to the airport. Being bereft of social media and connectivity – I am usually a sucker for WiFi and traveling detaches you from connectivity and helps you realize that the digital world isn’t the real deal. Others are not so different – Although people are from different races, ethnicities, and cultures, they are inherently the same, similar emotions and thought processes, ambitions and goals. The end goal is always peace of mind, happiness, and sustenance. We’re all the same! Capabilities – It empowers you to know that you are capable. Capable of making new friends with complete strangers being an introvert, managing conflict and unruly behavior, managing language barriers, managing finances, providing for yourself and learning that you are capable of being independent. The value of home – Being away you understand how much you sometimes undervalue your country, your loved ones and the comfort and care of home when you’re around. Humility – Travel makes one modest. You just begin to see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. Living in the moment – Forget the past, stop worrying about the future and enjoy what’s going on! Enough Gyaan I guess, Gooo! Book your next vacation. Happy Travels 😉 Check the photo blog Here – Click Here
I promise you, it is an adventure you will never forget!
After packing 27 kgs of food and 38 kgs of clothes along with other miscellaneous requirements, I flew to Milan for my exchange semester at Bocconi. Keeping in mind that I had to forget Indian food and fanciful expenditure and get into terms with seriously cold winters, new people, new cultures and a whole new adventure. 4 months in Milan was a life changing experience. I realized that I could do so much more than I thought was actually possible. With my choice of subjects (advanced marketing, strategic marketing, and marketing plan, pricing management, global operations and supply chain and management of fashion and luxury companies) I had ample of time to travel as well. Having said that, the group assignments with students from around the globe was one of a kind. You either get a group who always want to party or a group which always wants to meet for the smallest of things and then proceed. It was crucial to understand how people work, at the same time make friends and feel comfortable yourself because why not? A student body called the Erasmus students exchange was another thing I enjoyed the most. They host trips and small aperitivos (evening drinks and snacks) for all international students and trust me, it was extremely well organized and fun! Although I joined them very late and only went to Slovenia and Trieste with them, but it was of the best trips of my exchange apart from Greece and Spain. Amidst all the excitement and the rosy environment, The most interesting subject for me was Advanced marketing– it taught us how to understand the perceptions of a product in the market, how to calculate the monetary implications of it and how to hence price the product. Believe it or not, the final presentations included an open bar and free pizzas too! On the contrary, management of fashion and luxury companies gave me an opportunity to work with L’Oréal on a new product line yet to be launched. Strategic marketing plan got our way to work on a live project with Henkel while global operations and supply chain management got us grilling into a real life procurement simulation. On the whole – the experience is exceptional. In 4 months I didn’t just travel, but I had margarita pizza from more than 40 restaurants and collected postcards from more than 28 cities. Once in your life – one should definitely experience an exchange semester like the one MISB offers. I promise you, it is an adventure you will never forget. Written By- Shradha Varma, PGPB Class of 2017 Picture Courtesy- Arjun Bhattacharya, PGPB Class of 2017
Winning through Innovation
Written by Professor Dr Anjana Grewal- Senior Professor and Director Centers of Excellence In a discussion between Prof Maurizio Poli PGPB Program Director-MISB Bocconi, and myself a few months ago, he requested that I initiate work on a Leadership Series for PGPB4 for the month of Jan 2017. While immersing myself in how to generate value for students who will be graduating shortly, my thoughts gravitated to an area which is very close to my heart and that is Innovation. With all my years in the industry be it FMCG or Financial Services, where I have led several successful initiatives what distinguished most of them were creativity and innovation which led to new market spaces and added strongly to business volumes. We therefore designed a course which was a fusion of theory combined with experience sharing by senior industry leaders from varied industry domains to add a richness to the course and the student learning. The journey for us has been extremely satisfying. A yardstick we used for our invitations to industry leaders was the International Forbes 100 list of top companies in Innovation. This added a great deal of insight and value in the search process which was undertaken by myself and Amit- (team member) The experience was exciting, rich and revealing. The design and thought process was supported by our seniors- MD-Mr Alessandro Giuliani and Prof Maurizio Poli. We also roped in the assistance of Prof Paola Bielli to add an American touch to our invitations. The week began with Prof Deependra Moitra, who kick-started with-What spurs innovation in companies? Creative people, visionary leaders, or organizational culture- Innovation creating competitive advantage? Then followed company experiences: Vishal Kapoor Chief Design Officer- Future Group. He help business use design at a strategic and corporate level to increase performance and profitability. My key contribution has been in identifying the Customer Experience and Service key touch points and core Brand Values in a business and then being able to create coherent and well planned strategies for implementation, which are focused on creating tangible bottom line results. Design- A noun or a verb? And Koustav Dasgupta-Head Conduent Labs India (earlier co name: Xerox)- special algorithms which will cut search time. He leads a world-class research organization in a wide range of activities related to platform modernization, business process automation and optimization, data analytics, mobility and user experience. On Friday we had with us Roberto Evaristo-Ph.D – from Outthink, LLC-Management Consulting who will weave in his innovation experience at 3 M. He was honored at 3M to receive the Pyramid of Excellence Award for efficiency and growth on global sales. My approach has been used by corporate, non-profit and government entities including NASA JPL, Sustainability Victoria (Australia), the city of Ann Arbor, and Washtenaw County. As an author, professor, and speaker, he presents to IT, M&A and business groups including World Bank and The Conference Board on topics related to Being Efficient at Being Efficient. More next week.
7 Marketing takeaways from an auto show
Having a prodigious opportunity to intern with Lamborghini, I got a chance to observe an auto car show at grass root level. Captivating the media, consumers and other influencers at automotive shows can be a big challenge. Let’s start with the fact that most shows offer little surprises. For the most part, most new-car introductions or unveils are known by visitors well in advance of the show. Another challenge of the major shows is the sheer scale. This year’s Auto Car Performance show 2017 featured around 30 top car brands and foot fall of more than 60,000 auto fans. It’s easy to imagine how information overload can happen. At the Auto Car Performance show 2017 , Mumbai, thousands of millennials, fashion conscious and concerned with individual expression, expressing themes of different car brands such as individuality, connectivity, mobility and energy . Meanwhile, the hustle of normal Mumbai life continues around them. It’s an example of how auto makers are turning to less conventional, more experiential marketing techniques at auto shows to differentiate their brands and cut through the clutter. Here are 7 learning I grasped from an auto show: 1 Making an impactful statement These shows are an opportunistic approach for brands to send a message about what different brands stand for, where are they headed, and continue to move consumer perception in a meaningful way. 2 Eliminating superfluous glitz Most auto brands are here not to make customers but just to provide a show to their fans, especially the luxury brands. Rest generally prefers to generate leads at an auto show to discuss business at a later stage. A simpler, visceral experience is nearly always more powerful than cramming extra design features and details for a no-customer, which may be distracting and which no one in the audience will remember or care when they leave the show. 3 Focus on the future Brands having a heritage of engineering innovation, generally focus on reminding the audience of this but carefully hedges its dominance at an auto show. Automotive journalists, and many consumers, tend to care most about who is going to lead the industry into the future. Where the brands are going next is much more important than what brought them at this stage. 4 Challenge conventional thinking Instead of clinging to past approaches just for the sole reason that they’ve worked in the past, auto show events are standing out as a great opportunity to show what differentiates different brands. They are formulating different approaches to emotionally engage the audience, surprising them while making them think differently about one brand in relation to its competitors. 5 Creating buzz At these auto shows, auto companies are really trying to make a splash. They want to create buzz. Small businesses need to get customers excited over what they sell or provide. Engaging with customers who had a great experience dealing with the brand and asking them to write a review. Word of mouth recommendations can go a long way and help to bring in new customers. And if the buzz is good about your business, new customers can potentially become long-term customers. 6 Be inviting to be Found Auto shows are all about putting potential buyers in the driver’s seat. Even if you can’t afford that expensive luxury Italian sports car, it’s pretty thrilling just to sit behind the wheel of one. Showing prospects and customers what’s under the hood of the business. Clarifying on what the business are about and building awareness and engagement by doing so. Be inviting. 7 Positioning Differently At car shows, automakers work uniquely to make a point of difference. Positioning on the basis of features, design, performance, services and brand intangibles are some common strategies one may look out at auto shows. Special thanks to Gautam Madnani, Anupam Sehgal and Suraj Sapaliga for providing me the opportunity to explore the world of Automotive Businesses.
Why I Enjoy MISB Bocconi?
Written by Livia Thomas, PGPB Candidate 2018 M Metamorphosis As cheesy as that sounds, you do end up leaving this school as a much more mature and experienced person of character. The classes, students, faculty, live projects, and internship teach you so many good and bad things – they greatly accelerate the process of making you, the BEST of you. I Involved One may complain that the school is so tiny one floor, I mean for the love of God I can easily order for my lunch from the canteen by just yelling from the reception (wouldn’t recommend the yelling, though). The point is because the school is so small, the individual attention that each student gets to better their performance and help them do their best is a LOT more than what any other MBA college can give. Everyone is so involved in only nurturing your wonderful selves but not in the annoying Anu aunty way. S Space While this might counter the smallness point above, I’m not talking about the physical aspect. The faculty and management give you space and time to figure out what you want exactly from your career life. They sit down with you, ask you your interests, show you the range of opportunities in the world in the before mentioned interests, help you decide what you want to do and it doesn’t stop there. They give you contacts and networks whom you can connect with to build your career path and so much more! As and when you require them, they are THERE FOR YOU. B Blended I get to meet people from almost 20 states in India everyday. I get to interact with them, understand the cultural similarities and differences, work with the varied backgrounds and build a strong bond with them. I’m only in my first year and I have already had such a great experience with my classmates, it upsets me to even think of leaving this place in another year. The concept of friends group where different combinations of students get to work with each other in groups for the daily assignments and projects really help you build qualities and skills of being able to adjust and work with anyone with ease, patience, and open-mindedness. The mix here is just great! Bocconi Last but definitely not the least, I am studying under the parent name of Bocconi, 10th in the world for business and management studies by QS World University Rankings and SDA Bocconi which is the 25th best MBA program in the world according to Financial Times and has triple crown accreditation AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA . The faculty is VERY knowledgeable and so learned in their own fields, they inspire you to reach their level of awesomeness and help you with it too! At the end of the programme, you get a Diploma in International Business by SDA Bocconi which is incredible. I think I’ve made my point.
From The Admission Desk: Update [2] on PGPB Application Round 2
With the beginning of the Placement Season at MISB Bocconi, we are glad to announce that a couple of Days back 3 of our students got placed in Consulting Profiles at Universal Consulting and 2 others in a strong Retail Brand. At MISB Bocconi & Jobs. we have multiple companies recruiting for various profiles. We will update you once the selection is complete. Please note: The Round 2 deadline is 25th January. Result Of Round 2: 10th February Admission Acceptance Deadline: By 25th February by Paying 2 Lac INR Admission Fee Withdrawal Date: Full Refund till 10th Of March. After this date, if a student withdraws, no refund. Applications are read on an ongoing basis as you submit them. Once shortlisted, you will get a call/email from the admissions team regarding scheduling your interview or if there is a need for you to take the Bocconi Test. Face To Face Interview Dates For Earlier Submissions: 29th – Kolkata 29th – Pune 3rd Feb – New Delhi 5th Feb – Bangalore Mumbai – Ongoing Interviews Other cities – Online Interview MISB Bocconi Team 022 4086 7024
Academics with cultural mix was the essence of my exchange semester
India is a hub of several ethnicities and cultures, albeit their thought process and way of working converge eventually to the same methodology aka Indian style. Exchange semester is an opportunity to explore the world, gain international friends and live life as a local in another culture. My exchange semester at Universit Bocconi in Milano was an unforgettable journey of personal growth and self-actualization. The package consisted of – Multiple specializations taught by world-class professors shared resources such as the magnificent library, study bunkers, data labs, student clubs, international clubs like Erasmus, sports clubs etc. and a whole lot of new experiences. Among all, exchanging thoughts and engaging in tasks with so many intelligent people from different nationals appears a treasure for life. I worked majorly with Germans, French, Russians, Hungarians, Belgians, Canadians, Chinese and last but not the least the Italians, during various group assignments and class discussions. In the tenure of the course, I witnessed the variance in the attitudes and the point of views associated with these nationalities. Certainly, I wouldn’t generalize the countries based on interaction with a bunch of people from there nevertheless, I perceived Germans as punctual, very direct and result-oriented, on the contrary, Hungarians as slow-paced but considerate and welcoming in nature. Italians that I encountered, were technically sound, systematic and dedicated, I would say. There is no right or wrong about their ethos, it’s just about doing the same things in distinct inherited manners. Meanwhile, rest of the activities vis -vis academics and live projects ran in parallel. I got opportunities to work with Bain & Company and PSA automobiles as a part of course curriculum and I continued burning the midnight oil in order to meet the deadlines. All these episodes have impacted me greatly; I am more open to new things now and want to explore more than ever. Apart from academics, the fun-filled times in Europe, such as get-together parties in Milano, journey across dummy borders by short- distance flights, trains and buses with just a bag pack, navigating around the cities like Budapest, Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Sirmione etc., Oktoberfest in Munich, chilling at Garda lake and lots of other beaches in summers and whatnot; these are invaluable adventures which will remain in my book of memories forever. Now I am much more aware of the world by experiencing different cultures, different lifestyles, and different languages which changed my perception about life and people. I am more patient now and I try to grasp everything without judging them on the first impression. There is always something more to everything and everyone. The semester is over as all good things must come to an end eventually, but the next chapter of bigger things awaits. Written by Sagar Khandelwal PGPB Alumni Class of 2015-17 currently working with Universal Consulting. I completed my B.Tech. from MNIT Jaipur in Electrical Engineering. I have worked with Maruti Suzuki India Limited for 2.5 years and I am passionate about automobiles. The culture of MSIL imbibed in me a strong know-how of all the aspects of an automobile organization. Here in MISB Bocconi, I pursued my PGPB with specialization in Finance and consulting. I worked with Ipsos Business consulting as an intern for 6 months and completed four consulting and research projects successfully for them. Moreover, I worked with Elara Capital as a full-time summer intern to sharpen my financial edge. I received Dean’s Scholarship worth USD 7,000 based on excellent performance during my MBA. My team secured a place in top 5 Global finalists amongst 60,000 participants, 873 Universities, and Business Schools, 89 Countries to qualify for the Global Marketing Competition (GMKC) with final held in Madrid, Spain. PGPB Admission Requirements – Click Here
Demonetization – RBI – Government of India v/s Dalal Street
Novemeber 8, 2016 was the historic day when the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi announced a 50-day drive towards demonetization of the already printed old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 currency notes effective from midnight of that date. The demonetization drive was basically put in action to end the fake currency circulation of the high denomination notes in the Indian economy and as a strict measure against the parallel or black economy. Since the announcement of the demonetization, people holding a huge chunk of black money have been finding innovative ways to safeguard their wealth. Some seem to have found out ways to safeguard a substantial part, while others chose to declare their wealth and bear the fines. On December 31, 2016, the Indian Prime Minister had addressed the nation as the 50-day Demonetization drive initiated by the government was completed. Mr. Modi laid out several major incentives mainly for the poor, the farmers, women, pensioners and small scale business people. Soon after the PM announced bank related incentives for these segments, several banks had cut their Marginal Cost of Funds Lending Rate (MCLR) with SBI leading the pack by cutting MCLR by 0.9% Other PSUs like Punjab National bank and Union Bank of India have announced a cut in the lending rates. India’s largest private bank ICICI too cut its lending rates by 70 bps or 0.7% Narendra Modi had earlier indicated that the budget shall be presented 1 month in advance. On January 4, 2017, the government declared that the Union Budget 2017-18 will be presented on February 1, 2017. So now the question troubling investors and traders is, with these developments in place, will the stock market see a huge bullish run before the budget is presented by the Finance Minister? Traders would be hungry for an opportunity to book quick profits, while investors may be seeking that golden moment to enter the market for long term. Writer’s Analysis on this Scenario Expectations in the Indian economy More than 85% of the market participants including majority of the economists were expecting a cut in the repo rate of 25 bps. during the Reserve Bank of India’s bi monthly policy meet on December 7, 2016. About 23% of those participants showed over-optimism and even expected a cut of 50 bps. because the CPI numbers that were released few days before the policy meet were well within the central bank’s target. The main reason of the CPI figure remaining in limit was that food inflation was low and within the expected range as a result of a good normal monsoon. The OPEC members had still (i.e. before the December policy meet) not reached a consensus to put a cap on the oil output sighting uncertainty from Iran’s and Russia’s stance. This kept oil prices well below $50 per barrel, which was in turn good for Indian economy as low import prices mean lower import bill for the Indian government (oil prices make up about 80% of the government’s import bill). Thus, two main components food and fuel, which have more than 50% weightage in the CPI basket of goods seemed well under control. Also in its policy meet in October 2016, RBI governor Dr. Urjit Patel had stated that the neutral real interest rate in India is now 1.5 – 2.0%. This may also have raised expectations of the market for a probable rate cut during the December policy meet. However, RBI did not cut the rates and that had probably led to a dissatisfaction amongst the market players. Soon as the demonetization drive was initiated by the government, the economy was seeing a tough situation with liquid cash getting dried up in the country as the currency notes of 500 and 1000 denominations, which made up 86% of the total cash notes circulated in the economy were no longer valid. The industries directly and indirectly related with the consumer markets mainly the FMCG industry, were facing tough time as potential consumers queued up in front of ATMs and banks to either exchange or deposit their old notes. Consumer goods market saw a substantial hit because of the demonetization drive So much that analysts and domestic as well as international investment firms now revised India’s expected FY 2017 GDP growth down to 7.0 – 7.2% from the previously expected 7.6%. This was the second reason for the market players to expect that RBI may go for a rate cut so as to stimulate the state of economy and to support growth at pre-determined levels. What may have kept RBI from cutting the interest rates on December 7, 2016 There were mixed expectations of people from the Demonetization drive. Many saw it as a bold and a good decision by the Indian government against the parallel economy (black economy), while many claimed it to be a step only to get an advantage in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh state elections (Uttar Pradesh state elections are considered to be very important for the government in power at the center i.e. the BJP government, as a majority win in the same can get them a good number of seats in the Upper House of the Parliament, where currently they have very few seats as opposed to the Lower House of the Parliament where they have more than two-thirds of the majority). The government had however claimed it as a step towards eradicating the parallel economy. The results of the same could be analyzed only after the entire drive got completed and government could actually measure the success of their initiative only after that. The RBI had raised the CRR from 4% to 100% after the demonetization drive was initiated (This was however rolled back during the December 7 policy meet). As of December 7, 2016, it was only a month since Donald Trump was elected as the President of The United States of America and the world was still confused on how the global economy would move ahead with this